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When well cared for, your Speedball screen can last for hundreds of screen printing projects. The clean up process for your screen is simple. You just need a sink and soft brush. You can clean your screen with dish soap but I have not found that necessary.
Immediately after you finish your prints, remove the adhesive vinyl from the back of your screen. I use a palette knife to scrape off the small detail pieces. I have found this tool to be easier than a plastic knife. Be careful not to tear or poke a hole in your screen when you are doing this! You can also use your fingernail to pick off the small pieces.
Process Video:
SUPPLIES I USE:
- Dollar Tree Tooth Brushes (soft)
- palette knife for scraping off small pieces of vinyl
- Dish Drying Mat
It is normal for some colors to stain the screen. This is okay – it doesn't affect the quality of your future prints. Over time my frames and screens have stains from a variety of projects. If you want to replace your Speedball screen, this tutorial walks you through replacing your Speedball screen.
I have a very small sink in my art space so it takes some turning and maneuvering to get the entire screen cleaned. I replaced our standard sink faucet with a pull down sprayer. This has helped speed up the cleaning process a ton! If you don't have a spray feature on your sink, you can use the soft brush and a steady stream of water just the same.
After your screen and tools are clean, leave them try dry before starting on your next screen printing project!
Love all your tutorials and lists etc! I just did my first test print on a piece of remnant cloth tonight and all went well BUT when I tried to do it a second time I barely got any image at all. Do you have any idea why this happened? I thought (maybe) I didn’t have enough ink so I added a little more but STILL I got only a hint/partial unrecognizable image. I’m stumped.
It sounds like the ink dried in the screen. I find that it’s helpful to have all of my blanks lined up next to my work station, ready to print. That way I can quickly go from one shirt to the next without leaving the screen too long. If you do need to walk away from the screen for a few minutes, you can “flood” the screen with ink- lift the screen and squeegee over the design one time to fill the design with ink (just remember that there is now ink in the screen so you will need to prop it up and not set it flat on the table). When you are ready to print again, the screen is ready to go!
Thanks so much for your quick reply…I didn’t see it until just now. I must’ve missed a notification. Thank you thank you! When I mentioned “second time” it was immediately right after. Since then, after I rinsed my screen with vinyl AND painter’s tape still stuck to my screen, I made sure everything was dry and gave it another whirl. With my giant Speedball squeegee, it took four (((hard))) passes to get one good print. Right after, I decided to use my plastic scraper (the thing you use to burnish vinyl transfers) and while it was SO MUCH EASIER to just scrape/swipe right where my images were instead of “drawing down” the entire screen with the Speedball squeegee, I was only able to get about 5 prints before the ink started to seep/bleed.
Check out this video and I think it may have some helpful tips. Let me know if you are still running into issues! How to Avoid Screen Print Bleeding
https://youtu.be/mPqE86w81LE