DIY Screen Print on Wood

EZScreen DIY silk screen stencils can be used for screen printing on wood. Personalized wooden signs are extremely popular, and now you can make your own! The techniques for screen printing wood are very similar to screen printing t-shirts, but here are some things we recommend if you are planning on making your own wood projects:

1 - Use Speedball screen printing inks

• Although Speedball inks are primarily used for fabric, they can work on most porous surfaces (that means wood, cardboard, and even paper!). You can screen print Speedball inks right onto untreated wood, or paint the wood using Speedball ink (allow to dry) and then screen print your design in a different color. Here’s an example:

This wood sign was painted with Speedball Opaque Raspberry ink, then screen printed with Speedball Opaque Pearly White ink.

2 - Don’t use a plastic frame

• Plastic frames are great when screen printing onto fabric and t-shirts, but there’s no need when printing on wood. We typically use a strip of blue painters tape on the top edge of the stencil, and apply screen printing ink in a downwards motion.

These wood coasters were screen printed with Speedball Black ink then sprayed with a waterproof polyurethane clear top coat.

3 - Use a brush to apply ink

• Larger designs can be printed easily using a squeegee, like the Valentine's Day sign, but we recommend using an artist brush when working with smaller designs. The wood coasters pictured above were screen printed using an artist brush.

4 - Standard EZScreen stencils

For most wood projects, Standard emulsion stencils will work just fine. Choose between our Basic Starter Kit with Standard stencils, or our Complete Starter Kits which include your choice of Speedball screen printing inks.

Screen Printed Mandala Wood Coaster Tutorial