Screen Printing Forum

Hi, newbie here so any advice would be greatfully received.

I'm looking at screen printing my artwork which would typically be line drawings or detailed graphic work plus two or three areas of flat color. I will be using water based inks and printing onto paper or card. The screens that I have seen for sale have a mesh count of 15 up to 160. I'm guessing this is threads per centimetre. I'm guessing that you need a higher thread count for more detailed work and vice versa. I'm thinking about buying a job lot of 10 screens, so I want to get this right. What would be the best kind of mesh for me to go for?

Additionally, what kind of emulsion and screen cleaner should I go for?

Thanks in advance

For starters, I would recommend that you re-think the use of water base inks for your project. There are a lot of additional variables that will be necessary for you to control that won't apply if you decide on a solvent system (I'll list them separately if you want). Not least of which is the stencil system used to image your art.

For simplicity and speed, your application is perfectly suited to using indirect stencil films (if you decide to use solvent base ink). Indirect films will provide you with superior printed line resolution and definition compared to direct emulsion and capillary film. You can also image your stencil prior to mounting onto the screen, which gives you the advantage of visual inspection prior to committing the screen. And, there are some indirect stencil films that process with water and can go from exposure to printing in less than a half hour.

Indirect films are only manufactured by 2 stencil manufacturers; Ulano, and Autotype. Both of these companies have superb tech service departments that will give you all the free imaging help you may need to complete your project, including help with mesh preparation, exposure, reclaiming, and ink recommendations.

Which every way you decide to proceed, there is no charge for advice.

Good Luck!
X-Autotype

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't aware of indirect stencil film, but I have been doing some reading and it seems that I should use it with screen mesh in the range of 300-400 tpi. I gather that you expose the film separately from the screen, then stick it on to the screen and peel off the backing.

I wasn't really aware of the issues with water based inks, I thought they would be easier. If solvent based inks are easier then I guess I will go with them. Can you recommend any inks?

Thanks