Learning screen printing - Emulsifying screens

It was about time!
In this post, it will be explained step by step how to emulsify screen printing screens, in an easy way and always thinking that it can be done at home without complications

In the workshop, the emulsion Aquasol Murakami is used.
The screen printing screen is 43 threads and 40x50 cm where an A3 fits and we have extra space.

Prepare our workspace.
We are going to get dirty. Be clear about it, emulsifying in 90% of cases is synonymous with getting dirty. That is why we must work with clothes that we do not care much about and on a table or spacious place where we can work easily. The emulsion is photosensitive so if it gets direct light it can get damaged and will not perform the developing function. I recommend using a mosquito bulb, or yellow light bulb, it gives a lot of light and does not affect the emulsion. A red developing bulb also works or placing a yellow plastic paper covering the light that shines on us.

Emulsifying the screen.
I have the habit of placing the screen on the table facing up, I pour the emulsion directly on the screen at one end and use a screen printing squeegee to spread it, I pass the squeegee several times... yes, surely the screen printing gurus will say I am crazy for doing more than 1 or 2 passes... I spread the emulsion evenly over the entire screen and always in the same direction. I give several passes with the squeegee to make sure everything is uniform and not to put more emulsion. Another habit I have is to make the last pass with the squeegee on the inner side of the screen. Why? This way the excess emulsion will remain on the outer side. We always print on the inner side of the screen and that makes the squeegee always in contact with the inner emulsion and over time and with humidity it can wear out and it is better to have little emulsion thickness inside to avoid it.

Drying the emulsified screen.
This is the most fun moment of the emulsion process (irony off).
In the workshop, a hot air gun is used and we apply hot air from about 40-50cm away and we dry and touch with the hand on the sides to see if it is completely dry, we will also see that the dry parts will be a more opaque color and without shine. Be careful! if you use a hot air gun and bring it too close to the screen fabric you can burn it and it will break.



And Voila!
We already have our emulsified screen printing screen dried and waiting to do the exposure with our design.