Screen Printing
The best way of printing onto most cotton clothing is screen printing. Screen printing is ideal for large designs and is RDM’s technique of choice for t-shirt printing because of the quality it produces.
The Screen Printing Process
Screens are made by putting a chemical emulsion on a mesh surface. Vector artwork is taken from Adobe Illustrator or Freehand and printed out on a film type paper or vellum. The screen is then exposed on a light table with the artwork under it. The light solidifies the chemicals around the design, and where the light failed to pass through, the chemical breaks down. The screen is then rinsed out and what is left is the area where the light hit.
The shirt is placed on a platen and each screen swings around over the top of the shirt. The screen is then brought down and placed on top of the shirt. A squeegee is then pulled over that screen's ink colour which pushes the ink onto the shirt fabric. That screen is then lifted, carefully off of the shirt. The platen with the shirt is then moved under a flash unit where it dries. Upon curing, the shirt platen is brought back and the next colour screen is swung over the top of it.