This handy guide will allow you to quickly learn the basic terms and materials needed to screen print.

1. ARTWORK.

This can be a picture, drawing, cartoon, or words you want to put on your t-shirt. This is the starting point of screen printing your t-shirt. This can be done in many different ways using many different software packages. What is key is that the art must be done in vector format. The the main programs professionals (and amateurs) use are Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw.

2. SEPARATIONS or "SEPS".

Once your art is created, each color must be printed on clear film called separations. These will be used to burn the images for each color into the screen.

3. THE SCREEN.

This is a square metal (usually aluminum) or wooden frame with a screen made of mesh material very tightly stretched over it. It will be used to burn your seps into and to print on the actual shirt.

4. MESH.

This is the material which is stretched over the silk screen frame itself, (as in number 3 above). This mesh material, as its name suggests, has holes in it that can vary in size. The holes allow ink to flow through onto your fabric, in varying quantities depending on your t-shirt design. Different screens have different mesh counts. The lower the number, the more ink it allows in.

5. EMULSION.

This is a substance that when put into the screen, and dried in a dark room it blocks the mesh, preventing the ink flowing through onto your fabric. In areas where the emulsion hardens (by exposure to bright light), the screen is blocked so no ink can pass through. This is imperative to ensure that nothing other than the image you intend to print appears on the final print.

6. COAT THE SCREEN.

This simply means putting the emulsion onto the screen before you begin to burn your artwork to the silkscreen. See number 5.

7. BURNING A SCREEN.

This is the process of using a halogen light (or very high wattage light bulb) to burn your artwork image to the silkscreen. In areas where the emulsion is kept soft (by your image blocking the light) and is eventually washed out of the screen, the ink will pass through to produce your print.

8. HALOGEN OR HIGH WATTAGE LIGHT BULB.

These lights are used to permanently dry the emulsion onto the screen, so no ink can flow through to the screen. It's used to burn the artwork image onto the screen, so only holes where the artwork blocked the hardening of the emulsion as in 7 above, ink can easily flow through onto your t-shirt creating your design.

9. SQUEEGEE.

This is a tool with a flat rubber blade on one side used to pull ink evenly across the screen mesh.

10. PLASTISOL.

The type of ink used for screen printing. The ink has unique properties, for example, it will not dry even when left out until it is cured under a heat source of 320 degrees.

11. FLASH UNIT.

A device used to dry ink enough to print another color on top of it, but not enough to completely cure it. It is essential when printing colors on top of each other.

12. PALLET.

A piece of rounded wood that you place the shirt on to be printed. There are various sizes to fit various jobs.

13. AUTO PRESS or "AUTO".

This screen printing press is a very large piece of equipment that once set up properly, will print up to 14 colors automatically. All you have to do is put the shirts on the pallets and take them off.

14. CONVEYOR DRYER.

A large dryer that has a conveyor belt on it so shirts pass through it and then out the other end.

About The Author

Michael D'Elena has been the owner of Reckless T-shirts since 2006. They specialize in screen printing and embroidery in the Phoenix, AZ area.

http://www.RecklessTshirts.com

Send A Message With A Funny T-shirt Design

One of the best ways to express yourself to the world is with a funny t-shirt design. Printed t-shirts can communicate with the world around you in many different ways. Almost anything can be on the front of a t-shirt. T-shirts are great promoters of causes, bands, people, or places that you love. Vintage rock t-shirts are also popular and sends a message for the musician or band.
Vintage rock t-shirts show your admiration for the rock bands that you like best. Most people believe that no one rocks harder than their favorite band. Wearing your favorite vintage rock t-shirt expresses this belief without question.
Funny t-shirt designs can promote a different kind of ideal. Funny t-shirts often make fun of someone, promote a cause, or state a funny joke. Today funny t-shirt designs are very popular to wear among all types of people. College students seem to love to wear funny t-shirt designs the most.
Your sense of style is also conveyed with your choice of t-shirt. A vintage rock t-shirt may communicate a desire to relive parts of your youth. Vintage rock t-shirts are certainly in style with the younger crowd these days. Wearing a funny t-shirt design might make it more difficult for people to take you seriously. You'll be seen as a light hearted person who loves a good time. It's important to consider the message you want to send when picking out a t-shirt.
The funny t-shirt designs and vintage rock t-shirts you wear will also express your personality with those who see it. Your shirt will indicate what kind of jokes strike your funny bone, or what type of music appreciate. T-shirts messages can be subtle or over-the-top, slap-you-upside-the-head, in your face.
If you are wearing a funny t-shirt design that states a slogan that makes fun of something, then perhaps you're showing your insight on the lighter side of more serious issues. Wearing a vintage rock t-shirt is your stamp of approval for whatever your favorite band represents.
One of the greatest things about printed t-shirts is that they are great conversation starters. When you see someone who is wearing a shirt for a rock band that you like, or if you find the content on their shirt funny, then you will be more likely to strike up a conversation with that person. When you wear funny t-shirt designs
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other people are more likely to do the same thing for you.
There are many reasons to make careful considerations when picking out a vintage rock t-shirt or a funny t-shirt design. The shirt can say a lot about you and your outlook on the world. Just remember that the most important thing is to have fun. What are your t-shirts saying about you?

By: Dave Winters

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Express your ideas with a funny t-shirt design. Promote your favorite band or cause. Poke fun of silly people or places. Strike someone's funny bone and have a laugh!

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They started with an idea printed on a T-shirt!

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