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Screen Printing education

M

marcinito

New Member
Hello everyone.
I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question. I'm looking for place or best way to obtain training in screen printing industry. My company is adding Screen Printing (90% UV inks to plastic) and I hope to find a good place where I can learn about process. Any input or info would be really appreciate it.
ps. I do realize that there is a LOT to learn btw :)
 
tomence

tomence

New Member
I learned from my local screen printer i became friends with him and he let me help him for free but i learned everything that i needed to know. I still go there to see him and maybe pick up some new techniques or some new cool screen printing effects.
 
G-Artist

G-Artist

New Member
There is a huge amount to learn, that's for sure.

I could teach a monkey to print. Almost anyone can pull (or push) a squeegee.

The rest is experience. Proper art prep, screen making skills, ink chemistry, color mixing, etc. is where the knowledge comes into play.

I don't know if he is still around but a guy name Scott Fresner from AZ used to have classes on screen printing with an emphasis on textiles (as that was the rage when he started his business). They tell me he was pretty good and he had a column in a few trade mags. so I guess he was/is.

Equipment manufacturers also sponsor classes but mostly it is how to set up and run their product. That could be a must as well.

When I started, everyone jealously guarded their 'secrets' so I populated a library on screen printing (mostly pubs from Sign of the Times) and subscribed to every trade mag. I found.

Today there is a host of mags, books, CD vids and YouTube vids on virtually every aspect of the trade. Most of it is free or very cheap in price.

Good luck with UV. I wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole. I saw what happened to the folks who developed UV ink. I've seen what happened to folks who got splashed with that ink. I'll leave it at that except to warn you to ALWAYS wear protective clothing and proper safety equipment.
 
P

parrott

New Member
G-Artist said:
There is a huge amount to learn, that's for sure.

I could teach a monkey to print. Almost anyone can pull (or push) a squeegee.

The rest is experience. Proper art prep, screen making skills, ink chemistry, color mixing, etc. is where the knowledge comes into play.

I don't know if he is still around but a guy name Scott Fresner from AZ used to have classes on screen printing with an emphasis on textiles (as that was the rage when he started his business). They tell me he was pretty good and he had a column in a few trade mags. so I guess he was/is.

Equipment manufacturers also sponsor classes but mostly it is how to set up and run their product. That could be a must as well.

When I started, everyone jealously guarded their 'secrets' so I populated a library on screen printing (mostly pubs from Sign of the Times) and subscribed to every trade mag. I found.

Today there is a host of mags, books, CD vids and YouTube vids on virtually every aspect of the trade. Most of it is free or very cheap in price.

Good luck with UV. I wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole. I saw what happened to the folks who developed UV ink. I've seen what happened to folks who got splashed with that ink. I'll leave it at that except to warn you to ALWAYS wear protective clothing and proper safety equipment.
Click to expand...

Good points. I cannot put enough emphasis on the pre-press work (proper art/film, quality screens, proper exposure when burning, etc.) when screen printing. Like G-artist said, anybody can learn to hand pull or push a button; but it takes time and lots of experience to develop a solid pre-press operation. How would one expect to produce a quality product when the art or screen are produced half-ass?

As far as the UV, we have switched completely to UV except for a few customers. We are getting more square feet per gallon, no more gas dryers, no more racking, no slipsheeting and no VOC's. The inks aren't as dense, but the end customer usually doesn't notice. We can produce more faster with less washups and screens never drying out. UV is a great way to save time and money.

Good luck on your venture into screen printing!
 
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