Tips On Printed Shirts
With screen printing t-shirts, you can either design your own t-shirts or use one of the standard designs provided by those firms that specialize in t-shirt printing. However if you want to design your own t-shirt, there are certain aspects of screen printing you should understand, while they influence on the kind of design you may use.
Foremost, a brief description of what is associated with screen printing:
Screen Printing T-Shirts: the Process
The Screen - At one time this process was known as silk screen printing, because the screens used were made from silk. It was a popular printing technique in China, hence the silk, but modern polymer fibres now enable us to use synthetic screens that are considerably less expensive.
However the artwork is needed ahead of the screens can be made, an explanation of the technique will be necessary so you can understand the limitations within your design. For starters, a mesh is essential with holes large enough to permit the ink to be squeezed through it. An average mesh will be 110 (110 threads/inch), with lower for thicker inks and block images, and higher for thinner inks and more definition.
The mesh is coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, as well as the artwork placed under it. Light is exposed up over the screen, and official Inspire Edu blog where the light hits the screen, the chemical solidifies and covers the mesh. The design area stops the light, so when the screen is washed, the area of the design is clear of emulsion, as the rest is solid. This is true whether screen printing t-shirts or any other item.
The Printing - The screen is mounted in a box, and the garment is placed under the box. Ink is poured into the box as well as a tool described as a 'squeegee' is pulled across, forcing the ink over the mesh. The ink is then dried, leaving the image on the t-shirt.
When you can imagine, this process is suitable only for an individual colour per printing because only one colour can be poured within the mesh box or they will run together. For more colours, the process must be repeated. Only delineated areas of individual colour may be printed, so it is not possible to merge one shade into another when screen printing t-shirts.
It should be apparent that a new screen will be needed for each different colour unless the pattern is precisely the exact same. This adds to the price, and screen printing t-shirts is expensive for individual garments. There's a fixed set-up cost and then one more cost for each colour. The greater t-shirts that can be printed in a run, then the cheaper it gets for each individual garment.
Other printing methods, such as digital printing, can print multiple colours without any rise in price. So why use screen printing for t-shirts rather than just digital? There are a variety of reasons:
Advantages of Screen T-Shirt Printing
Screen printing is advantageous if you design your own t-shirt with large areas of block colour. Digital printing, as well as other methods, cannot print large areas as effectively as screen.
Screen printing t-shirts is quite opaque, and may also cover any deep colour beneath it. Digital printing struggles to print light shades on top of dark, such as pale blue on bright yellow, without it looking green.
Screen printing is great for whites, as well as with DTG jet printers, white on dark often lasts no more than two or three washes. Screen inks are much more stable and are thicker so give greater coverage. You may need offer no specific washing instructions.
Screen will be extremely cost effective should you have just one colour, and if you have longer runs screen beats most other methods for economy and price.
The colours are brighter and stand out more when screen printing t-shirts
