Processing Screens
Photograph
of three screens with a design "burned" into them.
Screens are a wooden or metal frame with polyester
fabric stretched onto them.
The polyester fabric is a lot like the screen on your
screen door, It has anywhere from 25 threads per inch,
to 355 threads per inch (mesh count). The mesh count
we will use is determined by the type of design we
will be printing. The finer the detail in the design,
The higher the screen mesh count will be.
We begin the process of making our screens by stretching
the polyester fabric (mesh) onto the wooden frame,
and securing it with a very strong glue. Then trim
any excess fabric of the edges of the frame.
Next, we take a light sensitive emulsion (in a dark room) and apply a even coat to the screen
mesh. We'll let that dry for about 6 hours.
After the light sensitive emulsion has dried, We will take the film
positive (as described in the ART section) and
tape it to the back of the screen mesh.
Then, we will place the screen on a device that emits light,
Called an exposure unit (shown below), and expose the screen with
light for a short period of time.
The dark areas (the image) on the film
positive will prevent light from passing through and exposing the screen,
The light will pass through clear areas of the film
positive (where there is no design) and harden the emulsion.
Next, we take the screen off the exposure unit and wash
it with water. The water will not wash out the hardened emulsion.
The water will wash out the soft areas that the light
did not expose.
We are left with a screen that has an image in it (as
shown at top of page). The ink will pass through the
open areas of the mesh
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