ok. i've completed several orders and the clients were happy with them but i'm not.
as the designer, i know what the shirt should look like and i am missing all the small details. lines,dots etc..
my question is, what are the most important factors for making sure all small details come out on my screens? exposure time? mesh count? type of emulsion? etc...
all your info is appreciated. i want to put out exactly what i design.
thanks
Zack, I'm not sure about the emulsion being "as thin as possible". I know different thread counts require different stencil thicknesses, but you might do better with a little thicker stencil and a little longer exposure time.
Multiple point light sources create a softening or blurred effect onto your screen. This tends to undercut your small percentage dots and erase the. Likewise, poor contact between the film positive and the screen emulsion will also allow light leakage around the dots. Further, poor D max (how dark/dense is the film) will allow light to penetrate through the film positive and expose the emulsion underneath.
Soft edged dots and poorly defined line edges will also cause the screen to not carry all the detail that you put into the file. A 10X loupe will show this in your film positive.
Loose screens, runny inks, weak squeegees, no off contact, etc.... can cause loss of details...
You can not print dots that go from zero to 100 on most screen presses. They have real limits as to their ability to replicate the art that is provided.
Get and use an exposure calculator. Print the resulting screen onto a shirt and see just what you can do with your equipment. See if you can make a screen that carries a 5 percent dot. Print it and see how it grows. Try to hold a 05 percent screen open. See how it prints.
Measure and test. Record and learn. DETAILS! If it were easy... everybody would be doing it...
thanks for the info, im glad to see other people strive for excellence in their art!
i have some reading to do.
have you heard of a book called "screen printing for pleasure and for profit"?
it was recommended as the "bible" of screen printing.
if so do you recommend it?
or what other sources have you used that were helpful?
Thanks a bunch.
Zack
thanks for the info, im glad to see other people strive for excellence in their art!
i have some reading to do.
have you heard of a book called "screen printing for pleasure and for profit"?
it was recommended as the "bible" of screen printing.
if so do you recommend it?
or what other sources have you used that were helpful?
Thanks a bunch.
Zack
Scott Fresener's book is a good starting point. I do not know what edition you have. It was first published in 1978. Much has changed since then.
Read everything available. So long as you can sort the good from the junk. You'll find snippets of gold in many articles and forum postings.
The hard part is telling the BS from the fact. The simple truth from the sales pitches.
You will not get it all right nor all wrong. There are many shades of grey (gray)... Accept and realize that your picture of an ideal print is different than your customer's.
You can approach your desired results through careful documentation of your efforts. What went wrong and what worked. Study the why...
Specialized schooling may be your best return on your money. I am not able to offer much here. The Grendel is one...
As Richard Greaves ( I hope that I have spelled this right) so often posts... WHAT ARE YOU MEASURING?
ok, i tried the "glisten method" and got better results 'but'
i noticed that as soon as i pull it off of my light(exposure) box,
i can see the art and even see a blur on the parts that don't come out
sharp during washout.
could it be my exposure box? does it have cold spots or areas of less exposure?
what experience do you guys have with different light sources and could this
be the culprit.
thanks.
Multiple lamps allows the light to undercut the positive. No vacuum means incorrect contact between the film emulsion and the screen emulsion and allows the light to undercut the image.
Think of it this way... Hold up a finger at arms length. Focus on a point out several feet away from you. That is you dot against the screen (finger) the image in background is your emulsion on the screen. Now move your head to the right slightly.. Then the left. You will see more of the background image (emulsion on the screen). This is what's happening when you have multiple light sources. They allow the light to peek around the dots on the screen and expose the emulsion. Then it does not wash out. Soft edged dots and low density films allow the same thing to occur.
All that said, you will find that no matter what exposure setup you have, you can only carry a certain sized highlight and shadow dot. You determine this with an exposure calculator.
Its all in the DETAILS!!! 
