Screenprinting Supplies
1. Screens
- Homemade wood frame
- Wood frame – either make your own, use canvas stretchers or picture frame
- Mesh
- Staple gun
- Pre-bought wood frame with groove
- Speedball frames (Opus)
- Blim screens, also Dick Blick
- To re-screen you will need screen cord, mesh and screen cord tool
- Metal pre-stretched frames – Willox, Vancouver or G&S Dye, Toronto
2. Creating Images (Positives)
Options for creating positive images for photo emulsion method:
- Hand drawn images with ink, acrylic paint, pen on mylar, tracing paper, vellum or other transparent paper
- Transparencies for inkjet printer, photocopier or laser printers. You can also look for a print shop that can print and send transparencies to you.
- Oiled photocopies
- Found objects?
3. Cleaning Screens
- Mr. Clean or other cleaning product to clean dirt, oil and ink
- Hose and sink (shower head works well)
4. Coating and Drying Screens
- Photo emulsion – Speedball (Opus)
- Squeegee or scoop coater
Light proof space
- Large box or light proof closet
4. Burning Screens
Basic Exposure Unit
- Lamp/light fixture
- Light bulb – 150W or 250W Photoflood
- Black paper
- Pie plate
- Chair or other stand
- Fan
- Glass
- Tape measure
5. Printing
- Basic Printing Table
- Plywood board cut to size
- Screenprinting Hinge clamps or hinges with removable pins
- Screws and screwdriver and or drill
- Masking tape
- Mylar or transparent paper for registration
- Screenprinting ink for fabric or paper
- Squeegee
- Packing tape to cover holes or parts of the screen you don’t want to print
- Scrap paper
- Spraybottle and paper towel or rags to wipe screen
- Spatulas
- Wood blocks or cardboard scraps to keep inky surfaces away from working area
6. Cleaning Screens
- Mr. Clean and scrub brush to remove ink
- Emulsion remover (comes with Speedball photo emulsion)
Screenprinting Stores
Blim
Vancouver and online
Blim is a art and craft store, facility and a great resource of screenprinting located in Chinatown in Vancouver. They also provide regular screenprinting workshops and an open studio as well they sell screenprinting supplies.
Blim uses reusable wood frames with a groove and cord. They also sell reasonably priced mesh (screen fabric) for $4 – 8 per a screen.
They may also create transparencies for you as well as burn screens.
G & S Dye
Toronto and online
G & S Dye is a textile design supply store in Toronto. They have their own screenprinting pigment system where you mix a coloured dye into a transparent or white base. It requires a neutral BASE and colour concentrated pigments. The pigment colours are added to the base to produce brilliant colours. This is a transparent system so the paint are for white or light coloured fabrics or paper. They also sell other screenprinting supplies that you can order online or by phone.
Opus
Vancouver and online
Opus has all the basic screenprinting supplies including Speedball emulsion and different brands of ink. They sell mesh and Speedball frames.