[kaoticscreenprin]

I don't know what to search for this so I am starting a new thread.

My friends and I are thinking about starting a screen printing business in my basement. We are all confused about what to do after we design on the computer. We want to find out how much we are getting into before we buy the equipment. Can someone please explain what happens next for me? Thanks.

 

[QGRAPHIX]

If you want to start a screenprinting business, of course the first obvious thing you need to do is learn HOW to screenprint. Check out Youtube... there are lots of videos out there to show you the process.... good luck.

 

[kaoticscreenprin]

If you want to start a screenprinting business, of course the first obvious thing you need to do is learn HOW to screenprint. Check out Youtube... there are lots of videos out there to show you the process.... good luck.

I've spent the whole day doing that, but I haven't found things on how to get the image onto the black stuff on the screen.

 

[D3L0C4T3D]

You have to print the image on a trasparency in black then burn it onto the screen with emuslsion and a uv light. Once you do that was ig out and tape the screen then pull soe ink. Thats the basics but if you want more details you will have to youtube it or wait until I have more time to explain/show you with videos that will be on my site.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using T-Shirt Forums

 

[kaoticscreenprin]

You have to print the image on a trasparency in black then burn it onto the screen with emuslsion and a uv light. Once you do that was ig out and tape the screen then pull soe ink. Thats the basics but if you want more details you will have to youtube it or wait until I have more time to explain/show you with videos that will be on my site.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using T-Shirt Forums

So it's a long process?

 

[cyclesurgeon]

Yeah, it's a fairly long and precise process. If you're in a hurry it's not going to work. There are no shortcuts in screen printing.

Do plan on buying or making your equipment? Check out the youtees.net videos. Pay attention to the process, not necessarily the editorial or self-promotion. There's a ton of good material presented there.

 

[wormil]

Take a screenprinting class. You can watch youtube videos all day but you will make a lot of unnecessary mistakes just learning the basics. Better yet get a job in a print shop.

 

[cyclesurgeon]

Take a screenprinting class. You can watch youtube videos all day but you will make a lot of unnecessary mistakes just learning the basics. Better yet get a job in a print shop.

Those are great ideas too if either is a possibility in your area. Most of the art programs that offered printing have been radically cut back. I did slave myself out to a bike shop before I went into the business myself in the 90s so it should work for screenprinting too.

 

[ScreenFoo]

The last couple replies on working at a shop seem quite wise to me--I learned more about screens, ink, and printing in my first couple months at a shop than I did in the many hobbyist years preceding it.

 

[wormil]

I'm just speaking from experience. A friend and I opened a screenprinting business in his garage after taking a class and did okay but there was a lot of frustration which eventually led to us giving up. Later I got a job in a good sized shop and holy mackerel, I learned more in the first week than the class and garage combined. I was also held to the standards of someone with 40 years of screenprinting experience and expected to produce at an acceptable rate. Sometimes two of us would print on the same 6 color press on opposite sides and you have to keep up with the other guy or get whacked by a spinning screen or worse get yelled out for being too slow. We had a 6 color and a 4 color Riley Hopkins' and a primitive auto which I hated. We cranked on those manuals though.

 

[boredcreative]

youtube and t-shirtforums are your best bet..and a truck load of patience