How to Prep Your Screen for Printing, Tacking and Mesh Selection

How-To Guides

Before you can start printing, properly preparing your screen is essential. Tacking up your mesh ensures it’s taut, secure and ready for crisp, consistent results. Whether you’re working with 120 TPC, 90 TPC, or 43 TPC mesh, this guide will walk you through the steps to mount and tension your screen correctly, giving you a stable foundation for every print. With the right setup, your designs will transfer cleanly and your workflow will be smooth from start to finish.

Professional Re-Meshing Service:
Specialist Crafts offer a professional re-meshing service for your silk screens. We mesh any size of frame with any of our standard meshes overleaf. We can collect and deliver your frames back to you ready to use, and also offer best practice advice should you need it. Please contact us for a quote via: info@dryadeducation.co.uk.

Step by step - Let's Create

Rack Screen Stretcher:

Lay your screen on a level surface, and place the rack stretcher over the top of it. Fasten each side of the mesh into the rack stretcher and use the turning screws to adjust the tension on the mesh until it is drum tight.

Lay a board or piece of card the same size as the inner area of your frame on top of the mesh. Using a stiff, short bristled brush, paint mesh adhesive onto the frame by applying onto the areas where the mesh is in contact with the frame. Hold the board/card on top of the mesh in place whilst painting the adhesive on to protect the screen printing area of the mesh, then remove it whilst the adhesive is still wet. Leave the adhesive to dry thoroughly.

Using a sharp knife or scalpel, cut the mesh away from the outside of the frame then release the mesh edges from the rack screen stretcher. The screen is ready to mask.

Reverse Tacking:

1. Cut a piece of mesh approx. 20cm larger than your frame. Lay the mesh on a flat surface and place the frame on top. Fold the mesh over one side of the frame and place the staple in the centre of the frame, through the mesh, with a staple gun. Stretch the mesh out to each side and staple in place along the frame until the mesh is pulled tight and securely fixed to the frame.

2. Pull the mesh tightly on the opposite side, and staple the centre point. Pull the corners out diagonally up and away from the centre of the frame, then tack in position. Repeat for each end of the screen until the resulting mesh is held drum tight.

3. Trim any excess fabric away from the back of the screen

Screen Printing Meshes:

43 TPC White

90 TPC Yellow

Screen mesh is an integral part of the screen printing process. The type of mesh you use depends on the results you want, the type of stencil and material which is to be printed on. Different mesh sizes are used for different applications in the screen printing process.

You just need to remember the following:

• Mesh size is measured by how many threads of mesh there are crossing per square cm (TPC) or per square inch (TPI). For example, a 120 mesh screen has 120 threads crossing per square cm.

• The higher the mesh count, the finer the threads and holes are in the screen.

• The size of the mesh has a lot to do with how detailed your image is and how thick the ink you are using is. If you have an image with extremely high detail, a lower mesh screen won’t hold the detail. The fine lines or dots in the image will simply fall through the holes in the mesh not giving you a correct representation of your image.