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From emulsion to ink slaps, see how we turn blank shirts into bold statements. This isn’t your grandma’s print shop. Welcome to Level Up Print.

🧵 What Is Screen Printing?

Screen printing is a process where ink is pushed through a mesh stencil onto fabric, one color at a time. It’s been around for centuries, evolving into one of the most durable and vibrant printing methods available.

Learn more from Met Museum Screen Print

🎨 1. Preparing the Design

Before anything hits the screen, your design is prepped and color-separated in software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. Each color will require its own screen.

Here’s how Adobe breaks down color separation for screen printing

🖼️ 2. Coating & Burning the Screen

Once the screens are coated with emulsion, they’re exposed to UV light. This hardens the emulsion where the light hits, leaving behind a stencil once the rest is rinsed off.

Dive deeper with Video How to Expose a Screen for Screen Printing

💪 3. Setting Up the Press

We align each screen onto the press for accurate registration—especially critical for multi-color designs. Consistency is key at this step.

Registration marks and mechanical alignment ensure each screen aligns perfectly—without fuzzy overlaps or white gaps between colors. This concept is well described in printing theory: see Wikipedia’s take on registration in multi-color printing

🧼 4. Printing & Curing

Once the screens are aligned, we load up the ink and start printing. After that, the shirt moves through a conveyor dryer to cure the ink and lock in the colors.

As Holden’s Screen Printing puts it: “Curing is extremely important because, without it, the screen-printed ink will not stick to the surface of your shirt … Improperly cured ink causes the color to flake off or fade quickly.” Read Holden’s complete curing guide .

🧽 5. Cleaning & Reclaiming the Screens

After the job’s done, we fully reclaim the screens—removing the ink, emulsion, and residue. This keeps them reusable and reduces waste.

Reclaiming screens properly isn’t just about washing off emulsion—it’s about preventing haze, ghosting, and mesh wear. Lawson Screen & Digital provides a comprehensive guide covering ink removal, emulsion stripping, haze control, and spray vs. soak techniques: Read Lawson’s Practical Reclaiming Guide .

✅ Why Screen Printing?

For high-volume orders, vibrant colors, and long-lasting prints—screen printing is hard to beat.

For full color apparel printing with lower quantities: Digital processes like dye-sublimation and DTG emerged as alternatives to traditional screen-printing. According to Clemson University’s research, “digital textile printing started in the late 1980s as a possible replacement for analog screen printing… allows printing with low‑energy sublimation inks and high‑energy disperse direct inks directly onto textile media.” Read Clemson’s full comparison of screen and digital textile printing .

📌 Need Help with Custom Screen Printing?

Reach out with your artwork and ideas. We’ll help bring it to life!