What is Screen Printing & how does it work?

 Last week we told you about DTG printing. No big deal, it just allows us to act like super ninjas who can print any design you desire on a t-shirt in under an hour. What’s that? Do you think that we’re wizards? Well, maybe we are. Maybe we are. Because that’s not all we do. You’re thinking to yourself immediately, “that’s impossible, t-shirts in an hour are already extremely admirable, what else can they do?” How did a few little things call screen printing? Hell yeah, we do this too.

What is Screen Printing?

Screen Printing, which is additionally referred to as Silk Screening, may be a badass method of printing graphics on a t-shirt using thick inks that lay on top of the shirt instead of soaking into the shirt. Screen Printing is what most companies use and, back within the day, was the sole major thanks to creating bulk amounts of custom t-shirts. Print Ur Shirts offers Screen Printing, alongside one hour DTG printing, because in some cases, it’s better to use Screen Printing over DTG.

 

With thicker inks, screen printing is best for graphics with just one or two ink colors getting used. Instead of DTG, the screen printing will make these colors begin at your wish jack within the box. The thick ink will have a soft feeling if touched and may bring a very amazing look. If you’re in no rush and have minimal colors for a t-shirt, we recommend Screen Printing. It great and is usually cheaper for larger quantities.

How does it Work?

So how does Screen Printing work? Well, it’s not like DTG that’s needless to say. Instead, a skinny mesh is stretched tightly over a frame (originally the screen was made up of silk, however, mostly made up of polyester today). A negative of the planning is printed onto the screen to be placed against the shirt. Once set correctly, ink is rolled over the screen, only the areas where the planning has been printed allow ink to slide through. The ink then sets on the t-shirt and is forgotten to dry.

 

We’ll be honest with you, its tons more complicated than that. There are tons of separate chemicals, inks, and techniques that enter making your shirts, but that’s the gist. While it's going to not be as quick as DTG printing, it may result in a thick and bold design.

No Seriously, How Does It Work?

Ok, don’t say that we didn’t warn you. There’s a reason why silk screening seems best when done by professional t-shirt companies like Print Ur Shirts. Experience, know-how, and therefore the right equipment all combine to form the right t-shirt.

 

Here’s an in-depth overview of how we set about screen printing our t-shirts. Cue Discovery Channel’s “How It’s Made?” upbeat industrial-sounding music and let’s dive right into the wonderful world of silk screening t-shirts.

The Screen

Once you’re A-OK proud of the mockup of how your shirt(s) will look, it’s time to urge started. Attempt to mentally picture the screen on a screen of a house. We use something like that (but much higher quality). It’s a screen with a bunch of small little holes.

 

We take the screen (it’s secured during a wooden frame) and begin to organize it. It’s then covered during a layer of emulsion which will prevent ink from coming through. The top result's a two-tone color (green and therefore the color of the screen which is typically a shade of yellow). The colors on the screen don’t matter and won’t affect the ultimate printing.

 

We also handle some behind-the-scenes stuff to urge ready for a press run. This overall found out for silk screening is far longer than DTG printing as we've to manually do everything by hand.

 

The Color

This is where the wizardry happens. We take our custom colors and begin mixing and matching until we have the precise colors that you simply specified. We only use high-quality inks that are designed to last an extended time. The inks we use also are thick, which suggests the planning goes to return out looking specialized.

 

There isn’t any longer thereto. We just follow the color-mixing instructions and during a jiffy, we’ve created the precise color that you simply specified.

 

The Press

 The press is where the shirt is silk-screened. Picture a 12-armed metal beast from some mythical Viking tale. It spins around and there are a lot of metal parts. On each arm, there's a place where the wooden silkscreen (that we designed for your shirts) is placed.

 

The t-shirt is stretched over a board-looking device. Everything is lined up with frickin’ lasers therefore the design on all of your shirts is found within the same position.

 

The screens are then lowered on top of the t-shirt. We pour the custom ink concoction on top of it then use a rubber squeegee to very quickly move the ink from one end of the silkscreen to the opposite. Because the ink gets moved over the screen, the t-shirt soaks up the ink on the front and therefore the design starts to seem.

 

Depending on what colors you wanted, we may need to mix colors (more wizardry), and therefore the t-shirt may undergo two or more silk screenings using different colors (and a special arm of the 12-armed metal beast. the top result's a t-shirt that has the precise same design, and color that you simply wanted.

 

The Dry

We then dry our shirts during a dryer. It’s more of a conveyor belt type device that has been set to a particular temperature to make sure the shirts dry in one pass and therefore the colors don’t bleed.

 

Once the t-shirt comes out on the opposite end, we inspect it to form sure it's exactly just like the mockup we sent you earlier.

 

The Final Product

Unlike DTG printing, silk screening is completed completely by hand. This sort of printing is ideal for artwork that only has 1-2 colors or huge quantities.

 

You can tell a t-shirt has been silk-screened if you run your fork over the ink. It’ll have a raised feel thereto. This is often thanks to the ink being placed on the front of the t-shirt.

 

Due to the very fact that silk screening may be a highly custom job, it'll take us 10 business days to make your order.

Get Your Silk-Screened T-Shirts Ordered Today!

We recommend screen printing for easy company logos, team names, and custom t-shirts with text. As well, screen printing works alright with both light and dark t-shirts. Often, DTG features a tougher time with dark shirts, but screen printing, as long because the right inks are used, will stand out compared to the other technique for t-shirt customization.

 

Excuse me, but what the hell are you waiting for? We just told you what screen printing is all about, so get on our quotes page and request us to line up a consolation. We’ll rehearse the method with you in additional detail and even assist you with a design if you would like one. With the simplest t-shirt designers and options to supply, you’ll be happy you came to PrintUrShirts.com