Screen Printing
Screen Printing
What is Screen Printing?
The oldest trick in the book, screen printing is a versatile and popular method for custom garment printing. It’s probably the most well known print method, largely because it’s been around for a really, really long time. We’re talking since the year 960 AD.
At The Colour Cartel, we specialise in this technique, bringing your ideas to life on a variety of fabrics. Essentially, screen printing involves transferring your designs onto fabric using a mesh screen, ink and a squeegee. Whether you’re looking to print t-shirts, hoodies, accessories (the list goes on), screen printing delivers vibrant and long-lasting results that stand the test of time. And by that we mean washing and drying.
So how does it work?
The process starts with preparing your design. Each colour requires its own mesh stencil or ‘screen’, meaning that if your design has three colours, we’ll create three screens. Once they’re ready, we place them on the garment, ensuring precise placement of each colour.
This is where the fun starts. We then apply the coloured ink on top of the screen and use a squeegee to pull the ink evenly across the screen. This pushes the ink through the mesh and onto the garment, revealing your logo or design. We then repeat the process with each individual colour and screen.
Once all the colours have been applied, the garment is dried and cured using a heated unit. This sets the ink, bonding it to the fabric and ensuring a durable, long-lasting print.
Why choose Screen Printing?
Screen printing is perfect for designs with large, solid areas of colour. The thickness of the ink guarantees brighter and more vivid colours so your design can really pop! While screen printing is excellent for bold and simple designs, we do suggest our Direct To Film method for designs requiring gradients or a wider spectrum of colours.
Durability
Screen printed designs are incredibly durable, withstanding numerous washes without fading. In other words, they are perfect for everyday wear.
Fabric Versatility
Another positive to Screen Printing is that is suitable for a wide variety of fabrics including cotton and blends, making it more versatile than other methods (such as DTG).
Cost
Due to the set up involved, we do have minimums in place for screen printing products. However, we offer discounts on bulk orders which you can learn more about here.
The Wrap Up
We’re super passionate about screen printing – in fact it’s the go to choice for many of our customers. We love it for its ability to create bold and opaque prints with sharp details, making it ideal for designs with solid colours or intricate patterns. It also allows for layering of multiple colours, enabling the creation of complex and multi-coloured designs. Additionally, screen printing offers excellent durability, as the ink is typically cured at high temperatures, resulting in long-lasting prints that can withstand repeated washing and wear.
Got a question? Contact us below!
