This question comes up often with screenprinters: why can we not hold detail? The answer is an idea similar to the art department concept of problems with source artwork where we say “garbage in, garbage out.” We are now are transferring that idea to print production. Basically, if you have a crappy stencil you have no chance…
We recently visited Anderson Studios in Nashville, TN. He has won more screenprinting awards than all of you readers put together. For printing the proof is not measuring dots or holding some line screen, the proof is what the prints look like. Andy Anderson’s prints are phenomenal and we’ll get into that in future posts.…
Question: Our printing doesn’t seem to be getting better, what are the best ways to go about improving our printing abilities? Answer: My two cents? Stop being penny wise and pound foolish. Saving twenty dollars and buying a gallon of inexpensive but inferior emulsion is a terrible idea. Inferior emulsions don’t have the resolution…
That green leaf in the photo isn’t arty, it is wrong. It is out of registration. Why are things out of register on your prints? Oh, let me count the possible ways… It wasn’t registered properly by the press operator. Start with the obvious, believe me I have seen folks do crazy stuff when all…
If you hang out with any emulsion company, you will hear them talk about the importance of each step of the reclaim process. EVERY STEP. I have seen so many forum posts about how degreasing is a waste of time. C’mon people! The screen is the most important part of screen printing, let’s treat it…
I saw some cool stuff at SGIA today. This is first of a few posts from here in Atlanta. Saati has a point source light that is LED, super fast exposure, constant exposure, energy saving, and what I like, super simple design. You can even control it from your phone via bluetooth if the control…
Nine recent questions I have received whether on forums, calls, or at shows: Q: What is the standard over/under on good shirts? A: You are free to make up whatever you want, but we usually tell people 1.5% per location is the industry standard. 300 shirts printed two sides on customer supplied goods means 9 shirts…
Discharge printing is getting more and more popular as a way to produce soft prints on soft shirts. It doesn’t always work. The process is that the discharge agent in the ink combines with water and heat to neutralize the dye in the shirt. The color of the ink then goes into the fabric and there is…
This screen is the first frame I made for the first commercial job I ever did, for Ken Brown Designs. The image is from an ad from an old joke catalog, for some weird ass face paint. I exposed the image with a 150 watt light bulb and a pie plate reflector. Instead of a…
El año pasado nos cambiamos a marcos rígidos hechos a medida y uno de nuestros objetivos era ir sin cinta. En términos de material y de mano de obra el coste de las pantallas de encintado es enorme. Gastábamos más de 5000 dólares al año en cinta solamente y quién sabe cuánto más en mano de…
