I have a great idea for a t-shirt printing business that I must pursue . However, I've never printed t-shirts before. I've done a lot of research & it seems that silk Screen printing is the best in regards to quality. (Feel free to agree/disagree & comment). I'm in the Maryland area & looking to take some classes on printing t-shirts. Has anyone heard of the Vastex Silk screening Co ? Does anyone know of any courses in the MD, DC, PA (anywhere close) area ? How did you guys learn to print T's ?????
I'm sure there are several companies that will make the shirts for me but that would seem to take away a lot of the profits.
Screen printing is the best quality I believe. When I decided to start mys business I actually went and got an apprentice job at a print shop to learn the basics. There are classes at many trade shows and many supply companies will offer classes or tell you where they can be found. There are also a few instructional dvd's out there, but there are a lot of troubleshooting tips and tricks that I learned from veteran screen printers that I never found in classes or dvd's.
I'll see if I can find a link for one of the DVD's then just practice and ask a lot of questions on here. Some of the classes are very over priced.
Welcome to the wonderful world of printing..... that said, I learned by "cutting my teeth" so to speak after jumping into the business feet first and buying a press of my own. I had a corporate background, and no idea how to do tees until I just went out and did it. Frankly, the learning curve isn't too bad to get decent with simple 1, 2, or 3 color jobs, but it took me a good long while before I could put together anything with 4-6 colors or gradients, etc... that looked professional. That said, another big reason for my early troubles was due to the fact that I skimped on "machine quality" and bought a low priced eBay printer to get my feet wet and the registration (way multiple colors get lined up to print correctly) and other features were sorely lacking as compared to a more expensive press.
If you are sure this is the gig for you and you want to go ahead, I'd start out by getting a mid-level press (usually in the 3.5-5K price range) and at minimum picking up the book "How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit".... it is a brief whirlwind tour of the basics of printing from screens, to squeegees, to actually laying down ink.... It won't teach you everything you need to know, but for less than $20 it will get you a solid footing....
If you don't mind making a handful of rags, you can start printing the day you get your machine.... you'll quickly find that sometimes you put too much paint on the tee... sometimes too little, and sometimes you didn't have your registration quite right.... but all in all... it isn't difficult to print a t-shirt and you should have it pretty well down after a few afternoons of making "seconds" .... also, if you don't mind the hassle... you can always just grab a roll of "shop towels" or some other fairly thick "paper towel" type material and practice your prints on those as opposed to destroying actual t-shirts.... once you get your "stroke" down... you'll be able to switch over.....
Anyway, think this post is getting a tad lenghty... but if you are sure this is for you... jump in and get to it.... classes might give you a quick leg up... but if you are dumping $500-1000 to attend, you might be able to "teach yourself" enough to be proficient without the expense....
And one last hint... I still don't make my own screens as using emulsion etc... without having a proper exposure unit etc... is more of a hassle than it is worth to me.... I simply called around to all the local silk screen shops and have a few different ones that will do my screens on a day or two's notice.... benefit is that I now have professionally made screens for which I pay about $20 each, and also have a great contact with year more experience than me.... so when I have those days where I cannot figure for the life of me how to get something to render correctly, or how to make something work, I can pick the brain of my screen supplier at no extra charge and he's happy to help a little printer like me figure out what I am doing wrong....
Great responses....thanks guys. And Johnny Mo, your website is really cool & I love the shirts. I'm gonna wait on a few more responses to decide what I'm gonna do first & I'll keep you all posted. Thanks again. I'm gonna see what my local library has to offer "for free."
I've done a lot of research & it seems that silk Screen printing is the best in regards to quality. (Feel free to agree/disagree & comment).
Definitely (although as a heads up, the only thing that annoys some printers more than referring to screen printing as silkscreen (obsolete term) is referring to the ink as paint - I actually don't think the first is that big a deal, but it's a sore point for some).
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Originally Posted by Virginprinter
I'm in the Maryland area & looking to take some classes on printing t-shirts.
I'd definitely recommend taking a class (or getting someone to take you through the process) if you can find one that's cheap/convenient. You can teach yourself, but if you get shown the basic process you'll save yourself a lot of time on the basics.
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Originally Posted by Virginprinter
How did you guys learn to print T's ?????
I went to school. There are lots of ways to learn though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Virginprinter
I'm sure there are several companies that will make the shirts for me but that would seem to take away a lot of the profits.
Not really. It doesn't cost much to get shirts printed, you can still get great margins out of it. The biggest advantage to printing yourself is being able to tweak designs, run test prints, colourways, shorten the time from conception to production, etc. You really don't need to do the printing yourself to run a profitable business though.
yeah, I'm with Lewis on this one. You can still have your work done by a screen printer and have a good margin. If you're worried about how things are going to cut into profits, I'd consider the cost of equipment, equipment upkeep, supplies, space for this equipment, and the learning curve. Screen printing isn't the most difficult thing in the world, but there's some degree of knowledge and finesse involved.
I actually started as a self-taught printer, and then became a professional screen printer. I run a moderately successful line, and I source out some of my work, and print some of it myself on my employers' equipment when the need arises or I'm doing short runs. However, it took blood, sweat, tears, and debt that I'm still paying off to get here, so it's not a road I'd advise. Focus on good designs before running off and teaching yourself how to screen print when there are plenty of capable printers out there.
__________________ SEIBEI - put a monster in your closet.
yeah - you need to focus on your strengths. there's no need to go learning a new trade if you can hire someone else to do it for a reasonable price. it's a perfectly fine trade to learn, of course, but you shouldn't feel like you won't be able to run a successful and profitable company if you outsource your printing.
__________________ SEIBEI - put a monster in your closet.
Tryna learn to print tees (nice quality) 
