After you have coated your screen with photo emulsion, exposed the screen, screen printed with the screen, and then cleaned it, you may want to remove the photo emulsion so you can reuse the screen for your next screen printing project.

I have read on many websites that you can use bleach when reclaiming your screens. So I decided to try it. I bought a gallon of bleach for a dollar at the local grocery store. After I had washed away the leftover ink using warm water, I brushed on some bleach, scrubbed it with a nylon bristle brush, and then let it sit for a while. Then I sprayed the screen with warm water. Some of the emulsion came off. I reapplied the bleach, scrubbed, waited, sprayed, and more came off. After about four applications, the screen was pretty much cleared. Basically, it was a lot of work, and used a lot of bleach.

I decided to try stencil remover. Since a one quart bottle of stencil remover is significantly more expensive than a gallon of bleach, I hoped it worked. I poured just a little of the stencil remover on the screen, and used a nylon bristle paint brush to spread it around. Then I scrubbed lightly with a nylon bristle scrub brush, and waited for a few minutes. When I sprayed the screen with water, almost all of the emulsion was removed. Just a dab more stencil remover, and the rest was gone too. Compared to bleach, this stuff was magic. The stencil remover hands down beat the bleach. I have also read that bleach is harsher on the screens, and will shorten their life. As the old saying goes, use the right tool for the job.