How to Screen Print T-ShirtsUpdated 17 days ago

Preparing Your Artwork

Every great screen print starts with great artwork. Whether you're creating the design yourself or working with artwork provided by a customer, the quality of your final print depends on the quality of the file you begin with. A good rule of thumb is: the better the artwork, the better the print.

Since screen printing applies one ink color at a time, each color in your design requires its own screen. For multi-color prints, the artwork must be separated into individual color layers so that a separate screen can be created for each color. Proper artwork preparation is essential for achieving crisp details, accurate registration, and professional-looking prints.

Need a little creative inspiration or help finishing your design? ScreenPrinting.com offers a variety of design resources, including brushes, texture packs, fonts, skull packs, and other artwork assets to help bring your ideas to life and make your next project stand out.

Printing Film Positives

Once your artwork has been finalized and the colors have been separated, the next step is creating a film positive. A film positive is a transparent sheet with your design printed in solid, opaque black ink. This film is used during the exposure process to transfer your design onto an emulsion-coated screen.

Anything printed in black on the film will become the area where ink passes through the screen and onto the garment. For the best results, your film positives should have crisp edges and dense, opaque black areas to ensure a clean, detailed exposure. Vectorized images work great for this purpose.

There are several ways to create film positives:

• Print them yourself using a compatible inkjet printer and transparency film.
• Have them printed by a local print shop or online film output service.
• Create them by hand for simple designs using transparency film and an opaque black marker.

No matter which method you choose, high-quality film positives are essential for producing sharp, accurate screen prints.

Pro Tip: If your transparencies aren't dark enough and you're having trouble getting a good exposure, try doubling them up! Just make sure they're perfectly aligned to preserve the detail and sharpness of your image.

Making the Screen

Once your film positives are ready, it's time to create the screen. A screen consists of an aluminum or wood frame with tightly stretched polyester mesh. The mesh count determines how much ink passes through the screen—lower mesh counts (110–156) are ideal for bold designs and white inks, while higher mesh counts (200–305+) are better suited for fine details, halftones, and water-based inks.

Before coating the screen, thoroughly clean the mesh with a screen printing degreaser to remove dust, oils, and debris. Once dry, apply a smooth, even coat of light-sensitive emulsion using a scoop coater to both sides of the screen. Because emulsion reacts to light, this process should be done in a light-safe room and the screen should be allowed to dry completely before exposure (24-48 hours depending on temperature, humidity, etc).

Next, place your film positive on the coated screen and expose it using an exposure unit. The UV light hardens the emulsion everywhere except where the opaque black areas of the film block the light. Those blocked areas remain soft, forming the stencil for your design. It's important that with any exposure unit, light is only entering from one direction, either above or below. 

After exposure, rinse the screen in a washout booth or sink using a shower-style sprayer or a low-pressure pressure washer. The unexposed emulsion will wash away, leaving open mesh where your design appears. Once the screen is completely dry, it's a good idea to post-expose it if you're printing with water-based inks by placing it back in the exposure unit for the same amount of time as the initial exposure. This helps fully harden the emulsion and improves stencil durability. Finally, inspect the screen for pinholes or imperfections, tape the inside edges of the frame to prevent ink leaks, and your screen is ready to mount on the press.

Setting Up Your Press

Before you're ready to print, you'll need to set up your screens on the press. A screen printing press consists of print heads (one for each color) and print stations (platens that hold the garments). Manual presses range from a simple 1-color, 1-station setup to larger 8-color, 6-station presses. More print heads allow you to print more colors in a single design, while additional stations increase production speed by allowing you to load one shirt while another is being printed or flash one layer while you print another.

If you're printing a multi-color design, the screens must be registered so each color lines up perfectly with the others. Features like micro-registration or laser alignment systems can make this process faster and more precise, especially for detailed artwork.

Before clamping your screens into the press, tape off the inside edges of the frame and cover any registration marks with screen printing tape. This prevents ink from leaking into unwanted areas and makes cleanup much easier.

Once your screens are aligned, perform a few test prints and make any necessary adjustments before beginning your production run.

Printing Your Shirts

Before loading a shirt onto the platen, apply a thin, even layer of pallet adhesive (such as water-based pallet adhesive or PrintGrip) to keep the garment from shifting during printing. Load the shirt onto the platen, align your print head, and flood the screen by lightly pulling or pushing a bead of ink across the image. Then lower the print head and make your print stroke with the squeegee held at a 75–80° angle. You can either push or pull the squeegee, pushing is generally easier on the body, while pulling often provides slightly better image detail. For the best results, stick with one printing direction rather than alternating between pushing and pulling, as changing directions can soften the edges of your print.

If you're printing multiple colors, repeat the process for each screen, making sure the colors stay in registration. You may also need to flash the print between colors, especially when printing a white underbase on dark garments. A flash dryer partially cures the ink so additional colors can be printed without smearing.

Once the design is complete, the print must be fully cured to ensure long-lasting durability. Most plastisol and water based inks are cured in a conveyor dryer, although a flash dryer can also be used for smaller runs of plastisol prints. Always follow the ink manufacturer's recommended cure temperature and verify it using a laser temperature gun or donut probe. An under-cured print may look fine initially but can crack or wash out over time, so it's always a good idea to perform a stretch test and wash test to confirm the ink has cured properly.

Keep Learning

This guide covers the fundamentals, but it's only the beginning of your screen printing journey. There's so much more to explore, from choosing the right mesh count and emulsion to understanding squeegee durometers, ink types, curing techniques, troubleshooting, shop setup, and advanced production methods. Screen printing is both a craft and a skill, and every project is an opportunity to learn something new.

If you're a hands-on or visual learner, be sure to check out our free online course, How to Screen Print: 150 Edition, which walks through the entire process from start to finish. You can also browse our FAQ, explore our educational articles, online courses and videos, or reach out to our team through chat, email, or phone. Whether you're printing your very first shirt or refining your technique after thousands of prints, we're here to help you succeed every step of the way.