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Screen Printing

Screen printed apparel and garments are the highest quality products you can offer your customers, clients, employees or fans. With multiple colours and a wide range of effects, your designs will be recreated by our separation process with stunning clarity and resolution.

We create durable products that last – wash after wash. With a huge and growing variety of apparel stock and accessories available, you’re sure to find the right colours, fabrics and sizes to develop your products.

Select from our standard print locations or tell us what you have in mind. If you can imagine it, chances are we can do it – just ask. Add high-end effects and embellishments to further customise your screen printed apparel.

From purchasing apparel stock to handling shipping – we do it all for you. That leaves you with more time to focus on what matters to you.

Example of a 1 Colour Screen Print

What is Screen Printing?

Screen Printing is a method of decoration, where ink is forced through a pattern/shape in a mesh screen (like a fly screen) on to fabric/metal/paper/etc. It uses the same basic principles as a stencil.

Once screen printed the garment is then heated to cure the ink and bond it to the fabric.

Screen printing can be quite time consuming especially when multiple colours are needed as each colour in the artwork has to be separated out and printed separately. Each colour also requires it’s own film and screen.

Screen printing is best suited for smooth fabrics such as cotton tee shirts but can be put on other types of garments if required.

How is the Screen Print created??

Firstly, the artwork needs to be set up. If it is just a single colour print then the artwork is saved to the correct size and printed out as a film (sort of like an overhead transparency film). If the screen printing job is to be a mulit-coloured print then each colour needs to be separated and printed on it’s own film.

The films are then placed on a specially prepared screen mesh. This screen has been coated with a light sensitive chemical. The screen & film are then placed in a machine that exposes it to a strong UV light.

The film is removed from the screen and the screen is taken to the sink, the screen is then hosed off. The printed areas of the film blocks the UV light from reaching the chemical on the mesh screen, this prevents the UV light from setting the chemical and the chemical washes off when it it is hosed down leaving the raw mesh exposed. The other areas of the screen have effectively turned solid.

The screen is then dried off and mounted to the screen printing “octopus”.

All of the above steps of the screen printing process and the subsequent “printing” steps can all be seen in a slide show we have put together of the screen printing process.

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Why would I use Screen Printing??

– Screen Printing allows for greater detail in resolution over embroidery.

– Screen Printing often works out a lot cheaper over large runs.

– A screen print when done well usually out lasts a digital or plastisol transfer as it bonds to the fabric more fully.

– A well designed screen print particularly on a cotton tee just looks cool!

What are the Artwork Requirements for Screen Printing??
The artwork must be in a vector format.

Vector based artwork is a digital version of the artwork where the “lines” and “solid colours” used to create the artwork have been reduced to mathematical formulas. The “maths” approach enables the artwork to be easily changed in terms of size, colour, shape, etc.

This is as opposed to a “flat” pixel based artwork such as a photo where the artwork is composed of fixed blocks of colour. It is the size of these blocks which determine the resolution or clarity of the image. Common pixel files include JPEG, GIF, PNG, PSD.

Examples of vector based digital file formats are (AI, EPS, CDR). It should be noted that sometimes PDF’s can contain vector information in the file. It should also be noted that you can paste a flat pixel image such as a jpg into a vector file and save the whole thing as an AI or EPS format. Doing this does NOT change that flat image into a vector format it just changes the overall file format not the contents. It is the equivalent of putting water into a vodka bottle and pretending it is now vodka.