Screen printing

Probably the most ubiquitous method on decoration or embellishment from garments to printed circuits.

The video below is a pretty good representation of how a print gets onto a tee shirt, although it's a very  basic set up, that light source is rather make do and mend, the principle is the same, light proof image, a light sensitive emulsion coated onto a polyester meshed screen, a uv light source and water to wash it out with..... 

So that's how you get a screen print.

Our main work is onto garments, bags and other textiles. 

We have printed skateboard decks and stickers before  and by working closely with local  specialists in embroidery and digital printing we can offer a full gamut of possibilities 
​from just one-offs to thousands of prints including re-branding of inside neck labels, swing tag and bagging

Embroidery and digital work can also be undertaken as we work closely with local experts. 

Artwork
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Supply your own, or we can design your logo, click the picture above to see the  artwork information page

Plastisol
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We use plastisols for most jobs as they are reliable, quite clean to use with no waste ink going down the drain, suitable to make transfers from and are Pantone® compatible.

They can be used as direct prints or as transfers, and work on many surfaces including, when used as a transfer, nylon  jackets, hi-viz vests & various bags.

The transfers have a very smooth finish as they are printed on a carrier paper and are also much thinner than a direct print, we use this method to print in-neck labels as we can achieve a very fine finish and small text is perfectly legible. 

It also works extremely well on jute bags giving a vibrant print with fine lines and text as good as on a cotton bag, printing them directly is very difficult as the material can't be cured with heat so an air drying ink is required and the fabric is so rough any moderately fine parts of a design can become blurred or lost in the  warp/weft. 
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You shouldn't iron a plastisol print as it will melt under the heat of the iron and make a mess, ironing on the reverse is usually fine.

Nylon
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For nylon and polyester bags we use nylobag or nylotex  which are  air curing and very robust.

Discharge & other 
Water-based inks
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Water-based inks are split into three types, discharge, transparent and opaque. 

Discharge printing, the ink when heated chemically removes and replaces the dye in cotton, gives vibrant colours onto dark material without an under-base or much feel to the print.

Is limited to working properly on 100% cotton which is reactive dyed, not all are, although bamboo mixes work too and other cotton mixes will give some interesting results.

Transparents work on white and unbleached material, ideal for tea towels as they can be ironed with impunity and have virtually no feel to the print, they are rather unsuited to coloured material as they sink into the fabric so unless it's black ink on for instance a red tee it'll not show up too well, yellow on that red tee  will be near  invisible.

Opaque versions can be used which work in a similar way to the plastisol in that it sits far more on top of the fabric and is opaque but has more of an obvious feel to the print, may not be iron-able.

Tools of the trade 

Carousel

Workhorse 6 colour manual.
​Heavyweight and constant registration


Heat Presses

Adkins swing away A3 flat bed & Adkins cap press

Ink
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The thing that colours.
We mostly use Magnaprint, Virus and Sericol.

Screen making

Parker 3kw rapid start light source.
UV light used to expose  screens.
We use CPS emulsion 

Separations

Canon 24" inkjet with Wasatch controller.