Screen Saver

T-Shirt by Jeremy Lauder


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Published: Dec 2, 2009

By: Neal Santos

Five years ago, Jeremy Lauder landed his very first screen-printing gig — making a line of T-shirts for El Vez. Stephen Starr's El Vez. He was only 22, a senior in college. "I had never made a T-shirt before in my life," he says. "I did it with an overhead light bulb in my closet." Which is to say: You can do this, too. 'Cause the El Vez T-shirts turned out just fine. Lauder's now the owner of screen-printing company Derisory Designs (derisorydesigns.com), and has cherished Starr as a rosy client for five years now.

1 Find a single-colored image you like, and print it out onto Vellum paper (you can pick this up at Pearl at 417 South St., 215-238-1900, pearlpaint.com) in black-and-white.

2 For the next step, you'll need access to a darkroom, or you'll have to create a makeshift one — any room that's far from UV light works.

3 Coat a blank screen-printing screen (available at Photo Process Manufacturing Co. at 179 W. Berks St., 215-426-5473, ppsilkscreen.com) completely and evenly with one layer of emulsion (also available at Photo Process) in the darkroom. You can do this by scooping the emulsion onto a credit card, and coating it from bottom to top.

4 Let it dry for at least an hour.

5 Find a flat surface and cover it with a black tablecloth. Then place your image right-side up on top of the screen. Secure it with tape.

6 Now for the most important part: exposing the screen. You can do this by simply hanging a light bulb over the screen for 30 minutes, or placing it in sunlight for 1 to 5 minutes. Don't get frustrated if this doesn't work immediately — experiment with exposure times until it does.

7 Wash off each side of the screen with a removable shower head from top to bottom on a light setting. Then flip it front-side up and wash again, until you can see the image completely. Blot with a paper towel.

8 Let the screen dry for 30 to 45 minutes with a fan in the darkroom.

9 It's time to coat your screen with ink. Any color will do. Be sure to purchase water-based ink (at Photo Process); otherwise it won't dry properly.

10 Tape the outline of the screen on both sides to keep ink away from it.

11 Place newspaper on a flat table, and put the screen bottom-side up onto it. (You'll know you're doing it right if the mesh is touching the table.)

12 Tilt the screen up into the air at a 45 degree angle (with the edge of the surface closest to you touching the table). Pour 1/4 cup of ink onto the surface of the screen closest to you and use a squeegee, credit card or spatula to flood your screen with ink, going back and forth only once.

13 Lay a blank T-shirt underneath the still-raised screen, and position it according to where you want the image to fall.

14 Slowly lower the screen onto the T-shirt. Starting from the side of the screen farthest away from you — and with a lot of pressure — drag your squeegee toward you in one fluid motion.

15 Carefully lift up the screen and let the shirt air-dry. Wear with jeans.

(holly.otterbein@citypaper.net)