Handy Guide To Screen Printing From Home

A common question in the screen printing industry is can screen printing be done at home?

Screen printing at home can be done! Start by making a design, then turn it into a stencil. Using Cricut and vinyl cutouts is a common way of creating this. Next, stencil the layers on top of a mesh screen and squeegee the ink to spread over the layers of the stencil and the screen. This forces the ink through the desired design onto a t-shirt or other piece of fabric.

In this article, you will discover what equipment, tools and materials you need to screen print at home. As well as screen printing from home step by step. Lastly, you’ll find helpful tips and tricks on how to screen print cost effectively (and on a budget).

Supplies For Screen Printing At Home

You can build your own press from 2x4s. Some DIY screen printers use their crafty skills to build other pieces of equipment also.

Most craft stores have screen printing equipment or you can buy online. There are also refurbished screen printers for purchase on sites like Ebay, in some Facebook groups and even on Facebook Marketplace.

Whichever route you take, it’s important to have a quality screen printing tactic and set up. If the product you produce isn’t up to a certain standard you will lose customers and money.

Creating a Design

The first step in screen printing at home is to create a design. This can be done with any graphics program, such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. If you do not have a graphics program, you can also use Canva. It’s completely free to sign up, their pro program is very affordable. It allows you to download designs with transparent backgrounds. Another cool feature is they offer a lot of templates to spark creativity.

Other free options are the old-school method of hand-drawing designs. Or using programs like Microsoft Word or Google Docs to craft your designs.

Screen Printing 101

You can easily screen print at home with just a few simple steps. Screen printing is an art form that can be done with a few basic art supplies or with professional equipment. It all depends on your budget and time.

Screen printing is done by pushing ink through a stenciled screen. This can be done at a kitchen table only using a handmade screen and fabric paints. However, it’s best to consider that you must apply each color in the design on layer at a time.

If you can afford pricier supplies and have the space, you can also learn how to make professional light emulsion stencils at home. Or you can do what custom t-shirt business owners do, and make your stencils using a cheaper cricut machine.

You get what you pay for. People love screen printed shirts because the designs have a unique dye called Plastisol ink which creates a raised design on the fabric. Investing in this ink and using it properly will create quality designs that hold up wash after wash.

Screen Printing Setup

To achieve high quality screen prints, you will need a few things to get set up: a screen, the perfect ink and a heat press. If you aren’t sure which type of heat press, check out our heat press blog, it describes this different types so you can decide which is best for you.

You might also need a dark room if you want to get advanced in your process. But it’s not required.

Here’s what you will need to screen print:

1. Space to create digital designs to make your screen print stencils.
2. A screen, you can make your own, for best results we recommend buying a few screens with an aluminum frame and 110 polyester mesh for the screen. This is so that you don’t have to spend time taping off edges to avoid dye leakage which can happen from store bought frames.
3. If you plan on having a high volume of shirts you’re screen printing, we recommend a screen print rotary carousel with arms. It can hold a lot of screens at once.
4. High quality ink is important! As we mentioned earlier this can make or break your business. Plastisol inks are necessary for nice prints. You can buy individually from craft stores or save money and buy in bulk.
5. A squeegee is essential to keep the ink in a smooth, ideal layer.
6. Most importantly, you’ll need shirts! Most t-shirt wholesale suppliers use a 1:1 rib, which makes it very stretchy and can cause mistakes. Our favorite supplier for adult clothing is Neil & David, they provide a smooth interlock knit which provides the perfect canvas for your work. The fabric is very soft yet durable. Which makes customers happy! For babies and kids clothing, which is a very popular industry, we recommend The Laughing Giraffe. Just like Neil & David, they use interlock knit and the fabrics are very soft and stable for printing.
7. Lastly, a heat press to cure the ink after printing. Clamshell styles are the most popular, Cricut’s EasyPress is the most budget-friendly option out there.

Creating Stencils For Screen Printing

Making stencils is essential to screen printing. It’s what makes the shape of the ink on the fabric.

The budget-friendly method is using a Cricut machine or an electronic cutting machine to make vinyl stencils. It’s the easiest and cheapest way to make stencils at home.

Another way is to create a stencil in an old-fashioned way. This process is done using a dark room. It’s used by professionals, but you can do it at home.

To make light emulsion stencils, you’ll need a completely dark room in your home. Even a bathroom or walk in closet can work. Or you can block windows easily using cardboard. You’ll also need a very bright light, a fan and a photo emulsion product. Arts and craft stores sell these items or you can buy a screen printing at home kit that has everything you need.

Professional Screen Printing at Home

1. Create the design or lettering in a design program of your choosing. You’ll need to make a stencil for each color in this case.
2. Print out the image onto transparency paper and cut it out. Or you can use a Cricut machine to cut the design out of the transparency paper. Transparency paper prevents light from reaching the emulsion chemicals, creating the image of the stencil on the screen.
3. Prepare the emulsion, this comes as two separate parts in two bottles and instructions on how to mix them. The bottles will last for several uses.
4. Take your screen and mixed emulsion into the darkroom, if you have one.
5. Pour a thin line of emulsion across the top of the screen and use your squeegee to pull the emulsion across the whole length of the screen.
6. Repeat this process on the other side of the screen.
7. Lay the screen flat to dry in the darkroom with a fan blowing on it. This will take about 30 minutes to an hour.
8. Return to the darkroom and prepare an area with a bright light, DON’T turn it on yet! We recommend a lamp with a directed beam and 150 watt bulb. You also need a large piece of a bristol board as backing for your screen.
9. Place the screen on the black bristol board and arrange your cut-out shapes on the screen. If these don’t lie flat, use a piece of glass (easy tip: take one out of a picture frame) and place on top of the shapes to hold them flat.
10. Now turn on the light! The emulsion chemicals will come with instructions that explain how long to expose the screen. This time varies from 5-15 minutes depending on the light. Once the emulsion turns from green to gray you’ll know it’s working.
11. Wash the screen in cool water.
12. You should see only negative space remaining, outlined by the emulsion chemicals. Huzzah! Now you have made a stencil!

Now comes the fun part…it’s time to apply ink and start pressing your shirts.

Conclusion

Screen printing at home can be done with the right supplies or a screen printing station with arms to print more than one color at a time. Depending on how much money you have and your budget, you can easily design and print custom t-shirts for yourself and run a small business from home.

To make stencils it’s a few easy steps or you can do create them cheaply using a Cricut machine. For professional or multi-colored prints, you may want to use the light emulsion method that uses chemicals to make a stencil onto a mesh screen.

If all of this sounds like too much work, let us handle your screen printing and we’ll even ship for you! We provide high quality trusted blanks and a variety of printing services at an affordable rate! Click here.