Screen printing advice desperately needed!

[harshrealms]

I've recently started doing very amateur screen printing and cannot seem to get it right.  I'm just using sunlight to expose my images and I've only gotten one usable stencil out of the 6 I have tried making! And that one was still pretty rough! The emulsion never washes out right no matter what times I expose it for! Someone save me, please! Hehe

[kawaiihelen]

hey! just dont give up with screen printing - when you finally get it right its a dream hehe!

i'd say maybe use a light rather than the sun to expose your image, just much more controllable!! Also if you expose the emulsion for too long the light will bend around your lines and you'll loose definition and thin lines won't even show.

Also make sure after you've coated your screen with the emulsion you need to let it dry in the dark, complete darkness so no light can get at it.

The last thing is to make sure you have a good opaque image on acetate to use, if the line work isn't opaque enough then the light will shine through and expose it.

Hope this helps, it took me ages to get the hang of it at first so dont stress 

[harshrealms]

Thank you so much for all of your advice! But what kind of light would you recommend used indoors? Would a normal desk lamp work or do i need to purchase something specific?

[kawaiihelen]

yeah desk lamp would be fine i wouldve thought, just use a strong bulb and bend it directly over your screen with the image inbetween 

would love to know how you get on next attempt

[LaBajista]

How long are you exposing it in the sunlight?

Leanne