122 Screen Printing Terms Every #ROQStar Printer Should Know

Garment: The fabric item being printed on.

Platen Tape: Protective paper-based tape applied to platens.

Rubylith: A red masking film used to block UV light in screen preparation.

Substrate: Any item being printed on (e.g., t-shirt, poster, mug).

Bleed Resistant Inks: Formulated to prevent dye migration in polyester garments.

Discharge Ink: Used to print light colors on dark fabrics by removing the garment's dye.

Gray Blocker/Barrier Base: Ink used to prevent dye migration, typically gray or black.

High Density Ink: Creates a raised, embossed-like effect.

Highlight White: White ink applied last to make designs stand out.

Opacity: How well an ink covers the underlying color of the substrate.

Plastisol Ink: Common textile ink made of PVC, pigments, and plasticizers.

Puff Additive: Makes ink rise to create a 3D effect.

Reducer: Colorless additive used to lower ink viscosity for easier printing.

Thixotropic: Property where ink becomes smoother as it's stirred.

Viscosity: The thickness or thinness of an ink.

Water-based Ink: Eco-friendly inks that can air dry, popular in retail markets.

Art Proof: A digital mockup sent to the customer for approval.

Bitmap (Raster): An image made of pixels, which can blur when enlarged.

Block Out: Chemical used to cover pinholes or unwanted areas on the screen.

Butt-to-Butt (Butt Registration): Alignment where colors touch without overlapping.

Choke: Reducing the thickness of an image's outer edge to prevent color overlap.

CMYK: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black - the four colors used in process printing.

Color Separations: Breaking a multi-color image into individual color layers for printing.

Dot Gain: Increase in halftone dot size due to ink spread during printing.

Four Color Process: Halftone printing using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black.

Ganging: Applying multiple designs to one screen to save time and materials.

Half Tone: A technique that uses dots to create shading and dimension.

Knockout: Removing one color from beneath another for a clearer image.

Lines per Inch (LPI): Measure of screen mesh density; higher LPI allows finer detail.

Moire: An unwanted pattern caused by misaligned halftones or screens.

Overprint: Printing one color on top of another.

Pantone Matching System (PMS): Standardized color system for accurate color matching.

Simulated Process: Halftone printing using 6+ colors to produce a multi-color image.

Spot Color: Discrete color elements in non-photographic images.

Trap: An outline around a fill color to prevent gaps due to misalignment.

Vector: A scalable image made of points and lines, maintaining quality at any size.

Burn: Exposing an emulsion-coated screen to light to create the stencil.

Computer to Screen (CTS): Directly printing artwork onto a screen from a computer.

Dehaze: Using a caustic cleaner to remove ghosted images from a screen.

Develop (Exposure): Using light to harden emulsion and create a stencil.

Diazo: Photosensitizer chemical used in some emulsions to improve stencil strength.

Direct to Screen (DTS): Another term for Computer to Screen (CTS) technology.

Emulsion: Light-sensitive coating applied to screens to create stencils.

Emulsion Over Mesh (EOM): Measurement of emulsion thickness on the substrate side.

Film Positive: Transparent positive image used as a stencil while exposing a screen.

Ghosting: Faint residual image remaining on a screen after reclaiming.

Inkwell: The depth of the emulsion gasket on a screen, dependent on EOM.

Photopolymer: Fast-developing, high-solids emulsion typically used for plastisol printing.

Pinholes: Tiny unwanted spots in the stencil, often due to poor screen prep.

Reclaim: Removing old emulsion to reuse a screen.

REG Mark: "Crosshair" target marks used for aligning screen images.

Stencil: The portion of an exposed screen containing the image to be printed.

Wash Out: Rinsing the screen after exposure to reveal the stencil.

3D Flood: Technique used for thick stencils where the print head floods and prints before final application.

Clearing: The act of pushing ink through a screen.

Color Change: Cleaning out a screen and putting in a different color of ink.

Double Index: Moving auto press platens twice to print on every other platen.

Dwell Time: Amount of time a flash dryer fires over the substrate.

Even/Odd: Setting the auto press to print on every other platen.

Fetch/Go-To Platen: Automatically bringing a platen to another print head.

Final Flood: Printing and flooding in the down position before lifting.

Flocking: Applying powder over ink to simulate a velvet texture.

Flood: Light squeegee stroke used to fill the screen with ink.

Inverted Flood: Printing outward and flooding inward on the press.

Lifting: When the screen lifts the substrate off the platen after printing.

Micro-Registration: Precise mechanical adjustment for aligning screens.

Normal Flood: Printing inward and flooding outward on the press.

Off-Contact: Small gap between the screen and substrate for better ink transfer.

Oversized Printing: Producing large prints on substrates.

Pass (First/Second/etc.): Multiple printing applications on the same screen.

Pre/Post Index: Actions occurring before or after the press indexes.

Pre-Flood: Flooding the screen before printing.

Pressure: Physical force applied during printing.

Print Stroke: Squeegee stroke used to push ink onto the substrate.

Print-Flash-Print: Printing a color, flash curing it, then printing it again.

Printing Area: The size of the area needed for an image.

Sequential Printing: Printing colors in a specific order.

Strike Off: A test print to check quality before starting a full run.

Suspend: To release the carousel on an automatic press.

Top Coat: A clear print applied over the entire image.

Underbase: A white layer printed first to enhance colors on dark garments.

Void Platen: Having the auto press skip a platen and not print on that station.

Wet-on-Wet: Printing multiple colors without flash curing between them.

Bleed: Dye migration from fabric into imprinted ink, common in polyester garments.

Buildup: Ink accumulation on the screen bottom during wet-on-wet printing.

Bug: Urgent, last-minute order from a customer who "forgot to order."

Colorfastness (Wash Fastness): A print's ability to withstand washing without fading or cracking.

Cracking: When a print breaks apart after washing due to improper curing.

Crocking: The tendency of a print to come off when rubbed or abraded.

Curing: Using heat to completely fuse plastisol ink.

Dye Migration: Unwanted bleeding of garment dye into the printed image.

Fibrillation: Fabric fibers showing through the ink on a garment.

Hand: The feel of a print on the garment.

Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS/SDS): Document outlining chemical handling procedures.

Newton: Unit of measurement for screen tension.

Over/Under Exposed: Results of incorrect exposure time during screen preparation.

Shelf Life: How long a product can be stored before losing effectiveness.

Stretch Test: Checking if a print cracks when the garment is stretched.

Sublimation: Another term for dye migration in polyester garments.

Tack: Adhesive strength of platen mask or spray adhesive.

Wash Fastness: See Colorfastness.

Web Spray: Spray adhesive that forms a web pattern, used when printing on fleece.

Wicking: Bleeding of ink into garment fibers during wet-on-wet printing.

Durometer: Measurement of squeegee blade hardness.

Mesh Count: Number of threads per square inch in screen fabric.

Print Area: The size of the area needed for an image.

Registration: Aligning screens using micro-reg knobs for precise placement.