My Life With Yudu - The Overly Detailed Tutorial
A little while ago, Anita and I went to Maker Faire and stumbled across this new home silk-screening system called Yudu. It seemed like a great way to make small-run T-shirts (or whatever-s) of my designs, so a few weeks later I picked one up and decided to give it a go. Since I wasn't going to have any new toys for Comic-Con, this seemed like a good way to whip up new swag reasonably quickly without having to sink tons of cash into it.I know this sounds like I'm leading toward something disasterous, but in general I'm happy with my Yudu set-up - I just thought I'd jot down my experiences with it, in case some of you out there were considering trying it out , too.
The startup cost isn't too bad when you compare it to ordering T-shirts from a printer. The device itself runs between $200-$300, depending on where you get it. I bought mine at Michael's along with some extra supplies, so the initial purchase was about $500.
I would recommend buying extra emulsion sheets and screens in case you have a learning curve like mine - you only get two sheets with the machine, and just one screen. You'll also want to get some emulsion solvent, which doesn't come with the set-up and is only sold in small bottles. I'm able to clean roughly two screens per bottle, so it's good to have extra on hand - you'll either want to buy more screens and keep some of the designs for a while, or have fewer screens and clean them more often.
Using the system is pretty simple, it just takes practice. The videos on the Yudu website are helpful - just don't panic (like I tend to) if things don't turn out exactly like they do in the demonstrations!
Extra things you'll need:
* Nearby sink access
* Scissors
* A soft sponge
* Low-tack cellophane tape
* Packing tape
* Some sort of indoor clothes-drying rack
* Clothes iron/heat press
* A cheap plastic spatula that you'll never want to cook with again
* Yudu emulsion remover/solvent
* Some hand-wiping rags
* "Expendable" fabrics or products for test runs
Extra things you won't need:
* Yudu Squeegee Pro - harder to clean, and oddly not as good as the one included in the set.
The first thing you need to do is prep the screen. So far, I've had the best results prepping a screen right over the sink. In general, I think more water is better than less - run the tap over as much of the screen area as you can, and use a sponge to help flood the rest of the area. I used a fabric-covered sponge, and it worked fine. Go over both sides and wet the screen down thoroughly. Wipe off a little excess with the sponge - this is the tricky part. Practice is how you'll figure out how much water to leave on the screen. Try not to have any big drops running around, but don't wipe off much more than that.
Cut open the emulsion sheet bag and pull out one of the sheets (try to do this in a dimly lit place, as they're sensitive to light). Set the screen on the sink with the flat-cornered side facing up, and place the sheet shiny side up onto the screen. Use the squeegee to smooth out as many wrinkles and air bubbles as you can. Don't worry, you won't be able to get all of them.
Hold the screen up and check out how many areas aren't sticking to the screen. Flip the screen over and using your sponge, lightly dab those areas. Your sponge won't need to be soaked, but wet enough so you won't have to dab much to blot out those areas. The more you dab or rub, the more risk you'll run of wiping off the water-soluable emulsion. Don't worry if more of it comes off than you'd like - my first completed screen was pretty blotchy, and it still worked fine.
Take the screen, put it in the machine's drying drawer (I used the lower notches - I'm not sure how important that is), and dry the screen off with the machine's inner fan (not surprisingly, it's the button with the fan on it). Do not try to do anything else until you're sure the screen is completely dry - that's where I tripped up. I found that one drying cycle wasn't enough, and wound up running each screen three or four cycles instead. A good way to check is to rub your hand over the shiny part of the emulsion sheet. If you get a little staticky crackle, you're probably ready!
Now - the shiny side of the emulsion sheet is actually a seperate sheet unto itself. If it's fully dry, the sheet should pull off very easily once you get your fingernail under a corner. If the screen's not dry enough, some of the emulsion will stay on the sheet and tear off the screen. I learned this the hard way. Twice.
Now you're ready to burn your design onto the screen. You'll probably want to leave the screen in the nice dark drying drawer while you prep your artwork. You can either use one of their transparencies (they only supply you with one), or draw/print a design on a piece of acetate. Any sheet from 8.5"x11" to (I think) 11"x14" will work. The tricky part will be finding a printer that can print on them. Xerox machines jam easily (Kinko's wouldn't even let me try), but printers will work if the sheets are fed manually. You want to print your artwork as black against a clear background, just like any other silkscreening process.
This step works just like the video tutorial describes. Tape your art onto the clear registration panel, making sure to align it properly with the grid. You'll be able to move your T-shirt (or whatever) around to some degree on the platen to determine where your design will 'land', but you'll still want to make sure that the art is reasonably centered and straight on the registration panel. That goes on the bottom, the screen is next (raised corners up, I think - check the video), then the platen on top of that (felt side down). All of this goes under the lid, even though it looks like one of those layers should go on top of it. Once you get it all layered properly and weighed down, zap the emulsion with the exposure button (the one with the sun, I think). It's timed for eight minutes, and you won't need more than that. When you remove the screen, the design will look very faint. Don't freak out - just take it to the sink and rinse off the unexposed emulsion. The parts covering the black line art should rinse off, and now the screen should look more like you'd expect it to look.
After you've dried the screen off (I wipe it dry, then run it through the machine once), get your packing tape and tape off (on the flat-cornered side) the edges of the screen - at least from the silver frame to where the green emulsion begins. If you're worried about the emulsion being too thin in spots, try to tape over as much of the emulsion area (while not covering the open parts of the design) as possible.
Now you're ready to pull your design! This part is the same as the video, too - put the screen in the top of the lid (raised corners up) - your design should look the way it'd look on the product. Pull the protective sheet off the platen - that should reveal the sticky surface that'll hold your product down. Put the platen under the lid, and put the product on the sticky part of the platen. Place it carefully, making sure that the design will appear where you want it on the product.
Keeping the lid raised, pick your ink color and squirt a few lines of it across the top of the design. You don't have to go along the entire top of the screen - remember that the ink is only going to go through the screen where the design is revealed. Keeping the lid raised, use the squeegee to 'flood' the screen, dragging the ink down over the design. Now close the lid and drag the ink over the same area again, as demonstrated in the video. Practice will help you determine how much ink to use. Too much, and the design will look thick and clotted. Too little, and the design will look too light or uneven. Don't be too sparing with the ink, but try to 'flood' as simply as possible - don't drag over the screen multiple times before the final pull if you can help it. Lift the lid, and hang your product up to dry for a while.
If you're pulling a lot of products at once, eventually the ink will all get pushed to the botton of the screen. Use your spatula to gather up the excess and apply it back at the top of the design. Add more ink if needed.
Here's the last step. Once you're confident the ink is dry, either put your product in a heat press in accordance with the directions, or use a hand iron (with another cloth on top of your product) to 'fix' the ink. The demonstration at Maker Faire included cool little heat presses, but I haven't found them for sale anywhere. I bought a somewhat larger one to try in the future, but I hand-ironed the Comic-Con shirts. A heat press will probably run you another $400, so shop around before you buy.
Of course, there's the elephant in the room. Every single part of this system is proprietary. The good side of that is many of the materials are non-toxic/assumedly 'green', which is certainly not true for traditional silk-screening. You can rinse Yudu inks and emulsions down your household sink drain. On the other hand, if Provo Craft and Novelty (the maker of Yudu) goes under, you'll be left high and dry with no supplies to continue. If you want to make T-shirts for a family reunion, I guess this isn't much of a concern, but I'd assume anyone really wanting to invest in this would want to be able to use it for more than one or two major projects. I guess in today's economy, all you can do is hope for the best and try to get your money's worth out of it as soon as possible.
And there you have it! I'll try and update this post later concerning the color-fastness for the designs. Have fun!
Labels: comic con, crafting, crafts, home silkscreening, silkscreening, t shirt, tutorial, yudu
posted by Jeff Pidgeon at
9:32 PM
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