How-To Screen Print with Two Color Application

Recently, a few of the members of the SLObaru car group asked me to make t-shirts with their logo for a Subaru event in southern California. I used a two color application process that’s actually much easier to do than it sounds, and whether you are in a car group yourself or just have a design with multiple colors, this process can work for you.

First, I started with their artwork (pictured above) and printed it off on my ink jet printer onto ink jet transparency. It is important that the design be as opaque as possible, as it will result in a high quality stencil. Using the EZScreenPrint basic starter kit materials, I exposed my silk screen stencil for one minute in direct sunlight using my artwork. After letting it soak and rinse out following the instructions found in the kit or video found at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU8V_ePdXtk  I was ready to start screen printing my t-shirts.

When following a two color application process, the first step is to block off a portion of the stencil that will be the secondary color. I found using blue painters tape is the easiest solution for this step. For my design, I put painters tape over the portion of the stencil that reads “baru.” I found a Speedball screen printing ink that closely matched the STi “Cherry Blossom Red” which is called, Florescent Magenta. I placed the stencil over my white t-shirt, and using the squeegee provided in the screen print kit, I pressed the ink over the stencil. I lifted the stencil and brought it down over the next t-shirt, and repeated the process until all my t-shirts had the pink “SLO” screen printed on the front.

Once I allowed enough time for the ink to dry, I removed the tape from the “baru” and placed new tape over the letters “SLO” on my stencil. I repeated the same process as before except I used the black Speedball screen printing ink. After all my shirts had the secondary color, I allowed it to air dry then heat set each shirt with an iron.

Sloane wearing the SLObaru t-shirt made with EZScreenPrint silk screen stencils

My friends were thrilled to see the finished results and were extremely impressed with how professional the t-shirts looked without having to pay professional prices.

Created by Sloane, creative director at EZScreenPrint