There are quite a few types of mesh fabrics available and they can be made from many types of substrates. There are multifilament and monofilament threads, stainless steel, nylon, polyester, and silk.
This article is limited to monofilament polyester printing mesh, the best and cheapest choice for screen printing garments. You have for example many choices in thread weave available. The plain weaves (Fig. 1) and the twill weaves. (Fig.2) Twill weaves can provide higher ink volume when used in higher meshes but the ability to hold sharp edges with a coated emulsion is diminished.(Fig. 3) Almost all applications will be best served with a plain weave.
The threads support the stencil. The open areas allow ink passage. Familiarity with the meaning and importance of each mesh will make fabric selection easier---and consistent high-quality printing more predictable
Mesh Count:
The number of threads per linear inch (norminal mesh count). Screen fabrics are woven in threads per centimeter and then the number is calculated to English measurement for sale into parts of the world that don’t use the metric system
Example: A fabric woven at 120 threads/cm equals 305 threads/inch. The figure is calculated by multiplying 120 x 2.54=304.8, this number is rounded up to 305
Silk screening is enjoyed by many home hobbyists. But as a commercial and industrial printing method, it's a multibillion-dollar business. Although the process is now called "screen printing," as silk fabric for printing screens was replaced by polyester in the 1950s, the process is still commonly known as "silk screening."
Many beginners end up purchasing the wrong material, or mesh, for the job, resulting in bad prints and consequent frustration. But choosing the right mesh can be accomplished with a bit of painless education.
Halftones are a pattern of tiny dots that can simulate different shades of color using varing percentages of a single ink.
Visually, halftones create the illusion of a continuous tone image by using spots of varying size and density to represent darker or lighter color values.
Halftones work by fooling the eye into seeing the combination of the ink color and the color of the shirt they are printed on. When seen from a distance, the colors blend together and the dots merge with the background color of the shirt. If you look closely at or magnify the print, the separate dots are quite clear. You can see good examples of halftones if you magnify a picture in a magazine or a print from a color printer or even if you look closely at your TV screen. All these are made up of tiny dots.
