4oclockteetime

Theses forums have been very helpful and educational and of course I appreciate all of the advice many of the members here have offered to all newbies with loads of questions. Recently I had a problem with white ink on black shirt (as many have and do) and I got some really great suggestions on what the problem may be. After reading through that thread more and reading some others I realized that I am making judgment calls on my prints with absolutely nothing to compare them to. I have never screen tees before and dont know many people within travel range who do, so I dont know if I am making a bigger deal out of the look of my tees than I should. Maybe I'm just being too much of a perfectionist and what I think I should have as an end result isn't reasonable.

So I was wondering if any of you very experienced silk-screeners out there would help us newbies out a little more by posting a photo of what plastisol ink looks like on a tee when it is applied wrong (and pleased describe what that "wrong way" is) and then would you post a pic of a tee that has been silk-screened by you, using plastisol, that is laying properly on the tee --- a pic of the "right way."

A few pic postings from different screeners would be great and I know it would help me out immensely. I am a very visual person and pics help. Its just that simple. So I hope some of you professionals out there in the forums bite on this and gives us some visual examples.

Thanks again for past and future advice!

 

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pyro

if it looks bad.. it is wrong..
if it looks good .. it is right..

you or your client is the judge..
i have done messy work and the client loved it..
i done clean work and they wanted it messy..

 

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4oclockteetime

Quote: Originally Posted by pyro if it looks bad.. it is wrong.. if it looks good .. it is right.. you or your client is the judge.. i have done messy work and the client loved it.. i done clean work and they wanted it messy..

Well, I don't have the benefit of this sort of flexibility... plus I don't want it. I want consistency with every job I do. And, I'm designing tees to sell on my site for retail, so they have to be right each time. I haven't gotten in to taking a bunch of custom orders yet because I'm not 100% satisfied at the moment with my end results. The point here was I would like to see what would be a considered by all regular standards "the proper way the ink should sit/lay on the shirt" rather than just being told what it should or will look like. I am looking for an example to work towards. I've printed tees that I didn't think looked so hot but others didn't notice the flaws that I saw. Maybe I'm being too picky or just scrutinizing my work too much... I don't know. I haven't done this before and thats why I was hoping some experienced screeners would post 'right way'/'wrong way' pics. I know there are differences in styles/technique/soft hand and so on, so I'd like to see a few if there are available.

 

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4oclockteetime

Quote: Originally Posted by ImageIt The limit of this forum's upload limits prevent uploading high enough resolution images to be able to show the sort of details you are asking about. The term "hand" refers to the feel of the finished print. When plastisol is done correctly, it has a soft hand, but when done incorrectly, it has a hard, heavy, rough or stiff hand. The best printing will still have the texture of the underlying shirt. Good printing will have a smooth surface where bad printing will have a rough surface. The nature of the finished shirt has more to do with the "screen printer" the person than "screen printing" the process. With identical ink and equipment, 2 different companies results can be entirely different. My suggestion is to walk around the mall and look and feel the shirts. Aside from the guy sitting in the kiosk selling one of a kind shirts, nearly every other printed shirt you will find will have been screen printed using one method or another. Bad screen printing "feels bad". fred

Ah I see... Based on what you've said, I am then at a 50/50 marker. Some of my prints are smooth and some are thick and rough. I'll just keep driving at it until they all end up right. Thanks Fred.

 

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