Using Thick Film

Murakami Thick Film

Murakami Thick Film Stencils can open up creative print techniques that can enhance standard graphics and provide new print offerings for your customers. Murakami Thick Film has film thicknesses ranging from 100 - 1000 microns to cover many special effects print techniques. Print applications in the US are typically in the textile industry even though it has long been used in printed circuit boards and industrial applications for thick ink deposit.

The tackle twill style art below was built in Adobe Illustrator on separate layers. The chain stitch is a dashed line stroke while the zig zag stitch was a custom brush created with a sample of the zig zag. Tight curves and corners were built by hand to improve the custom brush results so the zig zag appeared more threadlike.

Textile Usage for Special Effects: 

• High Density Ink – High Density inks are making a comeback. Thick Film by Murakami creates the sharpest ink edge and details possible in a thick stencil. More on how to achieve special affects printing later in the article. 

• Gels – Typically used as an overprint, great gel prints exhibit a glass like domed effect over underlying prints or to create an adhesive base for glitter dusting techniques or foil applications. 

• Puff Ink – From the common 3D raised puff to suede, leather and blister puffs, these inks take a common print and can turn it into a multi level textured print with more sales appeal. 

• Glitters – Too often a 25 mesh screen is coated with very little emulsion thickness. Ink deposition and coverage is improved with a thicker ink well to transfer a more continuous coating of glitter ink.

A thick film stencil can be created much faster than using an emulsion to build the stencil layer by layer using coat and dry techniques. We do offer Aquasol HS emulsion to create thick stencils that can be coated wet onto wet to achieve a 350-400 micron stencil, however some of the special print techniques we will discuss here print better with Murakami Thick Film. How could they be different? The brief explanation deals with the sharpness of the printing edge of the emulsion shoulder and the sharp vertical sidewall that only Murakami Thick Film can achieve.

Art Considerations:

The artwork must be created with art wide enough in the detail areas that the art will be printable after screen development. The rule of thumb is to have artwork in the detail area no thinner than the thickness of the thick film or emulsion thickness you are going to use on the screen. This allows for easier control of the print on press since it is very difficult to print art that is thinner than the film thickness since the narrow channels cannot clear ink easily with typical squeegee pressure...