The stencil, which is created on polyester mesh, defines the art to be printed. The stencil consists of a solid area that will not allow the ink to pass and an open area that will allow the ink to be deposited on the substrate.
There are a variety of ways to create stencils suitable for screenprinting. The following sections briefly summarize some of these processes, and the associated sub pages go into more elaborate detail and how-to information.
The use of a photo emulsion allows the creation of a stencil with near photographic quality. It is perhaps the easiest way in which to make a stencil at a very low cost of approximately USD$0.25 per square foot of stencil area.