forums : Designer Genes

Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

A buddy of mine is starting a new clothing line and he is looking for a good company to talk to. He is of course going to be silk screening some his designs, but he also wants to find out what other kind of t-shirt printing processes there are out there.

Does anyone have any good links for shirt printers/silk screeners? Or do you know what other type of processes there are to print designs on clothing besides the normal silk screen method?

Thanks.

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

what general area?

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

In the 818 area would be nice since I imagine he is going to be spending a lot of time going back and forth.

He is a pretty intense artist, and I don't think basic screen printing will be able to translate all his art onto fabric correctly, so he/we are also wondering what other type of clothing printing methods there are out there.

Here is a link to his Deviant Art page. None of these are his clothing designs, just random artwork and s**t.

http://jkantz.deviantart.com/gallery/

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

its really just a matter of a decent seperation process, and picking/choosing priorities of the image.

i flipped through the deviant art page, be prepare dto spend some coin on seperating that,.. its not fun...

other than traditional scren print you can do a T jet, which is basically a big ass printer, but i would only suegst dong on white Ts. then you have sublimation, but that only really works out well on stuff with a polyester coating on it, which is why you see some AMAZING track jackets and jersey type shirts.

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

Some sublimation places will do it on a poly-blend which doesn't feel so bad on the skin.

Either way he is going to pay a lot esp if only for a few.

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

Yea like I said before, that stuff on his deviant page isn't anything he wants to put on clothing.

A lot of that was also photoshoped all to hell after he drew them by hand.

The stuff he is going to print on the clothing line will be more simple, but still

So when you get something screen printed that is multiple colors, is he responsible for doing the color separation, or does the screen printer do that for you?

Thanks for the info so far guys.

And Melissa, our Dip appointment is long overdue. Hit me up chicka.

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

They do it for you.

YES! dude when??

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

they can do it for you, for a fee.

if youre using illustrator and its pretty simple you can do it yourself, as long as you go off pantone solid coated color books.

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

most of that line art will translate very easily to screen prints, just lose the gradient background and you're good to go. I used to work for a skateboard company and you would be amazed at the amount of detail and colors you can get in a screenprint... just be ready to pay for it.

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

So if I were to help him out with this, what exactly are the basic steps in color separation? I don't need exact specific details I'm sure I can find tutorials online, but I just was wondering the basics.

Do I make a separate layer in the .AI or .EPS file for each color? Is it a complete separate file for each color? Or some long drawn out process I am gonna need to search the net for?

@ Melissa - Anytime next week or weekend is good for me.

@ Bnj - Ok good to know. I have never color separated before, but learning is super gangsta dope.

@ Dave - Right on, I didn't no skateboards were screened. I have seen plenty of complicated designs on them, so if they can do it, the t-shirts shouldn't be a problem. And yea, those gradients were just him f**king around on photoshop, the actual art is much more.. well arty.

Thanks for the info guys.

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

soryr it took forever to respond.
honestly, if you dont knwo what youre doing and dont have time for the trial/error it might be worth to shell out the 400ish bucks, use that to learn the basics, then figure it out.

not to damper the experience, but its a steep learning curve so if its time sensitive, not exactly the best idea in my ever so humble opinion.

Re: Need a good t-shirt printer/silk screener

Try www.teeburn.com. They offer Direct to garment printing with water based inks. There colours are very vibrant and the ink becomes part of the fabric rather than sitting on the fabric. No color limitations and no minimums.