DIY Screen Printing

Lately I’ve had a fascination with screen printing and once I get an idea in my mind, I just have to do it. After watching several videos, I decided to give screen printing a try.

First I had to gather my supplies: a random shirt, wooden embroidery hoop, screen mesh, vinyl and transfer tape, painter’s tape, parchment paper, squeegee (aka used gift card - thanks mom!), spoons, containers, and most importantly the ink.

Next I went to the Silhouette Studio to determine what design I wanted to use and what size to make it. Since this was around Valentine’s Day, and I didn’t want to go too big, I decided on a simple heart. I made it a size to fit in the smaller, 6” hoop. I cut it out, reverse weeded it, and applied it to the screen (that had previously been hooped). The design has to be reversed because it is on the bottom of the screen, touching the fabric. I then taped off the rest of the screen around the vinyl so that any extra ink would not get on the shirt.

Finally came the fun part. I placed the screen on the shirt where I wanted it (top back) and spooned out some ink at the top of the design. You have to make sure that there is ink all the way across the top so that when you spread it down, it covers the whole design. Next I took the gift card/squeegee and dragged the ink from top to bottom while still applying pressure on the screen. I did a couple passes to make sure that there was plenty of ink applied to the shirt. Thankfully, the left over ink can be scooped up and put back in the container to be used again.

The next two were fun ones where I used the small containers to mix ink and do more tests to see how the screen would hold up. The ink washes off the screen when finished, but after heat setting the shirt, the color will stay put and is completely washable. A lot was learned and a lot is yet to be learned, but I’m looking forward to doing more experimenting. Stay tuned for more posts about this and my other methods of applying designs to apparel and other items!

Screen printing It is a super fun method of applying a single color design onto shirts and other pieces of apparel. My plan for this is to use it in a mass production type of order. If you are interested in having shirts made for a special occasion, please let me know and I will see how I can help you!

Here are some photos of the process…