5 Problems Everyone Has With Printed Shirts

With screen printing t-shirts, you may either design your own t-shirts or use one of the standard designs provided by those firms that concentrate on t-shirt printing. However if you want to design your own t-shirt, you'll find certain aspects of screen printing you should understand, given that they impact on the kind of design you may use.

For starters, 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.

Even though the artwork is necessary prior to the screens can be made, an explanation of the technique will be necessary so you may understand the limitations in your design. First of all, a mesh is necessary with holes big enough to enable the ink to be squeezed through it. A typical mesh will be 110 (110 threads/inch), with lower for thicker inks and block images, and better for thinner inks and a lot more definition.

The mesh is coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, and also the artwork placed under it. Light is exposed up over the screen, and where the light hits the screen, the chemical solidifies and covers the mesh. The design area stops the light, so in the event the screen is washed, the area of the design is clear of emulsion, while the rest is solid. This is true whether screen printing t-shirts or some other item.

The Printing - The screen is mounted in a box, as well as the garment is placed under the box. Ink is poured into the box and also 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.

While you can see right now, this process is suitable only for an individual colour per printing because only one colour may be poured within the mesh box or they would run together. For more colours, the process must be repeated. Only delineated areas of individual colour can be printed, so it's not possible to merge one shade into another when screen printing t-shirts.

It should be apparent that a brand new screen is required for each different colour unless the pattern is precisely the same. This adds to the price, and screen printing t-shirts is expensive for individual garments. There's a fixed set-up cost and after that a further 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, for helpful site example digital printing, can print multiple colours with virtually no increase in price. So why use screen printing for t-shirts rather than just digital? There are various 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, can't print large areas as effectively as screen.

Screen printing t-shirts is quite opaque, and also can cover any deep colour beneath it. Digital printing struggles to print light shades in addition to dark, such as pale blue on bright yellow, without it looking green.

Screen printing is great for whites, and also with DTG jet printers, white on dark often lasts no more than two or three washes. Screen inks are much more stable and also are thicker so give greater coverage. You need offer no specific washing instructions.

Screen is exceedingly cost effective if you have only one colour, and should 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