Start your Stencil Screen Printing Journey Today ✨
Unleash your creative side and screen print at home. It's super fun, safe to do and easy to clean up. In this 'how to' we'll go through the basic steps of Screen Printing on paper & card, using our 'Paper & Card - Screen Printing at Home Stencil Kit'.
Using our Screen Printing - Stencil Kit, we already have all the gear we could need, including, a Screen, Squeegee, set of 4 water-based inks and Freezer paper. The only additional tools we had were something to draw with and a Craft Knife. Simply follow these instructions below and you're away!
Buy The KitThe 5 Simple Steps ✨
1. Make a stencil
When it comes to stencil printing, It's as simple as it looks. It's a shape cut out of paper. Make it as complex or simple as you like, but we'd recommend starting simple. In this case we're going to use our Flower Garden Bundle Stencil, a free download from our digital downloads section.
Having printed off the stencil on A4 paper, we're tracing onto Freezer Paper which we then cut up with the Craft Knife. Find out more about creating stencils in our blog on Understanding Stencils in Screen Printing.
2. Cut out the stencil.
We're using a craft knife but scissors will also work - just a little more fiddly. Simply cut out your shape and you are away!
3. Align & tape the Stencil
Now it's time to grab your screen and whatever substrate you are printing onto - in this case, we'll be using packs of cartridge paper. Now you'll want to place the stencil onto the back of the screen, shiny side up ✨
In most cases for alignment, you can just move the screen to the best position, however, we find it good practice to best align onto the screen. Once you're happy, we recommend taping the stencil to the screen no there's movement, however, the ink should hold it in place.
When it comes to taping, tape up the edges of the screen where the stencil doesn't cover the area where the ink will go. For example, see the image below.
4. Add the ink!
The fun part next - deciding your ink and colours! Printing onto darker fabrics? Use our Super Opaque Waterbased Inks! We have a wide range of inks from Metallics, Fluorescents and Pastels. Once picked, simply add a dollop of ink at the bottom of the screen, leaving room for the squeegee to pull.
Our Eco Waterbased Screen Printing Ink is ideal for use 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!
5. Printing the results!
Flood
After applying your ink to the screen, next, you’ll need to flood the screen. Simply apply little pressure to the squeegee and coat the entire surface of the screen. This helps ensure the mesh on the screen is filled with ink, creating an even layer and preventing any gaps or uneven ink coverage.
Pull
Finally, with a firm and consistent pressure use the squeegee to pull the ink across the screen. Depending on how many screens/layers of colour, this is repeated until you have the final result!
It's that easy ✨
Simply wait for your ink to dry and you have your first stencil prints! Looking to print multiple layered stencil prints? Check out our blog.
Whilst you wait for your prints to dry, we recommend cleaning up your screen in a wash area, our Screen Wash is great for this, it'll help accelerate the cleanup and help any of those tough bits without damaging the stencil.
Because we used Freezer Paper and managed to get a few uses out of it, we discarded the stencil however with Yupo Paper, you can clean and re-use for much longer!
Buy The Kit
