hi i am completely new to every aspect when it comes to printing t shirts. I have done basic minimal research and found the Anajet looks like what i would benefit from the most. Basically I am trying to go for a wide variety of shirt colors mixed in with a wide variety of design colors. (Lots of black) my main concern for the shirts would be quality of how the design sits on the shirt. I will most likely be printing very complex designs with lots of details. Also I will not need to be producing massive amounts of shirts just maybe 10 of each design on S,M,L with no time crunch. Do you think the Anajet is for me?? Do you have any suggestions something else that would be better for me??
Thank you so much!
Something to keep in mind is that you can only print on light shirts with an anajet. I know that there are new digital printers that print on dark shirt, but they are super pricey. You should also consider silk-screening
Hope this helps.
Last edited by sunnydayz; May 4th, 2009 at 07:17 PM.
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??You can print on dark with Anajet. I have recently bought one, my personal opinion is that on light shirts, the colours do not pop out as much as traditional plastisol inks used in screen printing, but they are good with some tweaking.
I have got some great results on dark shirts using white underbase, but on black shirts its a bit hit and miss for me at present, this is due to the fact that you really do need to experiment with the pre-treatment to get it right.
So I believe its a good machine, but be prepared to waste good few shirts, loads of ink and pull your hair out now and again. But overall I think its a good investment.
Something to keep in mind is that you can only print on light shirts with an anajet. I know that there are new digital printers that print on dark shirt, but they are super pricey. You should also consider silk-screening
Hope this helps.
A large number of design colors, short runs.... this "screams" direct to substrate. Screening would be good for large runs, few colors and if there were colors that were beyond the CMYK gamut. Anajet does print darks (CMYK+white).
madamgabby, You will get a softer feel that you would by using plastisol. these are water based inks and there is much time lag between inspriration and design on a shirt. No separations, screens and minimums. You will benefit from a good grasp on photoshop, or similar programs and a good idea of how CMYK and RGB work.
Last edited by sunnydayz; May 4th, 2009 at 07:18 PM.
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anajet is your best option! Here is a quick pic of one of mine.... I hope I did the pic right. I know it will not do the graphic justice. It is very detailed. I wore this at the Fort Worth NBM show this past weekend and got loads of compliments.
T!
Last edited by TPBaker; May 5th, 2009 at 10:12 AM.
Reason: yikes! forgot pic
The Anajet is a good printer, however it sounds like you are not looking at doing a huge amount of printing. You may want to consider a less expensive printer option or look for someone to do contract printing for you.
The Anajet is a good printer, however it sounds like you are not looking at doing a huge amount of printing. You may want to consider a less expensive printer option or look for someone to do contract printing for you.
Don has a good point, and one that people new to this need to understand. If you are making an investment in a machine and you do not try to keep it working for you on a daily basis, it can quickly end up costing you much more in time and money if it's just sitting around. This is especially true when talking about printing dark shirts with white ink. If you are very prolific and taleted artwise, and have a market that will buy from you on a regular schedule, the Anajet can be very beneficial and rewarding. You just need to have a buisness plan and make sure that it fits with the responsibilities and commitments that having a machine. Your sensibilities as an artist and the clients that you market may determine if direct to garment in general is a good fit for you.
Hi T
i admire you tshirt ! its great. I also have anajet, i've just bought it 3 weeks ago and i have a hard time with wite ink, it doesn't preform the way that I want. can u tell me how do u set up your printer cause i think that's m,y problem. fex. white drop size? do u set it up ; Heavy? How about level, contrast, underbase choke. Then the print setup for color ink....im so confused
i heard so many good opinions about anajet and i really want to join to the fanclub of this printer
marta
The honest answer is: it depends. You first need to master the artform of pretreatment. Instead of the squeegee thing to make sure the pretreatment is even I use a 12 inch plastic paint guide and I think it works better and is faster. I also found that it took a little longer to work through the shipping fluid for the white than it did the colors. If you are able to attend the one day workshop it is definately worth it. The machine works and works well. Like any new professional piece of equipment you have to give yourself time to learn how to work it. I gave myself six weeks and a whole set of ink to learn it, and it is paying off.
T!
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