Printing Process
When you think about it, it is amazing how easy it is today to print on a sheet of
paper, and how hard it is to print on cloth. Anyone can buy a laser printer or an
inkjet printer for a couple hundred dollars and print on paper all day long at
rates up to 10 sheets a minute. On the other hand, you would be really lucky to
print one T-shirt every five minutes -- the machine is also going to cost a lot
more, and you will have to do each one by hand!
In the traditional silk-screening approach, you start with a square wooden frame
about the size of a T-shirt. Over this frame you tightly stretch a piece of sheer
fabric (originally silk, now polyester). This is the screen. Over this sheer fabric
you put a thin sheet of plastic into which you have cut holes where you want ink
to appear on the T-shirt. You can either cut the holes with a scalpel (an arduous
task), or you can use a liquid plastic coating that's sensitive to ultraviolet light
and "cut" the holes with light.
Next, you place your T-shirt on a flat board and press the screen onto the fabric.
By coating the screen with thick ink using a sponge, you cause the ink to flow
through the screen onto the T-shirt. For multi-color designs, you do this multiple
times, starting with the lightest color and moving up to the darkest.
paper, and how hard it is to print on cloth. Anyone can buy a laser printer or an
inkjet printer for a couple hundred dollars and print on paper all day long at
rates up to 10 sheets a minute. On the other hand, you would be really lucky to
print one T-shirt every five minutes -- the machine is also going to cost a lot
more, and you will have to do each one by hand!
In the traditional silk-screening approach, you start with a square wooden frame
about the size of a T-shirt. Over this frame you tightly stretch a piece of sheer
fabric (originally silk, now polyester). This is the screen. Over this sheer fabric
you put a thin sheet of plastic into which you have cut holes where you want ink
to appear on the T-shirt. You can either cut the holes with a scalpel (an arduous
task), or you can use a liquid plastic coating that's sensitive to ultraviolet light
and "cut" the holes with light.
Next, you place your T-shirt on a flat board and press the screen onto the fabric.
By coating the screen with thick ink using a sponge, you cause the ink to flow
through the screen onto the T-shirt. For multi-color designs, you do this multiple
times, starting with the lightest color and moving up to the darkest.
| 626-340-7964 |
| MCM Silk Screening |
| 626-340-7964 |
"Your T-Shirt Printing Solution"