Things You'll Need:
- Coated Silk Screens
- Contact Exposure Units For Silk Screen
- Garden Hoses And Attachments And Water
- Little Red Wagons Or Dolly
- Art-prepared As Transparencies
- Sunlight
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Step 1
Place the silkscreen frame - coated with emulsion that's dried - in the contact exposure unit. The well of the screen should have the foam inserted into it and be locked down in position, flat face up.
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Step 2
Place the artwork to be exposed (the transparency) on the emulsion surface "wrong reading" (i.e. backwards) in the center of the screen.
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Step 3
Place the plate glass over the art, sandwiching the art between the glass and the silkscreen mesh. Make sure there is contact over the entire surface of the art. (The emulsion is slow, so you can do this quickly under normal light.)
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Step 4
Use a dolly, a little red wagon, or two people to take the entire unit out into direct sunlight, being careful not to disturb the glass or move the art around in any way.
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Step 5
Let the contact unit sit in the direct sun for at least 20 minutes. (See exposure times below.)
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Step 6
Wheel the contact unit into a shady area (or indoors if there is an area set up for washing inside) after exposure.
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Step 7
Disassemble the unit, removing the art and glass from harm's way.
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Step 8
Place the screen in an upright position, braced in such a way so as not to move when sprayed with water.
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Step 9
Use a garden hose or power washer to spray the entire surface of the screen with water. At first, do this with low pressure from a distance. Within 2 minutes the screen will start to open up and the positive areas will start washing away.
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Step 10
Move closer if necessary, increasing the pressure of the hose and focusing it on any areas that do not seem to be washing away.
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Step 11
Continue until all the positive, unexposed places in the screen are washed clear.













Comments
tographics said
on 7/27/2009 Cherry, there are a few things that could have gone wrong.
1. Did you remember to block off the back side of the screen so that light did not harden the emulsion form the back side.
2. You may simply not be using enough water pressure
3. Did you store your coated screen in a dark room, if it was stored after coating in a room with light it will harden.
4. your transparency was not tight against the screen and light go behind it.
5. your transparency was not dark enough and light could past through it.
Being that you only exposed it for 5 minutes, I would guess that you may have inadvertantly pre-exposed the screen
cherryprints said
on 7/21/2009 i exposed it for about 5 minutes on a clear, very sunny day, hosed it down, etc. when i squeegeed fabric ink over the image, nothing showed up on the t-shirt! anybody have an idea of what i might have done wrong?
cherryprints said
on 7/21/2009 i exposed it for about 5 minutes on a clear, very sunny day, hosed it down, etc. when i squeegeed fabric ink over the image, nothing showed up on the t-shirt! anybody have an idea of what i might have done wrong?
screenitnow said
on 6/7/2009 To etch metals you need an acid resist. Standard emulsions are not going to be able to withstand the acid used to etch metals. If you need regular emulsion you could try here http://www.atlasscreensupply.com/emulsion.htm. You can ask if they have an acid resist emulsion.
starphish420 said
on 3/25/2009 can I use a black light to expose the screen?