Shop Our Selection of Screen Printing Supplies:
Why Choose Garston for Your Screen Printing Supplies?
Affordable Prices
After starting strictly as a sign business, we’ve progressed into screen printing, and we still offer the most honest, low prices for all of our screen printing supplies.
Customer Satisfaction
Here at Garston, we take the time and effort to find the screen printing supplies you desperately need for your project or print shop. If we don’t have what you’re looking for, we’ll point you in the right direction.
Name Brand Products
Having a Screen Printing business can be expensive. That’s why we price our products at a low, affordable rate. We also supply most of our products in bulk, saving you more in the long-run. Can’t find what you need? Reach out to us!
The Steps to Screen Printing
1. Decide on the right frame
You’ll need to determine what kind of frame you want to use for your screen printing work. The most popular choices are wooden frames or aluminum frames. Wood frames are more economical, but will wear down or warp after a period of time. Aluminum screens can be pricey, but they’ll last for years. One of the first steps you should do is applying a degreaser to your screen to help during the emulsion process.
2. Prepare Your Screen
The best way to prepare your image is to digitize it. Make sure it’s a high-resolution, and if you’re using multiple colors, you’ll need to separate each color on its own layer. The next step includes transferring your high-resolution image onto transparency sheets also called film positives. You will need to have each layer / color printed on separate sheets to burn them onto screens.
3. Expose Your Screen
Once your images are on the transparency sheet, you can burn the image into the screen. You’ll need to do this process in a dark room. Seeing that you’ve already applied emulsion, you’ll need to expose the screen. During this process, the screen will be hardening, and after it’s completed, you can clean the screen off.
4. Set Up Your Press
Now, you’ll need to set up your screen on the printing press. Printing presses have “arms” and a printing platen to hold up the screen or item you are looking to print on. They can range from 1 (8 colors) station to 8 stations (8 colors)
During this stage, you’ll need to tape off the edges of your screen. This helps prevent any ink from accidentally going through and damaging your print. When printing multiple colors, you’ll need to register each color, and later, when you’re squeegeeing each color they will line up.
4. Squeegee
Once you have everything set up and ready to go, you can start printing. If you’re printing on a shirt, make sure to have a blank shirt on the platen before you lower your screen. Then, you can push the ink through the screen by pushing and pulling the squeegee in both directions. If you’re using a variety of colors, you need to cure the ink before you apply any additional colors over it. That process can take place in a flash dryer.
5. Clean up
After everything is said and done, you’ll need to clean up your workspace. To save as much ink as you can, you’ll need to scrap it off the screen and put the remainder into your ink container. To clean off your screen, you will need specialty ink removers.
Screen Printing Supplies FAQ
What is Screen Printing?
Screen Printing is the method of using a stencil (some call it the “screen”) and applying layers of ink onto the printed surface. Each color will be applied with separate stencils, one at a time, to result in your desired look.
What Brands Does Garston Carry?
Here at Garston, we carry well-known brands such as Albatross, Camie, Chemical Consultants, Easiway, Epson, Flexcon, International Coatings, Murakami, Nazdar, Nortech Frames, Union and Wilflex to name a few.
Looking for a particular brand? Reach out to us at 860-289-3040 to find out if we carry it.
What Are The Benefits of Screen Printing?
Screen printing is done for more than just creating designs on t-shirts, you can virtually print on anything that can fit in your press.
Some of the biggest benefits to screen printing include:
- Unique visual results. When you use the method of screen printing, you’ll have ink sthat are more durable and vivid. There is a limited amount of limitations on what thickness and material you can use for printing.
- Volume of production: Screen printing is one of the most economical and cost-effective printing methods.
- Having custom results. You don’t have to print on cotton t-shirts, you can print on polyester, silk and so on. You can use a variety of different inks on one project to achieve your look.
What Are The Disadvantages to Screen Printing?
Not everything can go smoothly when it comes to production, especially with a mass production. The major disadvantage for Screen Printing is simply the amount of time it takes to set each job up. This is a similar characteristic with most methids of printing, especially when there are multiple steps leading up to the production.
The other main disadvantage is that it is impractical to print a single item, especially for color printing, because of how long the process takes.
Honest, Fair Prices On All Screen Printing Supplies
When you’re looking for a screen printing company you can trust, we hope that you decide on Garston. With over 60 years in the printing industry, we’ve become experts in screen printing and would love to lend you a hand. To start ordering today or to ask us questions, give us a call at 860-289-3040