ImagesMagUK_June_2021

www.images-magazine.com JUNE 2021 images 61 TIPS & TECHNIQUES STEP-BY-STEP: SCREEN PRINTING ON LEGS AND SLEEVES The first step of the process is to use a set square to make sure your artwork is correct; make sure you have top and bottom registration marks to help. The artwork needs to be off-centre to adapt to the leg and sleeve pallet if you’re using a dual pallet like us. 1 Place the garment onto the pallet. You can either place through the neck or the sleeve if you are printing onto a hoodie or a sweatshirt, or through the leg or waist if you are printing onto joggers. We used the JH001 hoodie and JH074 joggers from Just Hoods by AWDis. 3 To get the best print results, we suggest using a squeegee just bigger than your print to get a cleaner finish. We recommend always using a good quality white plastisol; we used our Spot On Polar Flash White for an opaque finish. It is good practice at this stage to print your garment, flash it using a flash dryer for 7-10 seconds and then print again. 5 Cure the garment for one minute at 160°C. If you're printing both legs or both arms, print one side and flash it dry as above, then print the other side, flash it dry before removing then place in the dryer for the final cure. 7 Once you have the artwork lining up correctly so as to prevent a wonky offset print, and have made your screen, you can set up your press and pallet as normal. We used an M&R Chameleon six-colour press with side clamps. 2 Our new EZ Sleeve Double pallet makes loading and unloading the garment a simple process as the pallets are a slimmer fit. Remember to pre-glue your pallets; we used Amex Spray Tack. 4 Give your garment one last flash so it is touch-dry before you take it off the press as this saves costly mistakes. Many printers have spoiled expensive garments by wrestling sleeves off a press with wet ink. We used a BBC Black Flash for the flash cure process. 6 The printed garments. 8