Screen exposure — also commonly called screen burning — is the process used to create the stencil on a screen printing screen.

Artwork is transferred to an emulsion-coated screen using controlled light exposure. The screen is then washed out so the image area opens in the stencil, allowing ink to pass through the mesh during printing.

Yes. Our professional screen exposure service can take your supplied artwork through to an exposed screen ready for your print job.

Send us the artwork, finished image size and whatever you know about the job. If you aren't sure which screen size, mesh count or exposure method you need, we can help work through those details with you.

A screen printing stencil is the image created in the emulsion on the mesh. The open areas of the stencil allow ink to pass through the screen, while the surrounding emulsion blocks the ink.

Screen exposure is the stage that turns your artwork into that printable stencil.

Film exposure uses a film positive placed against the emulsion-coated screen before exposure. Direct-to-screen (DTS) digitally images the artwork onto the coated screen without using a separate film positive.

DTS removes the film-positive stage and its associated film stretch and alignment variables. Film exposure remains a practical option for many screen printing jobs. We'll help determine which method suits the screen and artwork you're supplying.

For the cleanest screen exposure workflow, supply your artwork as Adobe Illustrator artwork, vector PDF or SVG wherever possible. Fonts should be converted to shapes and each screen colour should be supplied clearly.

Include the finished artwork size in millimetres. If you're unsure whether the file is suitable for screen burning or stencil creation, send us what you have and we'll review it before proceeding.

Start with the finished width and height of your artwork . Our Screen Size Finder compares those dimensions with the clear mesh opening of our standard screen printing frames and shows you a suitable starting point.

The clear mesh opening is a physical size guide rather than a guaranteed maximum printable area. We'll confirm final screen suitability before exposure.

Mesh selection depends on the artwork, ink system, substrate and level of detail required. There isn't one mesh count that suits every screen exposure job.

Tell us what you're printing, the ink you're using and the artwork requirements. If you don't already know the mesh count, we'll help you choose an appropriate screen and mesh setup.

Absolutely. Screen exposure isn't limited to production quantities. We work with one-off projects as well as repeat screen exposure for growing print shops, production printers, education, label and industrial printing applications.

Yes. Jones Brothers provides professional screen exposure and screen burning from our Campbellfield workshop in Melbourne, Victoria.

We work with Melbourne printers as well as customers sending screen work to us from elsewhere in Australia.

Yes. We can expose individual screens or support repeat production where the same artwork and screen requirements are used regularly.

For ongoing work, consistent artwork, screen specifications and preparation can make repeat screen exposure and stencil creation much easier to manage.