Are you up to date on your screen printing terminology? If you’re just starting out this list will give your vocabulary a shot in the arm. For the pros out there, refer your trainees for a head-start.
Substrates and Materials:
Garment: The fabric item being printed on.
Platen Tape: Protective paper-based tape applied to platens.
Rubylith: A red masking film used to block UV light in screen preparation.
Substrate: Any item being printed on (e.g., t-shirt, poster, mug).
Ink and Ink Characteristics:
Opacity: How well the ink covers the color of the substrate.Discharge Ink: Used to print light colors on dark fabrics by removing the dye from the garment.
Puff Additive: Ink with additive will rise with heat for a 3D effect.
Highlight White: White ink printed last to make the designs pop.
Reducer: A colorless additive used to reduce ink viscosity for smoother printing. It is also used to restore old plastisol ink.
Water-based Ink: Eco-friendly inks that air dry.
Gray Blocker/Barrier Base: Ink, usually gray or black, used to prevent dye migration.
Viscosity: An ink’s consistency.
Plastisol Ink: A widely used ink made of pigments, plasticizers, and PVC.
Bleed Resistant Inks: Inks that stop dye migration on polyester garments.
High Density Ink: Ink that simulates embossing.
Thixotropic: Describes the characteristic where ink becomes smoother when stirred.
Common Tools & Equipment
Platen (Pallet/Shirt Board): The surface that holds the substrate while printing.
Quartz Heating Element: A heating part using quartz bulbs, typically found in dryers.
Squeegee: The apparatus used to move ink through the screen and onto the substrate.
Spot Gun: A small powered sprayer for removing bits of plastisol ink. How to use a Spot Gun.
Pre-Registration Unit (PRU): A system used in the darkroom to align multi-color prints.
AC Servo: Motors used in automatic printing equipment.
Floodbar: An accessory that pushes ink across a screen to achieve uniform coverage
Screen: A fine mesh fabric that’s stretched over a frame used to transfer a stenciled design onto a surface
Print Arm: Connects the print head to the press.
Infrared Heating Element: Uses heated wire elements to dry or flash cure your print.
Carriage: The part of an automatic press that contains the squeegee and floodbar.
Carousel: A rotating screen printing press with multiple print heads and platens.
Print Head: Used to attach the screen to the press.
Index Drive: Mechanism that systematically operates the press.
Flash Cure Unit: A heating device used to partially set ink between each color application.
Color and Design:
Moire: A visible pattern resulting from misaligned screens or half tones.
Art Proof: The design that is sent to the customer for their approval.
Lines per Inch (LPI): Gauge of screen mesh density.
Pantone Matching System (PMS): A standardized color system for precise color matching.
Dot Gain: Increase in halftone dots caused by ink spread.
Half Tone: Small dots that are used to produce shading and dimension..
Ganging: Burning more than one design to a single screen.
Bitmap (Raster): A digital image that uses pixels to render the artwork. Not a great option for enlargements.
Block Out: Chemical used to fill in pinholes and other areas on a screen. Here are some secrets to taping pinholes.
Butt-to-Butt (Butt Registration): A design that aligns with prints touching but not overlapping.
Color Separations: Making unique images from the same design based on color.
Four Color Process (CMYK Printing): Halftones that blend Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black to create multi-color prints.
Choke: Thinning the outer edge of an image to avoid color overlap.
CMYK: The colors used in four-color process printing: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black.
Knockout: Eliminating one color from beneath another to achieve a clearer image.
Overprint: Printing one color ink over another.
Trap: An expanding fill color to stop gaps due to any slight misalignments.
Vector: An image made of math, points and the lines that connect those points. Generally preferred over raster images because they scale perfectly.
Spot Color: A design using one or more solid colors.
Simulated Process: Halftone printing with 6 or more colors to create a multicolor image.
Techniques and Practices:
Normal Flood: Printing inward and flooding outward on the press.
Pre/Post Index: Steps taken before or after the press indexes.
Void Platen: Configuring the auto press to skip a platen, bypassing printing on that station.
Pass (First/Second/etc.): Several printing passes with the same screen.
Wet-on-Wet: Printing multiple colors consecutively without flash curing in between.
Underbase: A white base layer printed initially to enhance colors on dark garments.
Print-Flash-Print: Printing one color, flash curing it, and printing a second coat using the same screen and color.
Double Index: Advancing the auto press platens twice to print on alternating platens.
Print Stroke: A squeegee stroke employed to push ink through the screen and onto the substrate.
Micro-Registration: A precise mechanical adjustment used for aligning screens.
Lifting: When the screen lifts the substrate off the platen following printing. Lifting is not desirable.
Clearing: The process of pushing ink through the mesh of a screen.
Final Flood: Printing and flooding while the screen is in the down position before lifting it.
Suspend: Disengaging the carousel on an automatic press.
3D Flood: A technique for thick stencils where the print head floods and prints before the final application.
Pre-Flood: Pre-flooding the screen before printing.
Sequential Printing: Colors are printed in a specific sequence.
Dwell Time: The number of seconds that a flash dryer is suspended over the substrate.
Strike Off: Running a test print before starting the job in order to avoid problems with the full run.
Flood: Using a squeegee to lightly stroke ink over the stencil, filling it with ink.
Oversized Printing: Printing larger prints on substrates.
Fetch/Go-To Platen: Mechanically moving a platen to a different print head.
Even/Odd: Configuring the auto press to print on alternating platens.
Color Change: Removing ink from a screen, cleaning the screen, then adding a different color.
Off-Contact: A gap between the screen and substrate to improve ink transfer.
Printing Area: The area of the substrate that is printable.
Pressure: The actual force applied during printing.
Flocking: Adding powder onto wet ink to emulate a velvet-style texture.
Top Coat: A transparent layer applied over the entire image.
Inverted Flood: Printing out and flooding in on the press.
Screen Prep and Stencil Production:
Pinholes: Small unwanted gaps in the stencil. Must be filled to keep ink from printing thru.
Wash Out: Rinsing unexposed emulsion from the screen’s stencil.
Reclaim: The process of returning a burned screen into a reusable condition.
Stencil: The parts of exposed emulsion that contain the printable image.
Ghosting (Ghost Haze): Faint image that remains on a screen after reclaiming.
Dehaze: Using a harsh cleaner (use gloves) to remove ghost haze images from a screen.
Emulsion: A photosensitive layer applied to screens for stencil creation.
Computer to Screen (CTS): Transferring digital artwork directly onto a screen from a computer.
Burn: Using light to expose a screen coated with emulsion, forming the stencil.
Direct to Screen (DTS): An alternative term for Computer-to-Screen (CTS) technology.
Emulsion Over Mesh (EOM): The thickness of the emulsion layer measured on the substrate side.
Inkwell: The depth of the emulsion gasket on a screen, determined by the EOM (emulsion over mesh).
Diazo: A photosensitizer chemical added to certain emulsions to enhance stencil strength.
Develop (Exposure): Hardening emulsion with light to form a stencil.
REG (Registration) Mark: Alignment target marks that resemble "crosshairs" that are used for positioning screen images.
Photopolymer: A quick-developing, high-solids emulsion commonly used for plastisol printing.
Film Positive: A transparent positive image utilized as a stencil during screen exposure.
Diagnostics and Quality Assurance:
Bleed: Dye migration from fabric into printed ink, often seen in polyester garments.
Newton: The unit of measurement for screen tension.
Wash Fastness: Same as Colorfastness.
Fibrillation: When fabric fibers can be seen through ink on the substrate.
Colorfastness (Wash Fastness): The durability of a print to resist fading or cracking during washing.
Bug: A rush, last-minute order from a customer who waited till the last minute.
Curing: When heat is applied to uncured ink, fusing it to the substrate.
Crocking: The tendency of a print to come loose when subjected to rubbing or abrasion.
Shelf Life: The duration a product remains effective before losing its potency.
Safety Data Sheet (SDS): A document detailing the properties, hazards, and handling of chemicals.
Dye Migration: Undesired seepage of garment dye into the printed image.
Cracking: When a print can be broken by pulling the fabric or washing when it is not cured properly.
Web Spray: A spray adhesive that creates a web-like pattern.
Buildup: Ink buildup on the underside of the screen using the wet-on-wet technique.
Over/Under Exposed: Describes two possible errors due to incorrect emulsion exposure.
Wicking: Ink bleeding into garment fibers during wet-on-wet printing.
Tack: The strength of your spray adhesive or platen mask.
Sublimation: An additional term for dye migration in polyester fabrics.
Hand: The way a print feels on the substrate.
Stretch Test: Checking print cure by pulling the garment to see if the print cracks
Bonus Terms:
Mesh Count: The thread count per square inch in screen fabric.
Durometer: Squeegee blade rigidity.
Registration: Aligning screens with micro-reg knobs for accurate positioning.
This list is full of useful and common terms, but we’re not claiming to have covered them all. Did we miss one of your favorites? Shoot us an email and we’ll add it to the list.
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