Screen Printing is a simple and effective way to produce an unlimited number of virtually identical prints onto practically any surface. A screen fabric is stretched tightly onto a wooden frame and is coated with a photosensitive material. Part of the screen is then blocked with a stencil and is exposed through a photo process leaving your image on the screen. When ink is deposited onto the screen, it is pushed through with a squeegee leaving the image on the printing surface which may be fabric, paper, glass, wood, or just about anything.

In this class you will learn all of the steps involved in the screen printing process from design conception to the finished product. No prior knowledge is required, however students are encouraged to prepare their designs on a computer program like Photoshop and basic knowledge of similar programs and access to a computer is helpful. It is not required though, and the computer steps will be covered in class as well.

You will be provided with a list of materials and instructions to set up a screen printing "lab" and make prints in your very own home. Please bring a one color design to class that you would like printed. Bring your design on a sheet of plain white paper no larger than 8.5"x11" or preferably as a jpeg on a CD flash drive. Even if you intend to print your design in colors other than black, you should arrive with all parts of your design printed in black with high contrast to produce ideal results. Producing multiple color, multi-layered designs will be discussed in class so that you may experiment on your own, but they are too complicated to attempt in an introductory course. It's also best to choose a design that is free of many fine lines, but if you do have fine lines in your design, they must be at least 1mm thick.

Also bring shirts, fabric, colored paper, or anything else that you would like to print on besides white paper.