How To Screen Print Multiple Colors

When you’re screen printing at home with a vinyl cutter and a simple setup, arranging your designs for multicolored shirts can be quite complicated. Sure, a large 4-color press would make this super easy, but it’s not very practical for home crafters. . This process works well when you can spread a shirt or two on your desk and leave them in place before applying the next color. shirts without moving them. After a while of frustration and experimenting with different methods, I came up with a “hack” of my own that figured out this doesn’t need to keep the layers in line. Read more: how to catch someone breaking into your car at night marks instructions but with stickers. The stickers make it easier to move the shirt between layers.These stickers (actually color-coded dots) were used to line up the screens on all the shirts BEFORE I started with the ink. With the dots in place, I could easily layer each screen. See the step-by-step process below.

NEED TO SUPPLY

Oracal 651 Vinyl – any color (or HTV if you want a fixed screen)
Speedball Ink I used Speedball’s opaque color for the bulb along with Green from my Ink Recipe Guide.
Ice painter
Conveyor belt
Color-coded dots
Scissors
White T-shirts
Cricut Maker
Screen printer (this makes the 2nd color easier to apply, but it’s not necessary to follow this guide.)
Heat press, Easy Press 2 or household iron

VIDEO PROCESS

PROGRESS

Fair warning… this is not a beginner project. If you are just starting out with screen printing, I recommend using one color before following this process. Get started with my ebook to learn the basics which includes a supplement with step-by-step instructions for screen printing multicolor designs. Read more: how to size a slalom water slide!

Set up your design and cut your vinyl. For step-by-step instructions on how to do this in Cricut Design Space, check out this tutorial first. Except… instead of adding registered trademarks, you would add a .75” circle an extra few inches BELOW your design.

Transfer your first color design to the screen using the transfer ribbon. If you need help with this process, my ebook will help you learn the basics.

Before adding ink to the screen, use the screen to place the sticker dots directly on the shirt. Repeat this process until you have 2 dots on each shirt.

You are now ready to queue and print your first screen. Repeat this process until all your shirts have the first color. For this step, I used the technique of blending inks. You don’t have to mix the inks in this step, single colors work the same.

Wash your screen and let the first color dry for at least 30 minutes. Trust me… this is an important step! I was frustrated trying to silkscreen before the first color dried!

Prepare your screen for the second color. In my case this is the black border and text layer.

Use 2 circles to line up your screen with the shirt. I used my screen printing machine for this class. It gives me a little more peace of mind knowing that I can lower the screen if I ever get a black ink stain. You can still carry out this process without press.

Repeat steps 5-7 for any additional color layers you have.