Screen Printing - Stenciling Techniques

Stenciling Techniques

A method of stenciling that has increased in popularity over the past years is the photo emulsion technique:

1. The original image is created on a transparent overlay, and the image may be drawn or painted directly on the overlay, photocopied, or printed with a computer printer, but making so that the areas to be inked are not transparent. A black-and-white positive may also be used (projected on to the screen). However, unlike traditional platemaking, these screens are normally exposed by using film positives.
2. A screen must then be selected. There are several different mesh counts that can be used depending on the detail of the design being printed. Once a screen is selected, the screen must be coated with emulsion and put to dry in a dark room. Once dry, it is then possible to burn/expose the print.
3. The overlay is placed over the screen, and then exposed with a light source containing ultraviolet light in the 350-420 nanometer spectrum.
4. The screen is washed off thoroughly. The areas of emulsion that were not exposed to light dissolve and wash away, leaving a negative stencil of the image on the mesh.

Another advantage of screenprinting is that large quantities can be produced rapidly with new automatic presses, up to 1800 shirts in 1 hour. The current speed loading record is 1805 shirts printed in one hour, documented on 18 February 2005. Maddie Sikorski of the New Buffalo Shirt Factory in Clarence, New York (USA) set this record at the Image Wear Expo in Orlando, Florida, USA, using a 12-colour M&R Formula Press and an M&R Passport Automatic Textile Unloader. The world speed record represents a speed that is over four times the typical average speed for manual loading of shirts for automated screen printing.