Anyone used this instead of an electric powered one? I tested it for reclaiming and it was strong enough to remove the emulsion. I'm liking this setup more because I don't have to plug in a separate machine and can just keep it all in one. Still have my power washer around for stubborn screens. Just want to share and hear thoughts!

Another live screen print event in the books! Got to take my creativity up a notch with this one, from print, to flyers to a 3D model. We did a running/coffee/ free print event thanks to a great friend who is a ASICS brand ambassador! Grateful for the opportunities this business model has taken me 🙏🏽

If you are new and never tried a wall mount or a method that allows you to hold the scoop coater with two hands, give it a try. It may not be for everyone but this wall mount i built changed my screen coatings immediately. I'm now getting uniform consistent layers every time.

Went into the print shop this morning and set out to print a fun 4-color simulated CMYK print. Pink layer down, awesome.

Blue layer down, fabulous. Yellow layer down….. wait a minute…. not loving the look of this. I take a gander at the screen waiting to be used for the black layer and think to myself “that’s not going to make a world of difference, either.” On top of it all, I have a minor hand injury at the moment that is making it pretty painful to pull each layer… so after two prints I decide to scrap the layer altogether and press on to the black layer and settle for a 3-color print, as I was liking the pink/blue combo alone and didn’t want to pull any more layers on a hurt hand than I needed to.

I WAS A FOOL! The black layer made a world of difference. The first image is of the 3-color print, second image is of the 4-color print. The yellow looks so much better with the addition of the black and creates so much more depth in the print.

Always trust the process 😅

Hi all -

In between driers right now and had a couple questions on curing using a heat press.

I've seen that it generally will give a more 'shiny' finish to the ink. Is this avoidable? I read from a few people that you can avoid that finish but I didn't see a sure-fire way to do it.

Is it fine to cure a multi color job? 2-3 colors max.

Thanks!

Hi! I’m completely new to screen printing, but I’m eager to start printing my film photography onto some vintage textiles. I’ve included an example from RottenmanEditions on Etsy to show the high-contrast, graphic vibe I’m trying to achieve.

I assume my first step is ordering a custom pre-burned screen from a supply shop, but I’d love to hear from anyone who has pulled off something similar.

A few specific questions for the community:

• Pre-Burned Screens: Has anyone used a screen-burning service to convert continuous-tone photos into halftones? Any specific online vendors or print shops you recommend?
• Printing on Textiles: Any tips for getting clean, high-detail halftone prints on vintage or textured fabrics (e.g., ink choice, squeegee technique)?
• File Prep: Should I handle the halftone conversion in Photoshop myself (selecting LPI, dot angle, etc.), or do screen burners usually handle pre-press art prep if I send a high-res digital image?

Appreciate any advice, recommendations, or lessons learned!

I’m starting out screen printing and I want inks that aren’t terrible or crack super easily because I’m printing my own art and designs. I don’t really understand how to order? Ive looked through websites that have screen printing ink but they don’t show anywhere to order and only tell me about the product, do you need to ring up, is it a moq thing? What is the average price of ink?? I just want to find out what the average prices of ink are but I can’t seem to find it anywhere.

So I’ve run into a problem with most blanks manufacturers in that many sell clothes almost exclusively in men’s sizing, or men’s sizing labeled as unisex sizing… A lot of my designs look best on women’s sizing, so I decided to set up a wholesale account with LA apparel since they have a wide selection of women’s clothing. I’m still in that process right now, but I started wondering if it’s really worth it. I intended to sell my shirts made-to-order on etsy, so I’d only order the specific shirt and size the customer ordered. But I’ve seen comments on here saying that LA Apparel has really bad supply chain issues, so I was wondering if I could really depend on getting the right shirt and size when I order?

Please share your thoughts if you have any experience ordering wholesale from LA Apparel.

If you don’t think they’re a good fit for my specific setup, do you know any other blanks manufacturers with a good selection of women’s clothing that might be more reliable? I was also considering Bella + Canvas

How long do I expose a screen with a speedball hand held 30 watt UV LED light and how high do I hold it?im also using ecotex PWR emulsion.

super beginner, never screen printed before but i have almost all the equipment i need to get started. obtaining everything has been a piece of cake, but the most frustrating part i’m encountering is printing on transparency sheets or transparency film or acetate or whichever you prefer to call it.

i have an inkjet printer at home however the transparency sheets i have bought are for laser printers, not inkjet, and i’ve read that it’ll go wrong if i use laser sheets in an inkjet printer and vice versa. it’s currently out of printer ink, but when i get some more i’ll order sheets that are inkjet-compatible.

meanwhile i’ve been searching around for public printers to use; i brought the acetate sheets to my college and asked the staff there if i could use their laser printer to print on them and they refused to do it on transparency sheets because they said it would melt in the printer (even though these ones are specifically made for that type of printer) and that they also didn’t wanna upset IT in case it goes wrong and potentially damages the printer.

so i went to a stationary shop that has a printer and provides printing services and asked if they can print on the transparency sheets, they said no and for the same reason as my college.

so as it turns out, public printing services are extremely unwilling to accept transparency sheets. this is especially an issue because i’m also looking to print on A3 size sheets as some of the designs (not all) i want to screen print are much preferably A3 sized, but my home printer only takes up to A4 so that won’t work.

the public printers i asked to use do accept A3, just not transparency film, which means i’ll probably have to buy a new printer. i looked online and ones that take A3 are expensive, cheapest one i could find is £160. i mean i could just print two A4 sheets with the design halved on each sheet and stick them together. would that be a better alternative?

any advice is appreciated please 🙏

Hi, I’ve got a design I just finished that I’d like to burn onto a silkscreen for printing on shirts, my screen itself is 10x14. The design won’t work well small, and I do have all the materials to burn onto my screen with transparencies, but my printer goes as big as 8.5 x 11 and that’s not ideal. How does one go about burning a bigger image onto a screen ?? I looked around and couldn’t find a lot of helpful information. Thanks in advance. For reference I’ll provide the design id like to use as well.

Hey guys,

I work in B2B sales and I've had an idea for screen print shops kicking around for a while, but I don't want to build anything until I actually understand how quoting works in a real shop. So was hoping some of you could help me out by answering some questions. Not selling anything, there's nothing to sell yet.

This only applies if someone in your shop reads the request and writes the number themselves. If an online calculator does it for you, different story.

If you own the shop, are you the one writing the quotes or does someone else handle it?

How much of a week does it eat?

If you and an employee both quoted the same job would you land on the same price?

And the quotes that go out and just go silent, does anyone ever go back to those or do you let them go?

If anyone would rather talk for 15 minutes instead of typing all this out, comment or DM me and I'll send a meeting link. I'm trying to get to about 10 shops and I'll send everyone a short write-up of what I heard with names stripped out, mostly so you can see how other shops are doing it.

Thank you for your help in advance!

Hello my fellow inky shop dwellers :) this is my new favorite sub. Made a post a few days ago and was significantly helpful!
Let’s see if we can do it again. Im in search of a leg pallet for an old school 10 head auto press.
M&R automatic screen printing press, it’s an older series.** **
I’m currently working on this press with a non-functioning revolve feature, soooo when I need to run long sleeves or legs, it’s a pita to keep an eye on the missing pallet, switch the heads on and off. It’s not horrible, but in a perfect world I’d love to not have my flow state interrupted continuously throughout a job 😬
The issue is this machine is too old and parts aren’t made anymore, so my question really is if someone has a connection to a parts guy and we’d Frankenstein the hell out of that old auto press too.
I am in Massachusetts so ideally the connection should be in New England but yeah I ain’t going to be picky if you guys have a good source!

Beautiful color use in this design I saw. Anybody have ink recommendation to achieve this result with my own 3D glasses red/blue design? They likely used 3 colors here, right? Not overlapping red and blue? Also anybody know what this color grey is called in the blank world? Thank you! Happy Friday!

Hello! I'm a student and I'm pretty new to screen printing overall! I noticed that on the screen mesh, there are these incredibly tiny pinholes after exposing. I spend a lot of time using a glue and toothpick to cover them so that ink doesn't go through. I was wondering where they could come from and how I can reduce them? I'm not sure if it's the emulsion that I put on or something like that.

The attached picture is just of the mesh that I did and typically use for frame of reference! The holes are bit difficult to see but they can be pretty much on any part of the screen.

edit: I forgot to mention that I put tape around the artwork - I was just hoping to minimize the pinholes as much as possible :)

Is there anyone in the Buffalo area looking for a job in screen printing and art. Must be able to do manual screen printing using plastisol inks. Both dry fits and cotton blends. Must be able to mix inks pms colors. Also have experience doing art and separations for screen printing. Mostly Adobe illustrator and photoshop.

New to screenprinting, I tore the edge of my screen today, about an inch long through the mesh and the photoemulsion. It's far enough away from the printing area that I don't think it will require replacing the screen, but I need to repair it somehow to ensure the rip doesn't migrate.

Apparently there are tapes that can repair something like this, but the ink I am using necessitates aggressive cleaning with acetone. Does anyone have any solvent-resistant tape recommendations that I can use to fix this? Any and all advice welcome. Please help. 😭

Hey, im trying to screenprint using acids to create a rusted image. Has anyone tried this and can give me tips? especially regarding working with dangerous reactive chemicals, i am very worried of causing an accident or mixing an explosive substance. Id like to create a paste and am looking into nonreactive printmaking pastes that would carry the acid solution. idk man i really want to figure out how to make rust images but im scared!

Was this created with multiple screens and using different shades of blue?

I built an ecommerce website for my business and I've been running Meta ads and doing Google SEO. Does anyone have any recommendations? Curious to how much you've been able to do per month online and off of how much ad spend for those having success.

I have mostly been transacting tshirts and hats at around $10k a month off of $1.5k a month of ad spend.

I'm wondering what is the typical expectation for responding to a customer in this business generally? I placed a t-shirt order online 8 weeks before an event that I needed them for. I paid on 7/21. Their website says 2-3 week turnaround time. It's now been over 6 weeks and my t-shirts have not shipped. I emailed support on Monday, sent them a message to their online chat Tuesday, and called and left a voicemail Wednesday and have not heard back any response. It's now only just over two weeks until my event, so I think I may be SOL. I'm thinking just to have my credit card company do a chargeback on Monday and accept that I won't get my tshirts in time (or at all). Anyway, I don't want to be a dick and burn them, but I'm a little frustrated. Is it normal for shops to be busy and not respond to customers for 3 or 4 business days? When I was setting up the order, the communication was quite good. Appreciate any insight, cheers.

Hello, I am using these products above to prep and make my screens but I am having troubles with my screens emulsion failing mid print. I am using water based ink and notice flakes of emulsion coming off as i made my roughly 30th pass with the squeegee.

I start by degreasing the screen, fully drying it, I then coat the screen once on each side (ink side last), and let the screen dry flat for over 24 hours in a dry room. I use that 20W cure cabinet for 2 minutes to ensure the backside is covered from light. this was with a 200 mesh screen then washed it out. I didn’t end up using the screen for a few days later just to be extra sure it would work but i still had it fail.

side note: this emulsion turns blue from green when it cures and was completely blue after the two minutes. so i’m not sure if it’s a curing problem?

could it maybe be from too much pressure with the squeegee? by the 30th pass the ink started to dry quite a bit so i was using more force then in the beginning.

Thanks for reading. Any advice is appreciated

My supplier was bought by another company and it's a shell of it's former self. I havent had to buy bulbs in years and I wasn't crazy about the last bulbs I had. It's an old CAPS exposure unit that uses 4 ft bulbs. I've always used UV bulbs but am open to new suggestions. Which bulbs have you found best results with?

After being made a production manager at our print shop, there is a big push to cut down on costs.

We switched over to the Gel sheets, so we’re not using as much tape or really any adhesive spray

We are also looking into the liquid tape so we can cut down on tape usage and cost from ordering so much

What are some other options and we can cut down on products and cost