Your own art work? Post cards? Greetings cards? Packaging boxes?
Screen print them yourself. It's easy to get great results, safe to do and easy to clean up.
In this 'how to' we'll go through how to screen print on paper & card using our 'Paper & card - custom screen with your image - printing at home kit'
If you have a design, or a logo or some artwork you want to screen print, then our kit that includes putting that graphic on to the screen is perfect for you. We've an artwork guide on how you'll need to supply the artwork to us.
We can break the process down in to some simple steps:
1. The kit will arrive with your art work on the screen
In this case we've just used a little easter bunny and a bit of text to illustrate what's going on! The kit includes a custom screen, squeegee and six inks. We've used hinges in the how to, which are just screwed in to the table top - these aren't essential and do not come in the kit.
2. Place the screen on top of whatever you are printing on to, in this case it's a piece of paper.
We've got the paper on top of a cutting pad, however this isn't needed, we've got it more so for alignment and making the paper is straight.
You can tape the sides of the screen if you like, but you do not need to unless you find you're moving the ink to the edges of the emulsion.
3. Add the ink!
Our waterbased screen printing ink that comes in the kit is ideal for using at home. It's easy to clean up with warm soapy water and is drain safe. It also comes off your hands easily with a bit of soap!
4. Paper, screen, ink.
Screen flat against the paper, you're ready to print!
5. Pull the squeegee towards you.
This will make the ink pass through the screen. Knowing how much pressure to use, wether to pull just once or repeat will take a few goes - this is the fun part!
6. Lift the screen off the paper (or whatever you've printed on to).
There's the magic! One hand screen printed piece of paper!
7. Success!
There we have it, a hand screen printed piece of paper, using a custom screen with your art work on it.
Time to lay up a piece of paper, or pizza box, or skateboard deck or whatever you want to print and repeat the process!
8. Clean up the screen and squeegee.
Clean the squeegee and screen up with warm soapy water. You might find the mesh on the screen stays a bit stained, especially with black ink but that's ok, as long as they holes in the mesh are clear of ink the screen will be perfectly good to use time and time again.
Be careful not to use anything abrasive when cleaning to prolong the custom screens life, so that you can use it time and time again!
9. Let your prints dry.
Lets your screen prints air dry before touching the ink / popping them in the post!
What did we use?
We used our 'Paper & card - custom screen with your image - printing at home kit', which comes with the essentials you need to get screen printing at home!
