In some cases it is cheaper to screen print than to use a vinyl or digital transfer, but it depends on the amount of colours and the total of the garments to be printed.
FAQ Content:
The most cost effective way of printing onto most cotton clothing is screen printing. Screen printing is ideal for large designs or larger orders and is Red technique of choice for t-shirt printing because of the quality it produces.
The Screen Printing Process
Screens are made by painting a chemical emulsion on a mesh surface, which are then dried at high temperature to make sure that they have an even drying surface an good coverage. Vector artwork is printed out on a film type paper or transparency. The screen is exposed on a UV light table with the artwork beneath. The light solidifies or hardens the chemical around the design area, but where the light fails to pass through, the chemical breaks down and is softened. The screen is then power washed out and what is left is the area where the light hit.
There are then two methods available to us.
Method 1:
A garment is placed onto a platen, each screen swings around over the top of the shirt. The screen is then brought down and placed on top of the shirt. The screen is loaded with the colour of ink for that particular part of the process. A squeegee is pulled over that screen's ink colour which forces the ink onto the shirt fabric. The screen is carefully lifted off of the shirt (If the shirt moves or is stretched, the next colour will be out of alignment). The platen with the shirt is then moved under a hight intensity flash heating unit where it dries. Upon curing, the shirt platen is brought back and the next colour screen is swung over the top of it. The process contiues for each colour required for the print.
Method 2:
Is the same as the above however instead of printing directly to a shirt the image is placed in reverse onto special carrier paper which has a wax like coating. This prevents the ink from sticking to the paper permanently, but is adhesive enough to hold the ink in place. Once printed a powder glue is applied to the transfer and flash dried once again. The proces is repeated until each colour is laid. This process reverses the colour from the direct to t-shirt print as the first colour printed to the paper will be the upmost colour on the garment
The process of screen printing means that one colour is applied at a time, so therefore the cost will increase with each additional colour required. Likewise a separate screen is required for each colour, hence, screen charges may be uneconomical if only a small quantity of clothing is required.
