School of Screenprinting

We present our selection of articles on screenprinting written to present comprehensive solutions to bring control to the screenprinting process. Each of the articles is available as as eBook. They will be emailed to you within 48 hours of your purchase, usually within a few hours. They require the FREE Adobe Reader software in order to read them or print them out on your printer. If you do not already have Adobe Reader it may be downloaded by clicking on the logo below.

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Screenprinter's Secrets
A compilation of articles by Industry Veteran Bill Hood. All 72 articles listed on this page are included in one eBook. Over $356 worth of articles for more than 50-percent savings, plus a few surprises.

Advice to a Textile Printer
Given in answer to the question, "How can I achieve a significant opaque white?" Significant opaque white; is a relative term. Often what we as printers deem to be unsatisfactory may be white enough for the client or vice versa!. The use of a white highlight printer can be helpful when printing almost any type of process on black shirts, be it process color or simulated color on darks.

Understanding Direct Emulsion Application
Cut costs and improve production with proper application techniques. Improper application of emulsion can rob your shop of profits and slow production to a crawl. The information in this article can equate to substantial financial savings while improving quality and quantity in the most experienced shop.

To Blast or Not To Blast
The pros and cons of high pressure systems in the screenmaking process. This article considers the pros and cons of soaker tanks or dip tanks. If you have been going into sticker shock over the utility bills and your labor costs to develop and reclaim screens you need to read this article. The results may surprise you.

Who Pays the Commissions
Let me get this right. I pay you to bring me work, which I lose money on? Are you thinking of hiring a salesperson or working with a broker? Reading this article will save you lots of grief and money.

Who Owns the Capitol
Think twice before printing that image. Are you aware that all images could be copyright protected not matter their age or supposed public domain. If you print an image that you didn't create from scratch you may be charged with counterfeiting just the same as if you were producing $100 bills. Don't lose your equipment and business over someone's neglect. Read this article!

Consequences of Behavior
Are you unintentionally choosing behavior that sets you on the road to disaster? Ten easy steps, well almost easy, to set you and your employees on a fast track to success in every department in the shop.

Why Hire a Consultant?
What can a consultant do for your company? The answer is maybe a lot, if you hire the right consultant. What to ask when interviewing a potential consultant and how much to pay.

Controlling Screen Tension
Achieving and maintaining the correct tension level. While investing in retensionable frames is the best investment any screenprinting shop can ever make, the truth is you can get good results from rigid aluminum frames for a while. The time they will remain usable depends on how well you control screen tension.

Copyright Assignment Form
Don't print another image without this legal document to protect you. This form should be completed and signed by every person who brings art into your shop to be printed. Otherwise you could find yourself in a mess of legal battles.

Curing Plastisol Ink
Achieving and maintaining full cure of plastisol inks at all times. The biggest fear of every textile printer when using plastisol ink is now knowing "for sure" if the ink is properly cured. Following the easy steps in this article will allow you to sleep much better after having printed all day on that rush order!

Double Your Profits
While it sounds like a simple proposition, it is the hardest thing for most to do - until you learn the secret. Sounds just too good to be true, doesn't it? But, unlike the old adage that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably isn't so doesn't hold water here. Because the simple truth is that you can double your profits today.

Choosing an Emulsion
Better to choose viscosity and solids content than price and speed. Are you confused over the different types of emulsions currently available? Who isn't! Are you still using the same emulsion you started with five years ago? Considering some of the new products on the market might save you a bundle in money and time.

Using an Exposure Calculator
Poor quality in the screenroom may be costing you more than you realize. Most shops are guessing wrong! There is a common belief that the proper exposure is one that doesn't burn through the solid areas of the film positive but long enough to harden the emulsion in the clear areas. Learn the right way to expose your screens and watch your quality increase quickly.

Fighting the No. 1 Enemy
Excessive squeegee pressure may be slowing production and stealing your profits. Given the number of variables in the screenprinting process the squeegee alone is often given the most difficult task in the process. The screenprint operator, who must use the squeegee to make the variables all come together at the press and work well might best be called Screenprint Magician. Learn how to stop relying on the squeegee to do all the work.

Sending Files over the Internet
What good is a document if you can't open it? If you are in the graphics business this is probably happening on a daily basis. Why keep fighting the problem. After reading this article you will be able to avoid or solve the problem before it happens to you, once and for all.

Flood, Squeegee and Off Contact
Lowering set up times by eliminating the variables of these tools. What exactly are you trying to achieve? Quality? Bright colors? Perfect registration? Good coverage? Smooth ink? Well, yes, but most importantly we want to increase production so that we can afford to work on these other things. The truth is we can have them all. Read this article!

Creating an Out of Focus Effect
Back in 1982, we were sure that it was just a fad, but the shirts were the type appeared out of focus are still being printed. Every year a new group of college students think it looks like a great idea to have a shirt with printed with the words, "Am I drunk? Or is it you?" This article tells you exactly, with screen shots, how to achieve the effect.

The Future's So Bright
Pinpointing Alignment Problems with Lasers. These units are being used in thousands of shops worldwide to align drop names, maintain alignment on patterned garments and assure placement on everything from polo shirts to boxer shorts.

Collecting Your Money
Decide right now if you are a printer or a banker! If you don't get paid in advance for all your work, you are going to get stiffed now and then. How do you get paid once they have the goods and it's been a month or more? Not easily! This article explains how to get you money each and every time, no matter how tough you think it is.

Emotional Isolation
Each of us has gone through emotional isolation - where we felt that there was no where to turn to and no one to help. It's three a. m. and the job is going south and the customer will be arriving at 8 a.m. expecting the job to be perfect. Learn how to put an end to this problem once and for all.

Printing on Open-Mesh Substrates
The solution to printing on mesh jerseys is simple with the proper controls.   How many times have your tried to print open-mesh jersey material only to have more ink end up on the platen than on the garment? Have you sworn off printing jerseys for this reason? This article solves the problem easily!

On the Level
Okay, you've switched to Newman Roller Frames and are maintaining your mesh tension levels. You've noticed a very decided difference in your print quality, decreased print times, improved ink and emulsion consumption and easier screen coating and printing. Want to increase your productivity and quality on your manual press. Read this article!

The Real Costs to Library Screens
Rethinking your investment in screens through easy asset management. Are you keeping customers screens on a shelf for extended periods of time? Sure you are! This article shows you how much money this is really costing you and how to easily recover your investment in screens.

Simple Recipe for Light on Dark
A short, but important, primer for achieving success in printing light ink on a dark substrate. Printing opaque inks onto dark garments is done every day in many shops. The trick is to lay down a good, bridging, layer of ink on the surface of the garment. Sounds simple and it is - once you learn the secrets of the those who do it well.

The Mesh Opening
Listen up! This is the most important thing you will ever learn about screenprinting. Well, maybe not the most important, but close: The size of the mesh opening determines the ink volume and wet ink thickness in open areas of the stencil.