 Re: Photo Color Screen Printing - how many screens?
I don't really know much about screenprinting, but I'm looking into plastisol transfers right now and I can tell you that it has the exact same limitations and advantages as screens since it's actually a screenprint to a transfer paper. The price sheet I'm looking at doesn't even go over 7 colors, so that may not even be an option for you.
If you're looking for near photo quality and most of your designs will be square like you posted, with no lettering that you need to have on a transparent background, then heat transfer with good quality paper and inks might work for you, especially since you're starting out in relatively small quantities. Any complicated designs with edges require you to cut along the design exactly or leave a white border, which is the carrier for the inks. This can break your knuckles since it's time-consuming, plus it just sucks if you want to do more than 25 shirts in a day.
You can achieve decent, acceptable results with a good paper, proper press pressure and temp, and durable inks. This is the hardest part for people though. There are so many variables that can affect the longevity of the product that people can vary widely in their results.
My personal experience with Durabrite inks on an Epson C86, 100% cotton clothing has been trial and error, but I've come up with a good process that creates a tee that can withstand many more washes and flexing than you would expect with transfer paper. Let me know if you go this way and I can throw a couple tips out there.
Make no mistake about it though, screening leaves a better hand and looks better longer. Anything done with transfer paper will not last as long because the inks aren't bonded to the fibers. I don't know if my own transfers would last a year or not becuase it hasn't been that long yet, but I do know that a few people who buy products like mine from retail (not everything is screened) told me they don't pay attention to the difference between the two processes and actually expect some of the designs to break down at some point in the future. I think the average is about a year but I'm not sure. That may be acceptable depending on your price point. For mine, it's not. |