Our Work

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Screen

Vinyl

The Process . . .

How is something designed? From concept to delivery, Signs By The Shore is your single destination for all your signage needs.

We thought we would answer a few of your questions by explaining a bit of the printing process . . . Enjoy.

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CONCEPT

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*Concept: How Is Something Designed?*
An idea has to be established. Usually something is faxed or emailed through with what you are looking for on a sign or logo. A quick sketch of your idea or even just written down in point form some things you’d like incorporated are enough for us to work with.

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CONCEPT

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This is all entered into a program and then the designer must do some brainstorming to create something geared towards what they think you’re looking for.

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CONCEPT

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The idea is then faxed or emailed back to you so you can look it over and see if any alterations are needed. This process will continue until you are happy with what the finished product will look like.

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CONCEPT

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Once the final artwork has been approved, a signature must be faxed back along with the order for it to get put into production.

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SCREEN

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*Silk Screening – Medium to Large Runs*
	Once final approval has been faxed or emailed through, the film has to be produced and material has to be cut.
A computer program uses vector lines to cut out the image that is to be used for film. (A simple image could be cut with an exacto knife by hand.)

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SCREEN

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The image is cut onto a material called ruby or amber lith. For this demo, Ruby -a light blocking material on top of a clear acetate.

Areas that are going to be printed are the areas we keep. The rest of the Ruby will be removed using a process called weeding.

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SCREEN

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Our film is now ready, and it’s time to get a screen prepared. To do this, we must first clean a screen from the previous job and then dry it. Depending on humidity levels it could take 1-3 hours.
After it’s dried we have to coat the screen with a light sensitive emulsion. Then wait for it to dry. 1-3 hrs. Our emulsion is green, so you’ll see it distinctly against our yellow screens .

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SCREEN

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The screen is then burned in by placing the film on the emulsion and exposing it to a very powerful light for a short time. You’ll notice that the film is in reverse. You are viewing it from underneath the screen and behind a large sheet of glass.
The glass is part of a vacuum unit making the film lay tightly against the emulsion so no light can seep under areas of the ruby lith.

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SCREEN

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The areas that are exposed to light and not blocked by the ruby lith will not wash out with a high-pressure sprayer. After the film is removed and the screen is washed, we have to wait for the screen to dry, again 1-3 hrs. If you look closely at the screen you can see where the ink will pass through and where the emulsion blocks it from doing so.
Remember the screen is yellow and the emulsion is green. Now that we have an image on our screen, we have to do touch ups with a small brush and a little emulsion for errors that happened during the burn in process. Fine hairs and dust can burn in and will print if not eliminated from the screen. More dry time is needed - 1/2 hr – 1 hr.

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SCREEN

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Now that the screen is ready it must be fastened to a table by a mechanism called a chaise, this allows it to be lifted up and down to place material under it, but also lay back down in the exact position it was lifted up from.
Once the screen is secure, the printer positions the film on a piece of material that he’ll print the image on. This is positioned underneath the screen on the vacuum table. He is trying to line up the film on the material to the burned-in replica on the screen. This can take a little bit of time depending on how complex the film is.

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Once the printer is confident in how well he has it registered, he will turn the vacuum on to secure the material and place some registration guides on the table so after he’s finished the first print it can easily be replaced with another blank piece in the same location for the next print.

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The printer is now ready to get the ink. The ink is mixed by your specifications. Sometimes we are given pantone numbers (PMS), vinyl colours to match or even just an object. We can match anything, but it takes a skill and a keen eye to do so.

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The ink is then poured onto the screen to flood the image area. This is done with a soft squeegee. Depending on the printer’s preference, he will use a hand held, one arm or automatic press squeegee. A squeegee allows the ink to be distributed evenly over the screen.

Once the film has been removed from the material, the printer is ready to try the first print and see if there are any registration adjustments needed. He has the screen lying on the material and floods the printable area with ink by passing the squeegee over it pulling the ink with it.

Pressing down hard with the squeegee he runs it back over the same area he just flooded with ink and pushes the ink through the exposed areas of screen.

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SCREEN

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He then lifts the screen and a printed sign is revealed. He places the finished sign on racks for drying. 1-3 hrs.

As you can see in this demonstration one sign was printed. It would take almost the same amount of time to print fifty or more as it does to print one. If other colours were to be printed the whole process would have to be repeated for every colour on every sign after the first colour was dry. Silkscreening is a very time consuming art form.

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SCREEN

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Silkscreening is the original name to this printing process. It is now more commonly referred to as screen printing. The screen is no longer made from silk and a polyester blended thread is used instead to create the mesh. If referring more to an art form, the technique, although the same is called serigraph

To see an animated version that you can manipulate check out this site: http://www.moma.org/whatisaprint/print.html

To read a more in-depth version of the screen printing (serigraph) process check out this site:

http://www.squeegeeville.com/02-screentoday.htm

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VINYL

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Vinyl – Small Run

Once final approval has been faxed or emailed through, the vinyl, and material has to be cut.

Vinyl is basically a large sticker on a roll of wax paper. A colour is selected and the roll is placed on the cutter for cutting. There is a large assortment of colours to choose from but the choices are limited.

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A computer program is used to move along vector paths to cut the image.

Once the vinyl has been cut, it is removed from the cutter and unwanted areas are removed by hand. This process is called weeding.

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Once the vinyl has been weeded the first colour is ready for masking. Transfer mask or pre-mask, is a low tack tape that allows the vinyl to be removed from its wax backing without any movement. It can come in wide or narrow strips from a roll. A piece is measured out and laid down over the recently weeded area. Then Squeezed down with a firm instrument to get out any air bubbles and secure the mask to the vinyl surface.

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This is then taped to the material after its location has been measured out.

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One edge of the mask is picked off of the backing , lifting the vinyl with it. The wax backing is peeled off to where the tape is holding it securely to the material.

The backing is cut off at this point leaving the vinyl sticky side exposed.

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Holding the mask taught and close to the material a hard squeegee can be firmly run over the surface of the mask to adhere the vinyl to the substrate. The tape is then removed and the other end of pre-mask is lifted to remove the backing from the other side.

This side is then applied the same way the other side was.

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The pre-mask is now removed . . .

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. . . and you are left with a finished sign unless more colours are required and the whole process is then repeated.