Made at theCO with Zac Pankey

In the past month theCO has added a full-service screen printer to its slate of gadgets, and is flexing its muscles by rolling out a full line of t-shirts that have all been printed in-house. Below we take a closer look at how Zac Pankey, one of two incredible interns, goes about the process from start to finish.

Materials:

• Silk screen
• Squeegee
• Water-based fabric ink
• Screen-printing press
• Blank t-shirt material
• Ink "distributor (spoon, knife, etc.)
• Heat-lamp 
• Transparency paper
• Ink-jet laser printer
• Emulsion solution + applicator 
• Light box (for exposure so that design may transfer)

Step 1

Beginning with choosing a t-shirt design, Zac used theCO’s ink-jet laser printer to apply it onto transparency paper. From there, he applied a reactive, emulsive gel to a clean silk screen. After allowing the gel to dry on the screen, attaching the design, and being exposed to a UV box, the image successfully transferred to the screen and was ready to function as a stencil.

Step 2

Once the screen was finished and dried, it was then centered onto a printing press and leveled on the table-top before being locked into place.

Step 3

A water-based ink was used so that the cotton material could absorb the design applied to the screen. 

Step 4

Using a squeegee, the ink was pulled across and pressed through the screen so that the cotton material was thoroughly covered. Afterwards the screen was removed and a heat-lamp was placed over the fabric so that the ink could cure into the material.

Voila! Zac's final product is ready to hit the shelf.

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Written by Joseph Smith.