Aditya

Screen printing can be easy if you know what you're doing and what you need. Things such as a good dryer for screen printing, a spot gun, materials, and other essentials are needed. However, the actual process can be frustration when you're just starting out.

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind.

Create A Test Print

This seems obvious, but no matter how good and savvy you are, test your prints before starting the job. An office worker would normally photocopy one page to make sure it looks like great before making hundreds of copies, because any wasted pages will come out of their pocket. The price of one or two shirts heavily outweighs having to throw away an entire order, so do a test print.

Keep Your Equipment Clean

Whether you have state of the art equipment from Vastex or an old school printing press, clean your equipment often. A tiny particle of ink can wreak havoc on your next job. Thoroughly clean and degrease your screens. Dust your press, clean your pallets and regularly washing your hands should be part of your routine.

Use The Correct Garments

Even though modern technology makes it easier to print designs that have a lot of detail, there are some types of material that still won't show fine details well. Ribbed shirts are form fitting and stretch to fit the wearer, so they must be stretched to print on them. Even if you stretch it out and apply more pressure to ensure so it prints evenly, the look of the design will be unsatisfactory. If the design has a lot of detail to it, use a more flat material. Burnout tees pose similar problems as ribbed shirts. Printing words instead of designs is a better option with these tees. Pique polos are finely woven and pose a similar problem as ribbed shirts. The design probably won't appear the way you expect it, so embroidery is best here. Aprons and bags also don't handle detail well either because they're not as smooth as normal shirts are.

Don't Use The Wrong Shirts With Jumbo Prints

A large part of most orders could be jumbo-sized prints, but they don't work well on all type of shirts. Using them on tanks tops can lead to print defects because of the low cuts on the sleeves and neckline. V-Neck shirts have this prob. Girls' T-Shirts are usually more narrow than the jumbo pallet for the design. jumbo prints on these shirts can end up looking distorted, or even worse, they can be cut off.

All Tags Are Created Equal

Decide if you want to keep the tag that comes with the shirt, or remove it and print your own branding there. Most T-shirt manufacturers intentionally make it easy to remove their tags for this reason.

Other manufacturers have tags to are tough or even impossible to remove, typically because they want you to keep it there. Fleece Garments, Tultex 0213, American Apparel 2456 V-Necks and 2408 Tanks all have their tags sewn into the seam. This means you can only cut the tag. If the tag was under the seam, you could completely remove the tag from the shirt. But a little bit of the tag will be left in the seam and look tacky.

The way the tags of Alternative Apparel Garments are sewn, you cannot remove them without tearing a hole in the shirt. Anvil 779 Tees have tearaway tags but are challenging to screen printing, because the material inside of them is rough.

Find a Good Vastex Dryer For Screen Printing

This one should have been number 1. As mentioned, you can choose any style or brand you like, but we recommend going with Vastex for you printing equipment. Not just because they have a great lineup of products, but they have lots of accessories that you are bound to need. They are also a brand that everyone trusts.