how screen printing works

Think of screen-printing like spray-painting a stencil.  Each screen acts like one layer of the stencil: you can get one and only one color through it.

Spot color designs are the most popular and best-suited for screen-printing.  Each color takes it’s own spot on the shirt, one color per screen.  We are able to print up to 8 colors like this.

Here are some examples:

 

You can create a spot color design in many programs.  However, programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator are much more suited to this task, mainly because you are able to create a design that has multiple layers. Please see our design tips (goes to design tips article) for some assistance.

Full color designs are also possible using the four layers of ink CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) in tiny little dots (called halftones), stacked on top of each other to represent the full spectrum of color.

Yellow (Y)	Cyan (C)	Magenta (M)	Black (K)

We can use either of these two methods for reproducing your art, but please keep in mind when you are designing your shirt that the more colors you use, the more it costs to setup and print. Also, unless you are pretty skillful with Photoshop, we charge a fee to separate a CMYK image like this for you.

Creating a t-shirt design is always a balance between beauty and budget.  Think about how many shirts you are getting (more is always cheaper), and how much you are selling them for (or are you selling them at all?).  Then, how important is it to have a complex design, versus a one or two color print, how important is it to have the front, back, and/or sleeves printed instead of just the front - and finally, what type of shirt do you want to have printed? do you want to spend your extra couple dollars on a nicer print, or a nicer garment? (visit our garment gallery for ideas about this...)

Once you have decided where you stand on these different factors, you are ready to ask for a quote on the t-shirt you want.
 
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