What Is Screen Printing?
At it’s most basic, screen printing is the process of using a silkscreen to apply ink to fabric.
Special screens are prepared with the image that you want on your shirts. Then ink is pressed through the screen, onto the shirts. After which the shirts are heated to cure the ink, and then they are ready to wear!
Wikipedia offers a great article describing the screen-printing process in detail.
This process is incredibly useful for anyone who wants to get multiple items printed with the same artwork.
Screen Printing & Considerations
It’s important to remember that every color you want used in your artwork means another screen to create, set-up, and print through. The costs connected with these screens depend on the techniques used.
It’s always beneficial to print more items than less because of the set-up charges involved. If in doubt about the final quantity of screen printed items you’ll need, it’s often more economical to order more than you think will be required. Additional shirts tacked onto an order will only raise the order by the cost of the shirts. If you have to place an additional full order, setup and shipping costs may still apply.
The following things will add to your screen printing costs:
- Matching ink an exact color
- This requires inks to be custom mixed
- Printing on dark colors
- This requires a process so that the colors are not dull
- Additional locations on a garment
- Every additional location is another print on the shirt
- Special (not the normal) logo locations
- Sleeve, pocket, and tag prints are more time consuming to print