Most often, the process is used for printing onto posters, fabrics and packaging. The screen printing process has been around for a long time and has evolved from simple stencilling to a complete merchanised printing method. Put CPS to work on a silk printing project for you.Screen printing is one of the most popular printing techniques used amongst a vast range of companies for printing designs onto various products. While overly simplified, hopefully this description provides a basic understanding of how silk screen printing works. Solvents within the ink dissolve during this time, leaving a hardened ink on the bottle. This process allows the ink to cure and adhere to the container. We send our printed containers through large dryers set at specific temperatures for specified time periods. By carefully timing both the movement of the screen and the bottle, a clear image is left on the container. In the case of bottle printing, where the print surface is round, we have to rotate the bottle at the same speed we move the screen across the bottle. Silk screen printing involves pushing ink through the holes in silk in the shape of the image previously burned into the screen. The screen is also placed on the machine. Squeegees that fit the dimensions of the container must also be found and a myriad of other adjustments must be made to a machine to allow the container to be printed correctly. Gears must be used which match the diameter and size of the container to be printed. With the screen ready, a semiautomatic machine must be set up to print a specific container with the specific image already burned into our screen. Following the exposure time, a screen is washed, and all emulsion covered by the film positive washes out, leaving the desired picture or image clearly burned into the screen.Because the film positive is covering parts of the emulsion, those parts or not hardened and may be washed out. Similar to photography, the emulsion is exposed to light, which hardens the emulsion in all uncovered areas. At Container & Packaging Supply, we use a metal light box which controls the amount and type of light to which the screen is exposed. Next, a film positive (a picture of the desired print on a clear plastic sheet) is taped to the emulsion-covered screen, and the screen is placed in a lighted area.Once a screen is stretched, the screen is coated with an emulsion (similar to emulsion used in a photographic process).

If the screen is too tight, it may easily tear during the printing process, or peel away from the wood or metal frame. When a screen is too loose, the silk is allowed to shift slightly, causing a blurry image. A screen must be stretched to a specified degree of tension. A screen is a piece of silk stretched tightly over a wooden or metal frame. Silk screen printing is a fairly involved process, with many steps. If you are interested in multiple colors, consider a label (for larger quantities) or a heat transfer process. Also, the loss or scrap factor increases significantly. We can print 3 color designs, but such prints become very difficult and more expensive. Silk screening is very effective for one and two color designs. Silk Screen printing is the most common and widely used form of decoration in the industry.

Silkscreen process