DIY SCREEN

PRINTING

A step by step guide to printing

t-shirts on a budget by

youtube.com/charlimarieTV

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Screen printing on a budget
AN INTRODUCTION
I was in university when I started my little
apparel company, Liner Note Kids. Being a
student, with rent and other essentials to pay for,
I didn’t have the spare cash to invest in getting
bulk lots of merchandise printed. So when I
decided I wanted to increase the quality of my
products and have them screen printed I knew I’d
have to find a way to do it myself, on a budget.
There is a lot of trial and error involved in DIY
screen printing, but it is SO rewarding when it
works. The method I use has been developed
from trying many different tutorials online and
reading advice in forums. This guide includes
not only the process step by step, but tips about
things I learned the hard way so that you don’t
have to.
charlimarie.com/screen-printing
This is a written accompaniment to the video
explanation of my screen printing process which
you can watch here.
Before you get started, check that screen printing
is the best method for your needs and learn a
little more about it in this video about t-shirt
printing techniques. Be aware that DIY screen
printing is not going to give you perfect screens
like a professional company would produce, but
for what I do and hopefully for what you need
them for too, that doesn’t matter. The point is
you’ll be able to print t-shirts yourself using
handmade screens that haven’t cost you an arm
and a leg.
Let’s get into it!
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STEP ONE
Making the screens
YOU WILL NEED
You’ve got two options here: you can buy a
pre-made screen or make one yourself. You
• 2cm thick wood cut to
can generally buy professional screens from art
size for each side of your
stores or online (exhibit A) but I can’t personally
frame (or deep picture
recommend a site as I’ve always made my own.
frames)

Be sure to buy or make a screen that’s at least a

• Wood glue
few centimeters bigger than your design on all
edges, to give yourself space to work.
• Screws

To make your own screens, follow these

• Power drill
instructions. Be aware that unless you are
excellent at woodwork, homemade screens will
• Swiss voile or any
not be perfect. But that’s okay. I generally try
synthetic fabric with a
make several frames at once, and you should
small weave
always make yourself one extra to use as a test
screen (more on that later).
• Staple gun

To see this process in action, watch this video.

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THE METHOD

1 Start with two pieces, gluing them together, then drilling

a hole through and securing with a screw. Press the edges
down on a flat surface while you do this. You want to end
up with one face of the frame that’s as flat as possible, but
it’s okay if the other face is a bit uneven.

2 Repeat with the other pieces until you have a solid frame.
Leave the glue to dry for a few hours or overnight.

3 Cut your fabric wider than the frame. We’re going to be

stretching it over so make sure you give yourself enough to
hold onto. It can be trimmed down later. Place the screen on
it with the flattest side down.

4 Starting in one corner staple the fabric in place. Pull taut

and staple the other end, then fill in the middle. You don’t
want any ripples in the fabric. You want it to be pulled tight
(but not so tight that it rips so be careful. It’s stronger than
you think though). Repeat for the other sides.

5 Trim excess fabric from the edges (not too close to the
staples) and you’re done.

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STEP TWO
Preparing the screens
To get your design on to the screen we’re going YOU WILL NEED
to use a photo-emulsion process that involves
using chemicals that harden in UV light (aka the • Emulsion and sensitizer
sun). This is the tricky part so take your time (I use the Speedball Diazo
with it and follow the steps carefully. Don’t be brand linked here)
discouraged if your first few screens don’t turn
out right; it’s all part of the learning experience. • Newspaper to protect
In this step we’ll be preparing the screens by surfaces
covering them with the emulsion chemicals.
• A dim room
This process is talked through in this video.
• Pieces of card with a
straight edge on at least
one side, or a squeegee

• Push pins

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THE METHOD

1 Prepare a large flat surface with newspaper to work on in

a dimly lit room. The chemicals you’ll be working with
harden in sunlight so play it safe and close the curtains.

2 Mix together the emulsion and sensitizer as instructed on

the bottle. I like to use an old chopstick for this. Be aware
that with the Diazo brand I linked to, you’ll need two
bottles of sensitiser for one bottle of emulsion.

3 Push a pin into the corners of each frame on the flat side
(the side with the fabric on it) so that it can stand on them
without the fabric touching the surface.

4 Pour a large dollop of emulsion onto the inside of the screen

(the opposite of the flat side, it’s called the ‘well’) and start
spreading it out using the flat edged card or squeegee. The
aim is to get an even thin coat of emulsion on each side
of the screen so it’s better to work slowly adding a bit at a
time than to pour too much on at once.

5 Once the inside is covered flip it over and spread emulsion

on the flat side. It won’t need as much poured on as some
of the emulsion you poured on the inside will have seeped
through.

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6 Flip the screen again and go over the well surface one more
time to make it as even as possible, then set the screen to
dry, standing on the pins, in a dark place. I like to use a
cupboard or a wardrobe. You’ll want to put some newspaper
underneath to catch any drips.

7 Cover a scrap of spare fabric with emulsion and leave that to

dry as well. We’ll use it in a test later.

8 Leave the screens and fabric strip to dry. I leave mine

overnight but you can try pointing a fan at them to make
them dry faster if you’re in a rush.

TIP
Got a lot of drips on your screen? Don’t worry mine get
that too. It’s generally not a problem if they’re at the edges,
but it could cause issues if they’re in the middle. Next time
try using less emulsion, and make sure your fabric is taut,
as drips in the middle are a sign the fabric is sagging there.

If you have drips or irregularities with the middle area of

your screen you may still be able to place the design in a
way that is still usable.

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STEP THREE
Exposing the screens YOU WILL NEED

• Your design printed out

In this step we’ll be getting your design onto the as black as possible on a
screen by using sunlight to harden the emulsion. transparent sheet
The ideal conditions for this step are a bright, but
overcast day. One of those days where the sky • A board wider than the
is grey, but it isn’t going to rain anytime soon. screen
You can do it on days with full sun too, you just
have to work a bit quicker. Don’t worry if that’s • Dark fabric (I use an
confusing, it’s all explained below. old duvet cover from a
secondhand store)
Before you expose your proper screens, you
need to do a test, using a scrap of fabric with • A piece of glass that’s
emulsion, and a spare screen, to check how long bigger than your design.
you should expose for.
• Spray or shower nozzle
Remember, this process is talked through in this with high pressure
video.
• Scrubber sponge

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THE TEST SCREEN METHOD

1 First, take the scrap of fabric with emulsion on it outside

under a black cloth. Uncover the fabric and hit start on a
timer and watch the colour of the emulsion darken. When
it’s exposed in the sunlight, the emulsion will turn from
bright green to a darker bluey green (if you’re using the
Diazo brand too). Watching how quickly this piece of fabric
changes colour is important because you can get a feel
for what to watch for without the stress of using a proper
screen. Note how long the fabric took to darken. Did it
happen quickly in the space of ten-to-twenty seconds? Or
did it take longer?

2 Look at the time the emulsion on your fabric took to

darken and come up with a series of intervals you’d like
to test to get the perfect time. For example, if I think my
fabric darkened in about forty seconds I might want to test
intervals of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 seconds.

3 Next we’ll use one of the smaller screens you prepared Dark fabric
Cardboard
earlier to make a test by covering up sections with a piece
of card to get ‘stripes’ of different time increments. You Glass
do this test in conditions that are the same as you’ll be Transparency
exposing your real screens, so cover a board with some dark
Screen
fabric and, working in a dimly lit room, place the small
screen on top with the flat side facing up (opposite to how it
Board
was in the cupboard) and remove the pins.

4 Place a design on the flat side of the screen. Use a design

that means each ‘stripe’ will have some of the design in it.
You don’t need to see the whole design, it’s just to test what
timing works best. Cover the design with a piece of glass
(picture frame glass is handy for this), then add a piece of
cardboard on top. Then cover the whole screen with another
piece of black fabric–you don’t want light hitting it until
you start your timer.

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5 Take it outside and uncover the screen. Start your timer
and move the cardboard down a fraction to make your
first ‘stripe’ then continue to move it every ten seconds
(or however long you’ve decided, it may be less it may be
more).

6 When the time is up, throw the black fabric on top and
take it inside to the sink or shower set up with the spray
nozzle. Immediately start washing out the emulsion from
where your design is. You should be able to see the contrast
between the bright green unexposed emulsion behind where
your design was and the darker, hardened emulsion. The
difference may be faint at first but will get more apparent
as you wash the emulsion away. Try do this in a room
with no sunlight to avoid this unexposed emulsion getting
accidentally exposed.

7 Rub the design with your fingers or with a scrubber sponge

to help get it out. On one end of your test you may find
the ‘exposed’ emulsion rubs away too and that’s a sign it
60 secs
wasn’t exposed for long enough. That’s okay, that’s what 50 secs
we wanted to find out. Alternately, you might find at one 40 secs
end the design refuses to wash away at all and you can’t 30 secs
20 secs
see the contrast, that’s okay too. Your sweet spot is the 10 secs
stripe where the design washes out without taking any of
the surrounding emulsion with it, and looks sharpest and
clearest. That’s the time you’ll use to expose your proper
screens next.

TIP
There are many factors that affect how long emulsion takes
to harden: the cloud cover, the time of day, where you
are in the world. So it’s important to do a test every time
you expose screens. Just because it took a minute one day
doesn’t mean it won’t take just twenty seconds the next.

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THE ACTUAL EXPOSING METHOD

1 Just like with the timing test, place a screen on a board

covered with dark fabric with the flat side facing up. Take
out the pins and put your design transparency on the screen
backwards. The backwards part is super important, it
should be the mirror image of your design.

Dark fabric

2
Cardboard
Take the pins out and place a piece of glass on top. You
want to be sure the glass is making contact and really Glass
sandwiching the transparency and the screen. If you think Transparency
your screen might be sagging a little in the middle, put a
Screen
rolled up ball of dark fabric inside to lift it up and touch the
glass. Board

3 Cover the board and frame with dark fabric and take it
outside. Since you’ve done your test you know exactly how
long to expose it for, so then uncover it and start your
timer.

4 When the time is up, cover the board again immediately and
head inside to wash the emulsion out. Just like with the test
screen, don’t be afraid to use a sponge to scrub at it and
clear all the emulsion away from where your design was.

5 You’ll notice that when you look through the screen in

the ‘well’ side, the design is the right way around, which
means it will end up the right way on your t-shirt. When all
the emulsion is washed out behind your design, stand the
screen in the sun to really harden the remaining emulsion.
When it’s dry, stick some heavy duty tape around the edges
to make sure no ink can leak out when you print later.

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STEP FOUR
Printing the t-shirts
YOU WILL NEED
Once you’ve got a few screens exposed with
your designs it’s time for the fun part: actually
• Newspaper
printing some t-shirts. DIY screens can have
irregularities and quirks that make them not as
• Clamps
easy to print with as professional screens, so
have a bit of patience and realise that you won’t
• Your screen
get a print that looks exactly identical every time.
That’s part of the charm of DIY screen printing
• Water based screen
though! So it’s best to embrace it.
printing ink (I use
Permaset or Speedball)
You can watch me do this step in this video.

• Squeegee

• Small paintbrush

• Spray nozzle over a sink

or shower

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THE METHOD

1 Put some newspaper down on a flat surface with edges you

can clamp onto (I find my desk is good for this).

2 Put some more newspaper inside the t-shirt, making

sure it will cover the design. This step is really important,
otherwise your design will likely seep through onto the back
of the t-shirt too, which is not a good look.

3 Place the screen on top of the t-shirt. To centre it, mark

where the middle of the design is on the edge of the frame,
and line that up with the t-shirt label. Clamp the screen
down so it sits flat and can’t move. (If you’re using a desk
and there’s a corner you can’t clamp, you can just press
down on that with your hand while you print).

4 Scoop a bit of ink into the frame, above your design. You’ll
probably need less than you think.

5 Take a squeegee and ‘flood’ the screen, pulling the ink

across the design, and then swiping back up to ensure it is
all covered. The ink will go through the little holes in the
weave of the fabric on your screen and onto your t-shirt,
making your design appear.

6 Carefully lift the screen off and wash it out using a spray or
shower nozzle so that the ink doesn’t stick around and clog
up your frame.

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7 Since these screens are DIY, you may need to touch up your
design in places that either got overexposed, or perhaps had
a drip in them. For this I use a little paintbrush to dab extra
bits of ink on carefully wherever they are needed.

8 Leave your print until it is dry to the touch. I generally leave

mine overnight, but a few hours should do it.

9 Set the ink using an iron according to the instructions on

the container. I place a tea-towel in between the iron and
my design and press with dry heat for 5 minutes, then
take the tea-towel off and iron for a further 2 minutes.
Setting the print means it won’t come out or wear away in
the wash, so err on the side of caution and iron for too long
rather than too little.

10 That’s it! You’ve got a t-shirt to wear, give away or sell that
you’ve printed yourself. Well done, you.

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Want to learn more?
Check out my t-shirt business playlist over on my YouTube
channel, CharliMarieTV, here. On my channel you’ll find videos like
the ones above and many more about design, style and DIY’s.

Please reach out if you get stuck while following this process, or
just have a question you’d like answered. I’m only a tweet away
at the username @charliprangley, and other contact details are
available on my blog.

I hope you found this guide useful! I’d like to wish you the best of
luck with your screen printing. Have patience, persevere and enjoy
the process.

SHOP MY DESIGNS
Check out linernotekids.storenvy.com to
see all the hand-pulled DIY screen printed
shirts in my apparel collection.

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