News
A Checklist of Equipment & Supplies Needed to Start Screen Print Shop
Ready to start screen printing? It's a big jump, but it's so worth it. To build your shop, you will need to obtain some equipment and supplies. Our Sales and Success Team put together a handy check list of everything you should consider investing in your future shop.
If You Had to Pick One, Which Would You Choose: A Flash Unit or Tabletop Conveyor Dryer?
As much as a new business owner may wish and strive for it, not all have a budget to cover all their startup expenses. So, decisions have to be made and creative solutions have to be discovered. New screen printers may find themselves in this dilemma. Sometimes, they might have to pick one piece of equipment over another, like deciding between a conveyor dryer and a flash dryer. How do you know which is the better investment? Well, it depends on what you want to do. Here are three factors to consider to help you decide which is better for your shop.
Everything You Need to Know About Printing with Plastisol Ink
New screen printers should start printing with plastisol ink. It's more forgiving than water-based ink and it's much easier to achieve proper cure. Even though printing plastisol is more straightforward, there are many techniques to print the ink for various processes. We've created a collection of videos and blogs that explain how to print with plastisol ink in different situations.
3 Ways to Create Soft Prints with Plastisol Ink
Soft hand prints are best achieved with water-based ink but can be done with plastisol ink as well. Between the inks you choose to use, the garments you're printing on, to the available ink additives, achieving soft plastisol prints is possible. Let's take a look at three ways to create soft hand prints with plastisol ink.
How to Handle Plastisol Ink in Cool Temperatures
Are you dreaming about warm summer days when your ink flows oh so smoothly? Winter and its cooler temperatures sure make it difficult for a screen printer, especially with white plastisol inks. The ink feels thick, stringy, and stiff. It requires more effort to lay down a good ink deposit. Does it have to be this hard? Nope. Ink and chemistry guru Colin Huggins shares his secrets to making white plastisol ink easier to handle during the cooler months.
How Stretch Plastisol Ink can be Used as a Foil Adhesive
Foil is a great way to make prints shimmer without using another screen for metallic ink. It brings out details in designs with reflective qualities and can look spectacular if done right. Generally, a unique foil adhesive is used for decorating shirts with foil. But stretch plastisol ink can work in a pinch. Print experimenter Ronald Peters tests it out.
3 Steps for Mixing Your Own Colored Shimmer Ink
Who doesn’t love a bit of shimmer? While shimmer inks like Silver or Gold shine bright on their own, sometimes a little color brightens the whole print. Mixing colored shimmer inks takes a bit of experimenting, and can be super fun to test out. Here’s a three-step guide to mixing colored shimmer inks.
Tips for Adding Many FN-INK™ Specialties into the Same Design
With seven new specialty inks from FN-INK™, there’s a lot to explore. Gold, silver, puff, extender base, and many other inks and additives all create different awesome effects. With so much to experiment with, why not try to add as many specialty inks in one design as possible? Print expert Colin Huggins is on the case.
Streamline Your Printing Prep Process with These 6 Tips
A screen printing job takes a lot of man hours. The whole process, from art prep to screen reclaim, takes time and effort to constantly hone in processes and learn from mistakes. The pre-press process — everything you do before setting up the press for a print run — is a big part of the screen printing process. Want to improve productivity and streamline this process? Here are six ways to dial in the pre-press process.
The Best Way to Register Water-Based and Plastisol Screen Prints
Registering a print is a vital piece of the screen printing process. Printers need to make sure that all screens align with each other and have the proper placement on a shirt. Let’s take a look at properly registering single and multicolor prints with plastisol and water-based ink.
How to Use a PMS Mixing System to Mix Custom Gray Ink Colors
Gray is a popular color for screen printing. It’s great for printing neck tags and looks good on many colors of garments. Printers who choose gray for a design’s color scheme usually have to mix it themselves. Ink manufacturers may not carry a ready-to-print gray. If they do, there’s a chance it won’t be the shade you’re looking for. Good thing for mixing systems, right? Here’s how to mix your own perfect shade of gray screen printing ink.
How to Achieve Matte or Glossy Screen Prints
Ink has the ability to look matte or glossy. Sometimes, a print will come out of the dryer looking glossier than expected, or more matte than you’re looking for. Wondering how to adjust the final looks of the ink? Let's look into it.
