We got some photos today from a shirt company and they had a printer reporting that the shirts looked like crap after washing. You can see the photos at the end of this post. The ink is not cured from what I see and this is what I told them can be the causes: Undercuring can…
I just can’t stand to see an automatic press running dog slow because of a double squeegee stroke. Aside from special effects printing, water-base/discharge, the occasional quick fix on a small run, or a specialty substrate, there is rarely a legitimate need to run a double squeegee stroke. Today however, we are running a basic spot…
From our pal Brett Bowden of Printed Threads: As the leader of a growing company, I feel like it is necessary to be around other business owners at my level as well as mentors that can help me get to the next. Whenever I meet with a new “mentor” I always hear the question, “What…
MHM makes the best presses for printing on shirts and canvas. There, I said it. …and it feels good to be so direct. For many years I have written articles for various trade journals. In the interest of “fairness” they always make me write generically about what makes a good press and I can’t say…
The headline reads: “This Guy Cited His Christian Faith in Refusing to Make T-Shirts Advertising a Gay Pride Parade — and Now His Company Is Being Punished” You can read the article here. I have little interest in the specifics of this story but it did make me think of the inevitable point in every screen-printer’s career…
When I started my shop years ago I never would have guessed that we would do in-house re-labeling to the extent that we do today. In fact, we didn’t even touch our first re-labeling project for a few years after opening our doors. For that first project, we cut out woven tags from stock tees,…
Sometimes the best way to avoid a mis-print is to not print. Screenprinting is what we mostly do at my company and in this case screenprinting is what the customer wanted. However, sometimes you just have to face that you can’t do something. This artwork has tiny type and it was not going to reproduce…
Explaining Full Color printing methods, whether it be Simulated Process, CMYK, Index or otherwise, to the uninitiated can be a struggle. We decided it would be easier to just show them…
In the last several months we have been printing with discharge inks at a higher level than ever before. This is partially a trend and partially driven internally. This trend also corresponds with a trend toward specialty substrates, i.e.: tri-blends, fashion fleece, etc. Obviously, this complicates things. You can be reasonably sure of the results you…
Best explanation I have seen yet about why Tom and I wear “Know-It-All” Ink Kitchen gear. Inquiring minds always know more than they figure they do. Do you know Jack? Apparently you don’t know Jack. Apparently nobody knows what the hell they are doing. “There’s an old puzzle that philosophers like to ponder: how could…
