Computer film preparation and printing

For silkscreen printing, it is necessary to create a film for screen production. Each color from the preview has its own screen, as you can see in the image below. We charge 350 Kč excluding VAT for each color in the print preparation.

Film-creation
Two colors in the preview, so we will create two screens. Here we therefore charge 700 CZK for print preparation.

When printing multiple colors, it is necessary to separate the colors from each other and possibly slightly "overprint" one of the colors so that a white unprinted gap does not appear during printing. Usually we "overprint" the lighter color in the preview by 0.5 to 0.7 points, which is overprinted by the darker color without modification.

silkscreen-films
We convert all colors to 100% black and pass them to our printers for printing on special film.

Screen Creation

We apply emulsion to the frame with the screen and attach the printed film. The entire frame is placed on a vacuum table, which is illuminated by a lamp. The lamp is turned on and exposure takes place, during which the emulsion on the screen hardens in places where it is not covered by the film. Simply put, the emulsion has filled the holes in the screen and the paint now flows only in places where the film was.

vacuum-table-for-screen-creation
vacuum-table-with-lamp
Vacuum table with lamp

We rinse the frame of uncured emulsion, let it dry and go prepare the colors.

cleaning-screen-from-emulsion
Frame with finished screen. It needs to be washed from emulsion.

Color mixing

Now it's necessary to mix the color according to the Pantone C color chart. Basically, we take the recipe and mix the basic color shades to achieve the required Pantone shade. Of course, this also takes some time and therefore this step is also included in the print preparation cost. More about Pantone in the previous article...

color-mixing

Machine setup

We have the screen dried and colors mixed, let's set up the machine. We place the frame with the finished screen on the silkscreen machine, specifically on the printing pallets and using the printed film we center the print placement on the bag. Then we pour paint on the screen and can start printing.

silkscreen-printing-demonstration
Screen in its place, paint poured, we're printing…

Screen cleaning

After printing, the screen must be thoroughly cleaned, stripped and prepared for new emulsion application. Over time, it's necessary to clean the mesh from residues of previous prints and also stretch new mesh, which is another item included in the total print preparation cost.