Some more information would be helpful to figure out why it "won't transfer" the way you're doing it. I'm assuming you're wanting to expose 4 screens and do CMYK 4-color process to screen the shirt? If you're just doing a one-off print of a couple shirts for their anniversary, I'd recommend one of the following:
1) Look into doing an inkjet heat transfer (if you have a heat press) or find someone locally or online that can do it cheaply.
2) If you're bent on doing it yourself, I'd personally try doing a one-color halftone print especially if it's only going to be a couple of shirts.
If you're dead set on using 4-color process (CMYK) to print, though, and you have a manual rotary press with micro-registration to print with, we will need a good explanation of what you're attempting to do now:
What are you using for your four film positives?
What is the mesh count of the screens you're using?
What kind/brand of emulsion are you trying?
How are you coating your screens (just 1 layer on each side, or are you trying to use more)?
What is your exposure source (overhead lamp, UV unit, sunlight, etc)?
How long are you letting it expose?
Is the emulsion completely washing away and leaving nothing behind, or is it hardening completely and not washing out at all?
Also, I guess I should have asked this first, but are you just getting started with printing or have you been doing this for a while? I'm still very much an amateur myself and don't have the equipment to do CMYK prints, but I do know some about the steps involved just from studying the trade. Hopefully we can all help ya out - Happy Early Anniversary to your folks!
