Screen Printing - December 2019/January 2020 - 29

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3

Janice Joplin image reprinted by International Coatings with permission from artist David Edward Byrd.

Figure 3 shows the side-by-side comparisons between the
two images.
If you want to deposit more ink without double stroking,
then basically the opposite is required: a softer squeegee at a
greater angle, slower print and flood speed, and more flood
pressure. All of these will help in depositing more ink onto
the substrate.
Being able to make adjustments on the fly means you
need different types of squeegee durometers on hand to be
able to switch them out. Be sure to have a few different types
of squeegee hardness available. You can even try an old,
rounded squeegee to see if that can add more ink when in a
bind. Rounded squeegees are great for printing puff inks or
other types of inks that do not require much detail.
What's getting in the way of most printers nowadays are
the complicated, ever-changing garment fabric components
and ever-expanding special effects requests pushing the
boundaries - adding multiple special effects on the same
design, for example. That's why I consider screen printing an
art form - yes, the machine operator is an artist!
But like every artist, each one has their own style. For
instance, I may add a softer squeegee first when I want to
add more ink deposit, another may simply adjust the angle.
Another may want to add more flood pressure to push the
ink into the screen prior to the squeegee. Someone may try a
little of all of them at once depending on the amount needed.
All of these adjustments will add more ink, but I guarantee no
two artists are alike. And that's a cool thing.
Another tip to keep in mind during the planning process
is if you think more ink will be needed for a certain color, try

using a lower mesh count or adding more emulsion to the shirt
side of the screen. Both of these methods can have a dramatic
effect on the ink deposit way before ink hits the screen.
Sometimes even the best setup, proper screens, squeegees, and adjustments simply may not get the desired results,
and you may have to head to the ink room and do some more
artistry. After you've done all the adjustments you can at the
press, you may find that one or several of the colors may just
be too strong. Try adding some clear base to the strong colors
and you should be able to reduce the strength so the color
blends and works with all the other colors in the design.
Most artists don't get a do-over of their art after it's been
printed, but when screen printing is in production, you can
still tweak the image until it's just right. Then you can make
thousands just like it, which is fun. To this day, I still run across
people wearing shirts with images I screen printed back in the
early '80s, and memories come flooding back on some of the
tweaks and changes I had to make when printing those jobs.
I can't stress enough the importance of getting to know
your tools. Know how each tool can affect your print, understand what parameters you can tweak to obtain more or less
ink deposits, and review what's in your arsenal. Your production process will be faster, your prints will be better, and your
customers will be happier.

Kieth Stevens is the Western regional sales manager for International
Coatings (iccink.com). He has been screen printing for more than 42
years and teaching screen printing for more than 12 years, is a regular
contributor to International Coatings' blogs, and won SGIA's 2014
Golden Image Award. He can be reached at kstevens@iccink.com.

DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020

http://www.iccink.com

Screen Printing - December 2019/January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - December 2019/January 2020