If you're not so great with mixing and applying liquid photo emulsion, photo emulsion sheets might be a quick and simple alternative. There is still a learning curve to using them as it's important to get the right amount of water on the sheet so that it's properly adhered to the screen and not so much that you have a pile of emulsion in one area. That being said it's much less a learning curve than getting that perfect layer of liquid emulsion down!
Each sheet is 38 microns thick and exposure times will vary depending on your exposure unit. If you happen to have one of the, now retired, Yudu Machines the exposure time 'sweet spot' we found was about 14 minutes.
Important notes: These sheets do have a shelf life: approximately 6 months when stored in cool DARK place. Photo Emulsion reacts with light! Keep away from light sources until ready to use!
Full tutorial on how to use these sheets.
Directions for use:
- Wet your screen evenly, squeegee off excess water (emulsion dissolves in water, so do not over-wet during screen prep)
- Place dull side of emulsion sheet on the bottom of the screen (non-well side)
- Pass squeegee over emulsion several times to adhere to screen
- Check the back of emulsion sheet for dry spots and re-wet if necessary
- Squeegee off any excess water
- Allow screen + emulsion to dry completely in a dark place
- When screen is dry, remove top plastic sheet from the emulsion
- Burn your image (exposure times will vary depending on exposure units; if using a Yudu, burn for 14 min)
- Gently wash out the burnt image immediately, it will have a very light green color (if all the emulsion washes off, it was not burned long enough; if the image is very hard to wash out, it was burned for too long)
- Make sure all the light green emulsion is washed out and not blocking any holes in the screen
- Let the screen dry completely before printing
We found that you can also burn the screen in sunlight with a 60 second exposure time. If using a LED 30 Watt UV Light -14” above screen takes about 8-9 minutes.
Made in: UNITED STATES (USA)
Average Customer Review
4.36
(23 Customer Reviews)
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MOST HELPFUL REVIEWS
3/8/2014
1
I don't know if these are also meant to substitute for Photo-EZ emulsion sheets but I thought they were which was my mistake. You cannot use them in the same way the Photo-EZ sheets can be used - if you do you will end up with a slimy emulsified mess in the bottom of your rinse tank. I'm more upset with myself - I thought it was the same thing but for anyone else thinking they can use these for their Photo-EZ Print system the answer is NO.
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8 of 9 users found this review helpful.
2/14/2015
5
I would recommend this product to anyone interested in a quick way to coat a screen. I am not very experienced in silk screen printing but I've been doing it for about 5 years in conjunction with my tie dye business. I usually HATE making the screen stencils but once they're made I'm happy. This product made it super easy. I have 2 pieces of advice for anyone who tries this for the first time. First I found the best way to adhere them to the screen is by using a spray bottle and spraying the screen and the non-plastic side of the emulsion sheet. Then apply the sheet carefully as the moment it touches the screen you're committed to the position it's in. Second when it says wash out gently it means GENTLY. It's super fragile until it's completely dry and set. In my very-little experience I was successful at creating 9 printable screens out of the 11 I attempted. I think the two that didn't turn out well were a combination of not enough water (ones I did before I thought to also spray the sheet) and not being gentle enough when washing it out. Good luck I hope this helps!
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6 of 7 users found this review helpful.
12/17/2015
4
Application was super easy. Love that i can cut the sheets to any size. I expose for 13-14 minutes at 14 inches under a 250w bulb. Wash out VERY carefully with cool but not cold water. I then put it under the bulb again to expose the rest of the emulsion to a more firmer state. Only issue is that they do feel gummy when wet.
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6 of 6 users found this review helpful.
6/25/2010
5
These work great! I am so glad to have an alternative to expensive YUDU brand products!
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5 of 6 users found this review helpful.
10/18/2012
5
Fabulous product and here are some helpful hints. (1) Get the Screen Printing book by Benn and Morgan. It will blow your mind with possibilities especially regarding putting your stencils on free-floating pieces of screen material so that you only need to have a few frames. This product works GREAT with that technique as in: (2) You can cut the emulsion sheets to size for your artwork and adhere it to screen material that is unframed (my sample was only 5x7 larger sizes may need to be stretched). (3) Despite directions I had to get the screen and emulsion pretty darned wet to get good adhesion. (4) Emulsion is dry when the backing sheet pops off easily. If you're tugging it's not dry yet. (5) You can expose with any lamp I used two 2' "grow lights" because that's what I had on hand exposure turned out to be 45 min. or more. You will probably have better results with a 100w compact fluorescent or 300w photoflood bulb in a clamp lamp as recommended on other sites -- all super-cheap! (6) When GENTLY washing the screen to reveal the design the remaining emulsion was very soft and easily rubbed away. Fix is to re-expose the stencil after washing out the design the remaining emulsion will harden in place. (7) Buy this product! Way easier than trying to get an even coat of liquid emulsion on your screen. Dharma's prices are as good as any I found.
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13 of 16 users found this review helpful.
MOST RECENT REVIEWS
12/4/2017
4
I was surprised how well these worked and I wanted to truly test the product...I usually use EZ Orange emulsion sheets and will continue to but these are great for a beginner just starting out priced to be affordable...I was able to use an old Yudo machine set for 3:30 minutes exposure time (not the 14 they recommend) and they worked great...just make sure that your copies are the blackest you can get with your printer (I used regular inkjet overhead projector film and an inkjet printer with my artwork)...make sure to totally dry the screens before exposing (used a dark plastic box and DampRid)...I really wanted to test this produce and I used my pressure sprayer to wash out after exposing didn't have any problems with the emulsion washing off... I made multiple sized screens (from 8x10 to 18x20) and the results were the same for all of them...I haven't tested yet for durability of finished screens yet (that's next and the reason why I didn't give 5 stars) but so far I have been pleasantly surprised...
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0 of 0 users found this review helpful.
12/20/2015
1
I tried this product at so many different exposures from 15 minutes to an hour and a half and it ALWAYS just washed right off. Terrible product.
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3 of 4 users found this review helpful.
8/2/2015
4
An interesting process from the drawing fluid and vinyl methods I have used in the past. Forget fine lines and details with this material. One headache I had was the sheets sticking together as I tried to separate them in a darkroom. Only after exposing them did I realize I had two sheets stuck together which ruined both sheets. The screen had to be cleaned and prepped again. Arghh Also exposure time was a lot longer then recommended for a good burn. 7 sheets to go.
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1 of 1 users found this review helpful.
4/1/2015
5
These are the best emulsion sheets ever clean up so nice!
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2 of 3 users found this review helpful.
2/8/2015
5
Item arrived quickly and worked perfectly. Just what I needed and also the price was great.
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2 of 2 users found this review helpful.
10/4/2013
4
Great service as always from Dharma and the sheets are such a time saver! Clear sharp images and excpet for some operator errors are easy to apply.
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1 of 2 users found this review helpful.
5/10/2013
5
Received my order and used the product and was very happy with the results.
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1 of 2 users found this review helpful.
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