[teaseplease]

Ok, we have a great screen printing company....no complaints there...but they have informed me we could save a lot of money if we bring them our design on velum ready to burn....im not sure what that means...could someone explain what we will need and what type of software/printers etc we would need? right now we can send them our graphics in (eps) format but we still have to pay a design fee. which can be costly when thinking about the number of designs we will eventually be posting on our site. thanks

 

[teaseplease]

Just to clarify...i meant we have a great screen printing company that prints our tshirts for us....we just sell them we're not the actuall screen printing company...

 

[Rodney]

I've never heard of a screen printing company asking for customers to deliver their artwork on velum. That's something that 90% of customers probably don't have access to.

Giving them a vector EPS file should be more than enough. In my opinion, I think they should be the ones providing the films (vellum). How much did they say you could save?

 

[Squirts]

Like Rodney that seems a bit strange to me too... As I've stated in another post I would much rather make my own... But to answer your question their asking you to make the Film Positive that they will use to burn your screen.. Vellium makes great film positives with a Laser jet printer specially with a light spray of Toner enhancer after printing... I personally use both Vellium and Poly Paper now instead of Clear transperancies.

What there asking you to make is simular to a photograph negative with one sheet for each color in your print.

With registration technique issues involved it seems doubly strange that they would ask you to do this yourself. Not to mention scratches that could occur in handling and transportation to them.

Vellium is cheap 20 to 25.00 for 100 sheets I dont see much savings involved by them saving two and a half cents on the paper and a couple minutes printing your artwork..... ??????? However if they are offering you a substantial savings, it would be MORE then worth YOUR effort to learn to make Good Film Positives. Its Cheap to do...

 

[Comin'OutSwingin]

I know the company I do business with also has this practice. If you are able to bring them the artwork on velum, then you could save a few bucks. Normally they’ll do this with people that are doing smaller runs, though (12-120?).

I’m not exactly sure how much you could save, but I’ve heard of a couple of printers doing this. You print all colors on a separate sheet of velum, and I think it cuts down on the art charges, “I think”.

I don’t think it’s worth the effort myself. If you are getting a pretty big run, I can’t imaging the savings would matter that much, anyway. Plus you have the hassle of doing this yourself.

 

[teaseplease]

well its because of the art charge....we get a good deal on the printing itself but over 50 designs at 15 bucks a pop thats 750.

 

[Comin'OutSwingin]

Yeah, you’re right. That does add up pretty quickly.

I looked into a while ago and didn’t think it would be that difficult. If you already have the color separations done on the artwork, I think it would be worth it to do.

You’ve just got to get the velum (readily available) and have a good printer. You are sure to save some money, if you can do it.

 

[Rodney]

If it's a one time fee (as a film fee should be), I don't think it would be worth doing it all yourself.

 

[Solmu]

I've never heard of a screen printing company asking for customers to deliver their artwork on velum. That's something that 90% of customers probably don't have access to.

I've definitely known some printers to allow/encourage it. I couldn't say how common it is, but it does happen with some legitimate companies.

Like Squirts said letting that quality control out of their hands seems risky, but on the other hand it also puts the onus on the customer to have their work as they want it.

 

[Solmu]

well its because of the art charge....we get a good deal on the printing itself but over 50 designs at 15 bucks a pop thats 750.

Obviously saving $750 would be nice, so it's worth seriously considering. Also worth considering though is the amount of time and money you'd put into saving that money. If it's not something you can do quickly and easily, it might just be worth paying the screenprinter $15 to do a good, reliable job for you.

 

[Preston]

Like Rodney that seems a bit strange to me too... As I've stated in another post I would much rather make my own... But to answer your question their asking you to make the Film Positive that they will use to burn your screen.. Vellium makes great film positives with a Laser jet printer specially with a light spray of Toner enhancer after printing... I personally use both Vellium and Poly Paper now instead of Clear transperancies.

What there asking you to make is simular to a photograph negative with one sheet for each color in your print.

With registration technique issues involved it seems doubly strange that they would ask you to do this yourself. Not to mention scratches that could occur in handling and transportation to them.

Vellium is cheap 20 to 25.00 for 100 sheets I dont see much savings involved by them saving two and a half cents on the paper and a couple minutes printing your artwork..... ??????? However if they are offering you a substantial savings, it would be MORE then worth YOUR effort to learn to make Good Film Positives. Its Cheap to do...

We only use clear film for multi color designs and we will not print them with a laser printer do to shrinkage from the fuser heat.
Here is the deal. We use special transparencies that cost us about $1.00 per sheet. We print them with a $700.00 printer that uses special black ink that has a ruby lithe tint to it to help block all UV light during the burn. We charge $10.00 per film to make the films for you. This pays for the film, the ink, the operator’s time, the computer and printer deprecation and the several $1,000.00 worth of software we use and updates for them. This just pays for us making the films. It does not give you ownership of the films.


We would be ore than happy to use a contract customers film instead of printing them for them as long as they meet our quality standards. This will save you (the contractor) money on screen setups. And the plus side is not the films belong to you. If I make them they are still mine even though I charged you $10.00 form making them. Most service that will make you high quality films will charge anywhere from $1.00 per inch to $40.00 per film to output the film for you and give it to you to keep.

So if you can make your own films that are good enough to burn quality screens, you can save some major money when having your shirts printed. I had one customer that provided all artwork, films, inks, screens, emulsion, chemicals, screen tape, pallet adhesive and shirts. He basically just hired us to do the labor part and provide all the printing equipment.

 

[Squirts]

I had one customer that provided all artwork, films, inks, screens, emulsion, chemicals, screen tape, pallet adhesive and shirts. He basically just hired us to do the labor part and provide all the printing equipment.

I Love it!..... Trying to picture that here with my customer base... probably 80% of my business is for small businesses, schools and the like.... My customer base isnt near as sophisticated... Thank God theres plenty of them... But the picture of one of them dragging in EVERYTHING.. down to the pallet adhesive is hysterical... I Love it!
and have no doubt someone would do it....
Thanks Preston its been a long trying day needed the laugh!
BTW looks like your gonna save me about 20 cents a shirt with one of the suppliers you listed on another post.. Thanks for that too.... Chuck

 

[Preston]

I Love it!..... Trying to picture that here with my customer base... probably 80% of my business is for small businesses, schools and the like.... My customer base isnt near as sophisticated... Thank God theres plenty of them... But the picture of one of them dragging in EVERYTHING.. down to the pallet adhesive is hysterical... I Love it!
and have no doubt someone would do it....
Thanks Preston its been a long trying day needed the laugh!
BTW looks like your gonna save me about 20 cents a shirt with one of the suppliers you listed on another post.. Thanks for that too.... Chuck

Yea, it sounds funny doesn't it? But we where doing 2 - 3 thousand shirts a month for this guy so it was ok by me that he provided everything. Expecialy since the inks we used on his shirts were $300.00 a gallon.

On ths shirt suppliers, glad it helped. I have another deal I am looking into that will have Gildan 2000's for about $0.70 each in white and $0.90 in darks. Beefy's will be just a few cents more. Once my supplier gets the warehouse up and running, I'll give you the details to setup with them.

 

[Squirts]

On ths shirt suppliers, glad it helped. I have another deal I am looking into that will have Gildan 2000's for about $0.70 each in white and $0.90 in darks. Beefy's will be just a few cents more. Once my supplier gets the warehouse up and running, I'll give you the details to setup with them.

I'll look forward to it.....

 

[EngBulldog]

Yeah I would definately be interested in Gildan 2000's at that price as well.

For the original poster............I think it is wise to do it yourself. I have been using a local printer in my area for some time now. I used to be there so much that I pretty much picked it up. Since then I have purchased just about everything for a basic 4 color shop. My problem now is learning the computer graphics...........it seems like it is taking forever and still seems foreign. Anyways, if you can learn something that will help you down the road and save you money then I would go for it. Think of how much profit you will save eventually if you are doing everything in house...................doing art seps and printing the positives is a huge step in the overall screen-printing process. Exposing screens, printing, and curing is pretty simple compared to the art aspects.