SCREEN PRINTING
HOW IT WORKS
What Is It?
Screen printing is a big part of how your designs get turned into products here at McKenzie & Co. It's the process of transferring a design onto a surface (t-shirt, hoodie, tote bag, poster, etc.) by pushing ink through a mesh screen with a squeegee, it’s equal parts art and craft.
COLOR SEPARATION
In screen printing, each color of ink is printed separately, so the artwork must be separated into layers—one per color. For a 3-color design (red, green, blue) you create three screens, each showing only the areas where that specific color prints; the screens are then registered (aligned) and printed in sequence to build the final image. When printing on dark garments an extra screen known as an underbase is required. It serves the same function as a primer does when painting a wall, creating a solid foundation for the other ink colors to show true and opaque.
THE
SCIENCE OF THE SCREEN:
At the heart of every great print is a well made screen, and we pride ourselves with being screen nerds around here.
We start with a fine polyester mesh stretched tight over an aluminum frame. We coat this mesh with emulsion—a liquid glue that is designed to harden when exposed to UV light.
Next, your design is printed onto a coated screen with solid black wax. We then blast the wax image side of the screen with intense UV light. The light hits the exposed areas, causing the emulsion to "cross-link" and turn into a hard, waterproof plastic, while the black wax acts like sunblock, shielding the emulsion underneath from the light and keeping it soft.
Once the light has done its job, we spray the screen with water. The hardened background stays put, while the soft emulsion that was hidden behind your design simply washes away. This is also known as developing the screen.
This leaves a perfect, open "window" in the mesh in the exact shape of your design.
SETUP & REGISTRATION
If your design has more than one color, this is a critical step. Since every color requires its own separate screen, they all have to line up perfectly—down to the millimeter.
1. First, we set up a separate station on our press for every screen (color) in your design.
2. Then, using precision dials, we align each screen so that the colors "lock" together like a puzzle. If one screen is off by even the thickness of a hair, the final print can look blurry or shifted.
3. Lastly, we run a "strike-off" (a sample print) to ensure every tiny detail overlaps exactly as intended before we start the full production run.
THE PRINTING PROCESS
Now that the screens are "burned" and perfectly aligned, it’s time to move ink to fabric.
We load the screen(s) with whatever color of ink needed. We then perform a "flood pass"—lightly spreading the ink across the stencil to ensure every open pore in the mesh is filled and ready.
Using a rubber blade called a squeegee, we apply firm, even pressure across the screen. This shear force pushes the ink through the open mesh and bonds it directly into the fibers of the garment.
As the squeegee passes, the tension of the mesh causes the screen to "snap" away from the shirt instantly. This quick release is what creates those crisp, sharp edges you want to see from a great screen print .
THE CURE
Your shirt isn't finished the moment the ink hits it! To make the print permanent and "retail-ready," we send it through a high-temperature industrial dryer. The ink reaches a specific temperature (usually around 160°C) where it chemically bonds to the fabric. This ensures your design won't crack, fade, or wash off in the laundry.
QUALITY CHECK
Each one is inspected for print quality, then folded, packed, and ready to wear or ship.
Minimum order size for first time customers is 24 pieces of each style of garment.
Screen printing requires the same amount of set-up for 1 shirt or 1,000, and price per shirt increases substantially.
Using fewer ink colors, or letting the shirt’s color be part of the design, can lower setup costs.
