screens and sleeve printing

[cowboylife]

To start off you have some great videos, especially for the novice. I have a question... I was watching your vido on screen printing sleeves and was thinking to myself, as I am just getting started in screen printing (never printed a sleeve) why would such a large screen be used to print a small area like a sleeve? I guess after watching all the videos for months now and I have purchased a DVD on screen printing, all show the same.. a large screen that has been exposed to produce a small logo etc... to save time on exposing, coating etc. can a screen be made that would produce multiple logos, names, etc.. for a sleeve job and transfer onto paper then heat press? What would be you advice on this, as I am so new to everything I am completely overwhelmed right now with how many screens I am going to have to purchase, then expose and so on and the time factor, thinking I may never get up and going. I appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Rhonda

[Catspit Productions]

Hello Rhonda,

Thanks a lot for the kind words. I appreciate your support and it’s my pleasure to help out and share information. Thanks for joining the forum.

Well it just so happens in a commercial shop like mine where we may be printing multiple jobs at once or sometimes we only have 1 or 2 jobs. I’m a smaller shop but I have to be ready to print anything at any time. Often when setting up a sleeve print you want it in the sweet spot so it gets centered and positioned for the best and easiest printing situation.

Now sometime we might be able to use another portion of the screen for say maybe a crest print. But I do find myself having nothing else to put on the sleeves screens. Not many people print sleeves as it increases the cost of the garment.

So if you have a 1 color crest and full back print that takes up one 20X24 screen. Then you put the sleeve print on another screen. If you have another job at the time with a small enough print that can fit on a decent spot on the screen then you can do that. But you never want to gang up the screen so bad that some stencils are not in an appropriate place on the screen.

The mesh toward the frame edges is at a higher tension than toward the center of the screen. Generally the center is the sweet spot. So placement of a stencil is critical to avoid coverage or distortion issues.

When you can you can and when you can’t you can’t, know what I mean? That’s all it is. But I can tell you having more screens than less is an advantage because you can leave stencils up for a while for reorders and still do new jobs. You can also rotate and work with a larger number of screens to keep the production flow going smooth. You always have coated screens ready while others are being reclaimed and re coated.

I feel a video coming on.

I hope that makes sense...

[cowboylife]

Well, I am laughing so hard right now as I read your post.... I am soooo a novice (especailly since I have never screen printed anything yet). I would have NEVER thought of a sweet sopt or placement on the screen for printing on a sleeve, that is amazing, aahhh the simple things! I thought just burn the screen and print....Thanks so much, now this is what I amtalking about... this forum is awesome, and great adivce from experienced screen printers like yourself (priceless)!!!

Well I can see a lot of mess ups for me in the future but I can't wait to get started, and frankly I am scared because of the expense in the frames, exposure unit, drying rack and on and on. I hope I can make it work. I started out backwards, so anyone reading this that is new to the business, take my advice... know a little about screen printing before you have the art/designs. I have 56+ designs that I have created or had created for me over the past 3 years, and 99% of them are not screen print ready, because I just started creating designs in Photoshop and had no idea of what was expected, as far as files goes (PDF vs EPS vs AI vs PSD vs JPEG vs TIFF), for screen printing. Therefore I have many designs just sitting there and am trying to figure out the least expensive way to get my designs ready for screen printing..... So, Johnathan, if you can or have anything on this matter it would be great if you could give me a link. I still don't know anything about vectorizing or haow to do it, I just bought corelDraw Graphics Suite X6 and have NO idea how to use it. So back to the drawing board.

Thanks again for all the info and insight that you gave it really helps, because all the little things matter so much to someone that is just starting out.

Rhonda-

[Leadfoot]

Rhonda,

I was right where you are about two years ago though without all the designs. Many people do not realize that designs for screen printing must be at a much higher resolution and quality, frustrating sometimes when people do not understand it and get upset when you can't use their 72dpi small jpegs...

Anywhoo, just dive right in and do not be afraid...buy what you can as you can. The great thing about screens is if they are quality you will be able to use them multiple times with great mesh tension. Not sure where you got your screens from but the place I get them from they are awesome and some I bought a year or better ago are still in use! I am not a high volume printer by any means, very small, but I would say they have been used and reclaimed at least 6-8 times and are still very useable. Most of the ones I am about to get re-meshed are where I messed something up/dropped something on them and got a hole in it. lol OOPS!

Please feel free to post any questions and updates in the appropriate forums, we are all glad to see your progress and here to help!

Chrissi

[Catspit Productions]

Hey Rhonda,

You’re very welcome. Again thank you very much and I’m glad you found the forum.

You are correct in that artwork can be the most challenging part of the process to learn. Many people create very complex designs to be screen printed without knowing anything about the process and then they wonder why it costs so much. So even as a customer for printing it is important to know something of the process so you know exactly what you are paying for.

Now when you are the screen printer artwork can make or break you. If you don’t know how to do vector conversions you can have them done for you. I can actually recreate anything in vector for you and even set it up in layers so each color is on a different layer.

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/sc ... vices.html

Chrissy is correct in that you should get many usages out of each pre-stretched screen. It’s the same for me, I only tear them by accident. Once in a while I hit them on something or just plainly stab them or get too close with the pressure washer and that’s that. But for the most part all my screens last for many years doing thousands of prints each.

Good luck and let us know if we can help out anytime.

[cowboylife]

Ya'll are so awesome, every bit of info helps. And you are right Johnathan... my designs are full graphic and very complex for screen printing, I am not even sure if some of them can be screen printed. I have heard the term "vectorized" for a few years now but have no idea what that really is, and I have researched it. I can sperate some of the art in colors in my Photoshop but I am unsure if that makes it print ready? From what I understand Photoshop can't vectorize it has to be Coreldraw or Illistrator. I will send you one over and see what you think.

I am glad I found the forum too, and that was by watching your videos on Youtube. Thanks to everyone for all the advice. Have a great day!

[Free Man]

There is a free webinar you can join from ryonet tomorrow from 2-3 for corel draw!

[cowboylife]

No way!!! awesome I will be there.

[Free Man]

ok, so I actually got called into work and couldnt make the webinar, but contacted ryonet and they will send me a recording. I love ryonet. Did any one else get to this webinar?

[ApeShirt]

I attended it. It was a little helpful. I've been using X5 for about 6 months now so I already know the basics but I did learn a couple things as far as settings go. I'm looking forward to the next one which will be more advanced stuff. For those who didn't attend, they said they will be offering a 2 day CorelDRAW course for $899 if interested. I wish I could afford it. To learn how to vectorize like the pros would be worth it alone.