AnnaBella-MinkD

Step 1: the design

It all starts with making the design. We love to draw!

We still like to draw with pen and paper.

Most of our inspiration comes while traveling. The magical places, the colours, the patterns, beautiful nature and special animals, they all find a way to our drawings.

Mostly we draw at home, or when being on the road with our van Sapa.

Step 2: editing the design

When the drawing is finished it is time to edit it into a printable document, that can be transferred to the screen.

First we scan the drawing and upload it to the computer.

For further finishes and adaptations we use Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.

At last we put the design in the chosen format to fit the garment.

Step 3: prepping the screen

The screen also needs a bit of work before we can transfer the drawing.

We need to apply a layer of emulsion to the empty screen. This needs to be done in a dark room, because the emulsion may not be exposed to UV-light. The layer of emulsion needs to dry for at least 24 hours in a dark box.

When exposed to UV-light the emulsion hardens out, which will make it impossible later in the process to transfer your design to the screen.

Step 4: transfer to the screen

When the layer of emulsion is completely dry, we can start with transferring the design to the screen.
We start by printing the design on a transparent foil. Make sure you print the design in reflection, so when printed it will show up right on the garment.

When printed place the transparent foil (not in reflection) on the garment, to decide where exactly you want your print to be. This step may ask a bit of time and measurement.

In the meantime you attach your screen to the carousel. When you are happy with the positioning of the design on the garment, place a bit of tape on each side of the foil with the sticky side on top. Put the screen down on the garment en stick the transparent foil to the screen. Now the transparent foil is positioned right on the screen.

Next step is to hard out the emulsion using a light box. Only the emulsion exposed to the UV-light will harden. The emulsion behind the black drawing on the transparent foil will remain liquid. The time of exposure to the light can differ.

Lay the screen with the side of the transparent foil on to the glass plate of the light box. Put on the light and make sure you time it strictly.

After exposure we take the screen out of the light box, remove the transparent foil and with a high pressure washer we rinse out immediately the emulsion that remained liquid. You will see your design coming to live to the screen. Very satisfying!

Step 5: printing

Let's get to the most fun part of the whole process and start printing. The screen has to be completely dry before you start.

Make sure your clothing and the print on the screen are perfectly outlined, so the print ends up on the exact spot where you want it on your clothing or tote bag.

Apply the ink on your screen with a spatula, choose the size of your squeegee and let's do it!

Step 6: curing the print

During and after printing it is important to cure the print. This means exposing it to high temperatures so the ink sets into the garment. This ensures durability of the print and resistance to wear and wash.

We cure the print with a flash dryer in between each layer while printing, about 4 seconds each time.

After the last layer we cure the print longer with the flash dryer. This can take several minutes, until there is lots of evaporation of the water based ink and we are sure the ink has adhered well to the garment.
Then we let the print air dry further, at least for a whole night.
Before selling we cure the print one final time with a heat press for several minutes on high temperature.

Step 7: cleaning up

For the durability of your screens it is important to clean them out very carefully after each time you print.

With the spatula, remove all the remaining ink of the screen and put it back in the pot.

Because our inks are waterbased we need only water and aquaclean for the further cleaning process. We don't need to use any chemicals!

Clean out the screen and utensils until there is no more ink left. Dry and store for the next printing session!

This way your screens can last a lifetime.

Working in the studio

This is us, working in our printscreen studio. We are Jelle and Ingeborg.

Both traveling we met at the train station in Sapa, Vietnam in 2010. Hence the name of our van!

We started traveling together and are still sharing the same path.

When we are not traveling you can find us in our printscreen studio in Ghent, building on our dream of creating our brands MinkD and AnnaBella.