[tomahack]

Hi, im new to this site, and seeing that lots of help is provided. Im in the same situation as Grayhead ( User in another post ) exept for child and wife, but anyway, I work full time..I'm talented with website/php..and knowing the basis of photoshop..i know what's a layer but maybe lacking over vector's, and i want to start right now my t-shirt buisness, starting for Band t-shirt ( Praticly all black garments ). I was considering buying a press, and a good ink jet printer. But when i came to this site, my illusions radically changes My friend got a tatoo machine, and me and him expect maybe to start a little boutique, where we tatoo's and shirt print.(heat press) ( plus net-sales(other printing method). But we need a start point.

So, I made lots of search about screen printing, silk screening, embroidery..and truly, im confused. I saw screen printing "machine" but i even do not know how it seems to work haha

I saw a tutorial for embroidery, but it was for monochrome black, with a embroidery hoop with glue on it..well i dont want 2 hours to make 1 t-shirt..lol..

So screen printing or silk screening ? That's sound the same for me..is it ?
For beginning, i want to print black t-shirt ( 95% ), and I know thats really sucks to print designs with heat press on black tees. Some websites apologize for OPAQUE material as backup. But man, the base's t-shirt weight around 5.6oz, i dont want to sell t-shirt weighting 2 pounds and low washing quality.


Any suggestions, tutorials videos, bundle kits, for under or near 1000$ ?

Thanks, sure you gonna help me
Tom"!

 

[Rodney]

Hi Tom, welcome to the T-ShirtForums!

For all pratical purposes, silk screening and screen printing are the same thing (which is totally different than heat pressing)

You can bestblanks.com for some tutorials on heat pressing and I've read here that personalizedsupplies.com has good transfer paper.

 

[tomahack]

Well, i think i dont need tutorial about heat pressing, just need practise when buying, but what im looking for, is screen printing printing process tutorials. I'm a bit familiar with photoshop already. But doesnt know how those sprinting machine works.

 

[Rodney]

There's some good tips on which machines to buy in the Heat Press category of the forum:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15

As for screen printing tutorials, I've heard the "How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit" is a good starter guide. I think they may also have some guides at screenprinters.net

 

[tomahack]

Ok thanks, i found this site too, maybe suitable..

http://www.silkscreenbiz.com/ they sale a book for 50$ and is package 1 is good for the money ? 750 $?

 

[Rodney]

Just found a site with some good video tutorials:
http://t-rad.com/videos.php

 

[bushidosoul]

What is the primary difference between those methods? Which one has better picture quality? Is one better than the other for certain types of tshirt artwork?

 

[Rodney]

What is the primary difference between those methods? Which one has better picture quality? Is one better than the other for certain types of tshirt artwork?

The primary difference between which methods exactly?

:welcome:

 

[bushidosoul]

All three, I'm a noob and a half. Please enlighten me. Thanks.

 

[Rodney]

Basically, screen printing is ink pressed through a screen and onto a t-shirt (silk screen is the same thing, different name).

Heat Press is the design printed on transfer paper and the paper pressed onto the t-shirt using a machine that applies even pressure and heat on the paper to tranfer the image from the paper to the tee.

Heat press can do more photographic images since it is coming directly from a computer printer which can handle thousands of colors. It's not as easy to print on dark garments with heat press, but it is great for print on demand printing where you don't have to print lots of shirts at once to make it economically feasible.

Screen printing is usually longer lasting and more durable than heat press printing. You can print on any color garment. You can sort of acheive photographic effect with screen printing, but you have to remember that it is ink going through dots in a screen to make an image, so the photographic quality won't look like a photo on your computer monitor. You usually need to do larger runs of screen printing to make economic sense (24+ per design).

There's probably more, but that's the basics. More can be found in some searches of the forum (or wikipedia.com )

 

[nodenpa]

Well, i think i dont need tutorial about heat pressing, just need practise when buying, but what im looking for, is screen printing printing process tutorials. I'm a bit familiar with photoshop already. But doesnt know how those sprinting machine works.

I just watched some fairly in depth instructional videos on YouTube.com you should check there. Incidentally, I'm in the same boat...I have no experience, and just trying to find out what the best way to silk screen is for me.

 

[froilanmarco]

Hi guys im new here, which one do you guys prefer for mass production/retails etc. im planning to start a tshirt business and iwas wondering which is better heat press or silk screen? or is there something better? thanks!

 

[purplekoolaid]

Silkcreening/Screenprinting is the same thing.

For mass printing, it's always best to go with screenprinting because:
1) It looks more professional. Some people may disagree, but to me heat presses can look cheap/homemade. Plus the images can peel off after prolonged use. Screenprinting lasts much longer.
2) It's easier. How screenprinting works is they take an image and it is "burned" onto the screen, basically creating a stencil. Then ink is pulled through the stencil and transferred to the t-shirt. So you can use one screen to print literally thousands of shirts.

Honestly screenprinting is relatively easy to do yourself and pretty simple process. What is not easy however is getting all the equipment, which will cost you thousands of dollars. Not to mention, the process can be messy, and requires alot of time that you may or may not have. I used to print my own shirts but thats only because I had free access to all the equipment I needed through my college.

It's much easier (and cheaper, unless you have some empire where you're selling a million shirts a week) to just outsource the work and have others print it for you.

You can try jakprints or threadbird.com, or just do a google search with the words "apparel printing" or something to that effect.

 

[dragonfry]

Here’s a tip for someone just starting. Go check out the prices and shirt quality of the local competition. Screen printing had been around the longest, is best for volume printing. Most screen printers will not touch your order for less then 12 shirts per color in the order. So if you want black shirts with white ink you’re going to have to order a dozen. Starting out with 0 experience in the print industry in my opinion is not a great idea. Investment is huge, materials are OSHA regulated, materials are bulky and expensive and space is a major requirement.
For someone starting out heat pressing is more economical.
You need a good quality laser printer, like Cannon, Xerox, Ricoh, Okoia etc. You can print on inkjet but I personally feel that laser printers are better and the toner doesn't dry up and go bad like ink does.
You'll need a good heat press, search here for one.
And you need some papers that can handle your printing requirements. I suggest Koncert Tees paper (white on any color) and Image clip dark (colored graphic images on darks) for starters.
Another though is you can use a plotter and heat set vinyl for simple one or two color images that you created in vector programs like A. Illustrator or Corel.
Photoshop isn't going to be a lot of help unless you are rather skilled at separating with that program. And if you’re a web designer, then separating is something you haven't done often.
Make friends with the local print shops, because you’re going to need to pick their brains for ideas and help.
(I came out of the screen printing industry and now only use heat pressing materials in my own personal shop.)

 

[froilanmarco]

Silkcreening/Screenprinting is the same thing.

For mass printing, it's always best to go with screenprinting because:
1) It looks more professional. Some people may disagree, but to me heat presses can look cheap/homemade. Plus the images can peel off after prolonged use. Screenprinting lasts much longer.
2) It's easier. How screenprinting works is they take an image and it is "burned" onto the screen, basically creating a stencil. Then ink is pulled through the stencil and transferred to the t-shirt. So you can use one screen to print literally thousands of shirts.

Honestly screenprinting is relatively easy to do yourself and pretty simple process. What is not easy however is getting all the equipment, which will cost you thousands of dollars. Not to mention, the process can be messy, and requires alot of time that you may or may not have. I used to print my own shirts but thats only because I had free access to all the equipment I needed through my college.

It's much easier (and cheaper, unless you have some empire where you're selling a million shirts a week) to just outsource the work and have others print it for you.

You can try jakprints or threadbird.com, or just do a google search with the words "apparel printing" or something to that effect.

thanks man, i think silk screen will give the best quality but yea its true that you will be needing to spend alot of money in buying those materials/equipments