The stencil, which is created on polyester mesh (polyester screen printing 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 screen printing. The following sections briefly summarize some of these processes, and the associated sub pages go into more elaborate detail and how-to information.

Photo Emulsion

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.