DIY Silkscreening: Cheap Easy Way to Make Personalized Clothing

Materials

The Process In Steps

Step one

Measure your wooden frame and then log onto your cricut design space to make a design that fits the dimensions you calculated.

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Step two

Now set your vinyl so that it is ready to cut and then have the cricut cut it out. The video shows me going through the prompts on the computer.

step three

Now it is time to reverse weed your design, please make sure you do not make the mistake of weeding it the normal way.

Step four

Measure the silk and vinyl so that it fits the wooden frame.

Step five

Now iron the HTV stencil to the silk screen, make sure it is well applied to the screen. It is also helpful if you wait for the vinyl to cool before peeling off the plastic. And after the plastic is peeled you will want to have the iron go over it again with a teflon sheet in between.

Step six

Now it's time to staple the Silk screen onto the wooden frame. Make sure the silk is being pulled very tight.

Step seven

Grab the apparel you plan on using and pull it over the table/board that is attached to the machine

Step eight

Tape of the edges that require it then place the screen on to the clothing so that it looks like it is upside down.

Step nine

Now apply the paint onto the shirt and spread it around using the spatula.

Step ten

Lift the screen up off the clothing by pulling straight up.

Step eleven

Take the clothing off the board and then blow dry it with a blow dryer until it is no longer sticky.

Step twelve

Iron the paint into the shirt with a teflon sheet in between.

Step thirteen

You now have your final product. Repeat this process however many times you need it.

Step fourteen

Rinse off the spatulas and the screen, and then leave it out to dry.

Commonly Asked Questions

Do you have to mirror the design when it is being use for silk screening?

Yes.

Do you weed out the design like normal?

No you do the opposite it is called reverse weeding.

Do you have to wash the screen after every use?

No, only if you switch colors, or are done using the screen so the paint does dry on it.

What does the blue part of the machine do?

It clamps onto the wood frame and spins so that you could apply many different colors

Troubleshooting

You might have some ink bleeding out from where the design is placed, this just means that the vinyl is not well adhered to the screen. First I would go back and try to to iron it on better, but if it still does not work after that then the vinyl could just be low quality. You may also burn through the silk screen. So what do you do now? Well you could try to peel it off but that does not always work. End all be all I would suggest just taking the screen of the wood frame and then staple on another screen. Unfortunately that means you would have to start all over.