Screen Printing: Reinvented, resurgent

Located within Grafica’s premises in Vasai, the new DMI facility was inaugurated on 5 June after a year and half

The re-booted DMI training facility is air-conditioned, clean and complete humidity controlled

DMI has, since its previous sessions, won many national and international awards including ASPT and FESPA students' competitions for educating printers

The multistorey facility is fully loaded with automatic and semi-automatic screen printing machines, complete screen making set up that includes pneumatic fabric stretching clamps, screen dryer, automatic emulsion coating system, screen exposing unit, digital press for film output, ink kitchen, drying/curing equipment,advanced colour management system and QC tools

Nano PrinTex, Nano Print and Nano Print Plus are Grafica's "super stars" at the institute

Bhargav Mistry(l), first opened the training institute in 2006. Over the years, as screen printing has evolved, DMI has stepped up. Mistry says, "The workshops will focus more on textile and advanced screen printing. We will remove the word 'moire' from screen printing."

Amid friends from the offset print industry (l-r): Manoj Mehta of Manipal Utility; Anand Limaye, India Printing Works; Tushar Dhote, Dhote Offset Technoktafts and Mistry

Grafica took the opportunity to acknowledge the long-standing partnership and associations with allied manufacturers and suppliers. In the pic: Mistry felicitates Anil Brahmbhatt of Mumbai's Skyscreen India. The other members felicitated were Nikhil Ahuja, and the Sericol team, among others

The first workshop in the new facility at DMI was conducted between 8 to 10 June. The topic: Advance screen printing process with UV special effects inks and varnish

The special attraction at the workshop included a wine bottle box; made from wooden substrate (MDF) which includes halftone screen printing with UV special effect inks and varnish

The workshop began with the basics. The black and white design of the wine bottle box and the certificate were created

The participants take a closer look at the registration marks. The pre-press training includes file handling, Photoshop, Illustrator, and colour management

The pre-press 'How To(s)'at the workshop: CMYK file correction
, process colour halftone screen printing, compensate dot gain using advance pre-press techniques, print fine lines and halftones with consistency, complete theory on colour management

All the workshops at DMI are conducted in Hindi for the attendees' and operators convenience

Setting industry standards for the creation of the perfectly stretched screen

The making of the perfectly stretched screen. This entails stretching the fabric and mounting it on a frame to its true tension

The four-step process: Clamp the fabric down - Raise the frame thereby stretching the fabric - Repeat at least three times - Glue the fabric and remove from the machine

The screen making tutorial includes much more than fabric stretching and emulsion coating. How to reclaim the screens and avoid ghost image plus the importance of high-quality screen and consistency is stressed upon

Coating the screen until a thin coat of emulsion is left behind

Simple tips on how to expose the screen

Washing out the emulsion using a power washer to spray the entire surface of the screen with water. To begin with, this is done with low pressure from a distance

After the emulsion is washed out the screen starts to open up and the positive areas start washing away

Over the years, Bharagav Mistry (in the centre) has evolved from a manufacturer of Grafica equipment to a key influencer for screen printing

Grafica's semi-automatic screen printing machine, Nano Print at work. Nano Print comes with a stainless steel vacuum bed print area of 15x20

Being perfect about the fine line and halftone print

The workshop is designed with special focus on getting the proper adhesion on substrates using UV inks

According to Mistry, the three-day full-day workshops are a medium to share knowledge, see new types of UV inks, varnish, glitter inks, metallic, pearl and special effect UV inks

DMI will also host a Rojgar Yojana which could provide screen printing skills and gainful employment in Maharashtra

The takeaway: A wine bottle box; made from wooden substrate (MDF) which includes halftone screen printing with UV special effect inks and varnish was created at the workshop

The class of June'15: The first batch at the revamped DMI Institute. The basic to advance courses are repeated every month so that all members from an organisation can attend the workshop in turns

The participants get screen-printed certificates; paper including multiple UV special effects inks and varnish, example, glow in dark, thermocromatic inks, glitters, mirror inks, high density screen printing, micro embossing, various UV textures and much more