Beginner's Guide to Screen Printing: 12 beautiful printing projects with templates

by Erin Lacy

Screen printing is a print process involving the forcing of ink through a screen of fine material to create a picture or pattern. It has been around for many years, and has long been perceived as a specialist subject accessible only to professional printers and textile artists due to the high cost of the screens and inks.

Recently, however, screen printing has entered the mainstream and the equipment and tools have become more affordable and accessible.

In this Beginner's Guide to Screen Printing, Erin Lacy shows you how to make your own screen using an embroidery hoop and silk fabric, and demonstrates how to create beautiful designs that are easy to achieve.

Discover how to print onto different surfaces such as wood, cork and fabric, and create twelve stunning, coastal and botanical-themed projects through bright and colourful step-by-step photography.

The book includes templates and inspiration on how to design your own screen printing motifs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crafts

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Kitten Kisser · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband & I both used to have jobs where screen printing was ho hum, "just part of the job". The job unfortunately, was pretty dull. A printing room where the men sat & pretty much "hit the button" all day, every day, 5 days a week. It was for fun things like printing circuitry onto ceramic for the military, electronics, etc. The inks stunk terribly. A squeegee slid across the screen to shove the various inks which had different properties/metals in them. Then the the arm went back, the screen lifted, the print person used tweezers to remove the printed ceramic piece (the ceramic came in all shapes and sizes) to a metal tray that when full, went into a furnace. If additional layers were required, they were then tested out of the furnace, if good, the next layer was printed on.

I only mention our history because I have always been curious about utilizing screen printing at home for more crafty (hint: fun) types of projects. I never gave it a lot of thought though because I always thought I'd need large and expensive equipment similar to what was used at work.

I had nothing to loose by ordering this book, so I figured, what the heck, why not? When my husband saw it, he started to immediately read it. He happens to like it a lot. Especially the idea for using embroidery hoops as screens. I must admit, it really is a great idea.

The projects start from painfully simple, with lackluster results, but it does give the newbie screen printer a feel for how things work so you can then progress onto more advanced projects which get more beautiful as the book progresses into more complicated projects. Everything is laid out clearly with plenty of full color photos to make things easier - the entire book is full color. Aside from embroidery hoops, the author also shows you how to make your own printing frames. Templates are provided in the back of the book if you don't want to use your own designs. She covers pretty much everything a beginner would need to know.

Overall, my husband and I are more than pleased. We have been enjoying playing around with the projects as well as coming up with ideas of our own.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is geared for complete beginners to screen printing. The author started off by talking about materials and tools needed. She talked about cutting out stencils, preparing the fabric, making the prints, fixing the paint permanently onto fabric, and cleaning up. She did 12 step-by-step projects that demonstrated how to do different aspects of screen printing. She talked about how to make different types of patterns with the prints and how to do a multicolored print. She talked about how to make your own screen using silk and an embroidery hoop and how to use a wooden frame screen. She talked about screen printing onto paper, cork, wood, and fabric. Each project had clear illustrations of each step along with a clear text explanation of how to do that step. There were stencils in the back for the different projects, so you don't need to be good at drawing to do these projects. Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in learning how to do screen printing.

I received a review copy of this book from Amazon Vine.

[Antigone Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a terrific introduction to screen printing. The instructions are clear and accompany easy to follow photographs. Included are twelve templates but the author also includes instructions on how to print your own designs. It is a fun process. Her technique with embroidery hoops and silk is an economical way to get started. Nice way to get started.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am ready to try out some printing!