Screen printing has one failure mode that accounts for more ruined jobs than every other combined: undercured ink.
Plastisol doesn’t air dry. It looks dry on the surface while remaining completely uncured underneath, so a print can survive folding, handling and shipping, then come apart in the first wash. That’s why “it looked dry” is the most expensive sentence in screen printing.
This guide covers the whole process, what equipment you actually need, how to choose mesh, and how to cure properly. It’s part of our wider fabric printing section.
How It Works
Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh stencil onto fabric, one colour at a time.
A screen is coated with light-sensitive emulsion, exposed to UV light through a film positive of the artwork, and washed out so that ink passes only where the design is. The screen is set a couple of millimetres above the garment, ink is flooded across the mesh and pulled through with a squeegee, and the print is cured with heat.
Each colour needs its own screen and its own pass, which is why screen printing rewards volume and punishes one-offs.
Equipment
Screens and frames. Aluminium frames are more dimensionally stable than wood, which warps with repeated washing. Pre-stretched screens are the sensible starting point.
Squeegee, sized appropriately for the screen.
Emulsion and a scoop coater. For plastisol work, an SBQ or dual-cure emulsion.
Film positives — your artwork printed on transparency film, usually with an inkjet or laser printer.
Exposure unit or UV light source.
A flat printing surface or tabletop press, plus pallet adhesive to hold the garment flat.
Ink — plastisol for most apparel work.
A curing solution. This is the part people underbudget. A flash dryer or heat press capable of holding 320°F (160°C) is the minimum. A household iron is not adequate to cure plastisol to washfast standards.
Cleaning chemicals — emulsion remover, ink degradent, degreaser.
Choosing Mesh Count
Mesh count is threads per inch. It controls how much ink passes through and how fine a detail the stencil can hold — and it’s a decision you can’t fix later.
Lower mesh lets more ink through: better opacity, less detail. Higher mesh holds finer detail with a lighter, softer deposit.
| Mesh | Best for |
|---|---|
| 30–38 | Glitter ink |
| 60–86 | Athletic prints, puff, metallic, specialty inks |
| 110–125 | General plastisol, white underbase, heavy deposits |
| 156–160 | The general-purpose compromise for spot colour work |
| 180–200 | Multi-colour wet-on-wet, nylon jackets |
| 200–230 | Fine line work, water-based ink |
| 230–305 | Halftones, simulated and four-colour process |
If you’re starting out, 110–160 covers most work. Many printers use 110 for white underbase and around 156 as their general-purpose screen.
Be aware that very fine mesh with thick plastisol simply clogs — the ink can’t get through. Match the mesh to the ink as much as to the detail.
Preparing the Screen
Degrease the mesh first. Dust and oils cause emulsion to bead, leaving pinholes that let ink through where it shouldn’t.
Coat with emulsion in a darkroom, or a space lit only by yellow, orange or red safelight — emulsion is photosensitive. Use a scoop coater roughly 4 inches narrower than the screen, held at about 15°, and pull upward in one smooth motion.
Dry fully in the dark. Incomplete drying causes exposure problems.
Expose through the film positive.
Exposure time cannot be copied from a video. It depends on your emulsion, your lamp, the distance and the mesh count. Find it with a step test: expose one screen in bands of increasing time, wash out, and see which band holds detail while clearing cleanly.
Underexposed screens wash out too easily and lose fine detail. Overexposed screens harden in areas that should clear, blocking parts of the design.
Wash out with water until the image is clear, then dry fully.
Inspect for pinholes and block them with tape or blockout before printing.
Printing
Off-contact. The screen sits a couple of millimetres above the garment so the mesh snaps back after the stroke. Printing flat on the shirt causes smearing.
Flood then print. Flood the screen with ink first, then pull with the squeegee.
Squeegee angle and pressure matter more than force. The aim is to deposit an even layer on the surface, not to drive ink into the fabric. Excessive pressure produces a thin, patchy print and pushes ink too deep.
Registration — alignment between colours — is what makes multi-colour work look professional or amateurish. Use registration marks and take time over setup.
White underbase on dark garments. Without a white layer beneath, coloured ink takes on the garment’s colour and looks dull. Print white, flash cure it, then print colours on top.
Curing: The Part That Decides Everything
Plastisol cures at 320°F (160°C) — and the whole ink film must reach that temperature, not just the surface.
Measure, don’t guess. Use a temperature probe (a donut probe or heat strips) that travels through the dryer and reads the ink film itself. Dryer dials are frequently inaccurate.
Flash curing is not full curing. A flash dryer sets the surface so you can print another colour on top. It doesn’t fully cure the print.
Proper curing means a conveyor dryer holding the garment in a heated chamber long enough for the ink film to reach temperature throughout. Heat presses can cure, but require correct time and pressure.
Test it. The stretch test — stretch the printed area and see whether it cracks — gives a rough indication. A wash test is the real proof.
Properly cured plastisol on 100% cotton survives 50 to 100+ washes without significant fading, and often stays in good condition for years.
Inks
Plastisol — the industry standard. PVC-based, sits on the fabric surface, vivid on dark garments, extremely durable when cured. Doesn’t air dry, which is why screens can sit loaded between runs.
Water-based — soaks into the fabric, much softer hand-feel, a more vintage look. Harder on dark garments and needs careful curing. Usually needs higher mesh.
Discharge — removes the garment’s own dye and replaces it with pigment, giving almost no hand-feel on dark cotton. Only works on reactive-dyed 100% cotton, and results vary between garments.
Specialty inks — puff, metallic, glitter, high-density. All need lower mesh counts so the larger particles can pass through.
Garment Choice
Fabric affects results more than beginners expect.
Ring-spun cotton gives crisper prints than carded cotton — a smoother surface lets the ink film sit flat, while fuzzy fabric blurs edges.
Polyester and blends risk dye migration, where the garment’s own dye bleeds up into the print (most visibly turning white ink pink on red polyester). Manage it with low-bleed, high-opacity inks and lower cure temperatures where the ink allows.
Heavier fabric generally prints better than very lightweight tees.
Our T-shirts section covers blank selection in more detail.
Common Problems
Print cracks or washes off. Undercured. Measure actual ink film temperature with a probe rather than trusting the dryer dial. This is the most common failure by a wide margin.
Ink bleeding through where it shouldn’t. Pinholes in the emulsion, from inadequate degreasing or uneven coating. Block them before printing.
Stencil breaking down mid-run. Underexposed emulsion, or emulsion that wasn’t fully dry before exposure.
Detail lost in the design. Mesh too coarse for the artwork, or overexposure closing fine areas.
Screen clogging. Mesh too fine for the ink, or ink drying in the screen (an issue with water-based, not plastisol).
Smearing. No off-contact, or the garment shifting. Use pallet adhesive.
Colours look dull on dark shirts. No white underbase.
White ink turned pink on a red shirt. Dye migration from polyester content. Use low-bleed ink.
Print feels thick and heavy. Too much ink deposit — try a higher mesh, or reduce squeegee pressure.
Where DIY Stops
Home screen printing works well for small runs, personal projects and learning. The constraints are real though: curing equipment is the main barrier, multi-colour registration is difficult without a proper press, and throughput is low.
For runs beyond a few dozen multi-colour garments, commercial printing usually costs less per unit than the equipment, consumables and time required to do it yourself.
Where to Go From Here
- Fabric Printing — comparing screen printing against DTG, transfers and sublimation
- T-Shirt / Garment Printing — decoration methods and garment choice
- Fabric Paint & Hand-Printing — lower-equipment alternatives
Related areas:
- T-Shirts — choosing blanks that print well
- Fabric Dyeing — dye chemistry, including why discharge printing works
- Embroidery Machines — the main alternative decoration method
Frequently Asked Questions
What mesh count should I start with? 110 to 160 covers most beginner work. Many printers use 110 for white underbase and heavy deposits, and around 156 as a general-purpose screen for spot colour. Go coarser (60–86) for specialty inks like puff and metallic, and finer (230+) only for halftones and fine detail.
Can I cure plastisol ink with a household iron? No. Plastisol needs the entire ink film to reach 320°F (160°C), and an iron can’t hold that consistently across the print. Prints cured this way commonly fail in the first wash. A flash dryer or heat press that reaches and holds 320°F is the minimum.
How do I know if my print is properly cured? Measure the ink film temperature with a probe that travels through the dryer — dryer dials are often inaccurate. As a rough field check, stretch the printed area; if it cracks, it’s undercured. A wash test is the definitive proof.
Why did my print crack after washing? Undercured ink, almost certainly. It’s the single most common screen printing failure. The ink looked dry on the surface but never reached fusion temperature throughout the film.
What exposure time should I use? There’s no transferable number — it depends on your emulsion, lamp, distance and mesh count. Run a step test: expose bands of increasing time on one screen, wash out, and use whichever band holds detail while clearing cleanly.
Why is ink bleeding through where it shouldn’t? Pinholes in the emulsion, usually from inadequate degreasing or uneven coating. Inspect every screen against a light before printing and block any pinholes with tape or blockout.
Do I need a white underbase? On dark garments, yes. Coloured ink printed directly onto dark fabric takes on the garment’s colour and looks dull. Print white first, flash cure it, then print the colours on top.
How long does a screen print last? Properly cured plastisol on 100% cotton survives 50 to 100+ washes without significant fading, and frequently stays in good condition for five to ten years with reasonable care. Cure quality is the deciding factor, far more than ink brand.
