Screen Printing Terms Explained

I have become privy to the fact that us screen printer’s have a language all our own. I will try to help the new person understand what we are saying. Here are some common phrases and their translation in a stream of consciousness off the top of my head.

Screen printing, silk screen printing, and serigraph are all the same thing.

Platen, pallet, and board are all the same thing.

Squeegee- the tool we use to push and pull ink around the screen.

Stroke- the act of using squeegee to push or pull ink on or through mesh. “pull stroke” “push stroke” I push my flood and pull my stroke.

Flood- the act of laying ink over the stencil/mesh without printing.

Dark Room- place we can work with emulsion without UV light.

Emulsion- Light sensitive chemical we put on screen mesh to make the stencil.

Exposure- the act of controlling the light exposed to the emulsion after it is dry on the screen mesh. Wherever light hits the emulsion will harden.

Film Positive- black ink on clear or transparent paper/plastic. We, using clear tape, place the film positive on the emulsion coated screen where we want to print. The film sits between the exposing light and the emulsion coated mesh. This prevents light from hitting areas we want ink to flow through.

Develop- the act of rinsing out the emulsion, after the screen has been exposed, with water. Where light hits, the emulsion will stay/harden. Non-exposed emulsion will rinse out because the film blocked the light.

Burning Screens- is what we call the whole screen stencil making process. Coating, Exposure, and Developing would all be included. When we ask are the screens burned? and you reply “yes” then we expect to move on to taping off and alignment on press of the screens. If you reply “no” we will ask where it is in the process…..most likely you will say the emulsion is drying as this is normally the biggest bottle neck.

Off Contact- the space between the sub-straight (poster, shirt, anything you are printing on) and the screen in the down position.