Screen Printing

Screen printing is one of the most versatile printing processes. It can be used to print on a wide variety of materials, including paper, paperboard, plastics, glass, metals, fabrics, and many other materials making it ideal for creating custom designs. We commonly use screen printing to create a wide range of custom products ranging from T-shirts emblazoned with vibrant, full colour designs to posters, cermics, labels, decals, signage, and much more.

The screen printing process uses a porous mesh stretched tightly over a frame made of wood or metal. The mesh is made of porous fabric or stainless steel mesh. A stencil is produced on the screen either manually or photochemically. The stencil defines the image to be printed. Screen printing ink is applied to the substrate (the surface of the object you want to print on) by placing the screen over the material. Ink with a paint-like consistency is placed onto the top of the screen and is then forced through the screen’s fine mesh openings using a squeegee that is drawn across the screen. By applying pressure the ink is forced through the open areas of the screen. Ink passes through only in areas where no stencil is applied, thus forming an image on the printing substrate. The detail of the mesh screen determines how much ink is deposited onto the substrates.

(Click HERE to see the differences between various imaging processes)

Submitting Your Photo or Graphic

Because screen printing often requires application of more than one colur of ink to produce the finished product we require artwork that can be separated into layers representing each colour of ink to be applied in the design.

Generally this means that you will have to give us files in vector format  (including Illustrator .eps or .ai files AND CorelDraw 10 files).

Tips when submitting artwork:

1. Make sure all fonts have been converted outlines or curves
2. Assign Pantone Numbers (or stock ink names) to the colors in your design
3. When in doubt, please call and we'll be happy to help you!