Shall we screen print?
Looking for durability and quality in prints? Screen printing is the answer!
At Maudlin Merchandise, we love "screen printing," which is to say, printing through screen printing techniques. And we do it very well!
Whether through direct color screen printing or screen transfer, we have the capability to produce excellent work, even in large quantities.
To broadly explain what screen printing is and why we love it so much, let's delve into what we do, how we do it, and a bit of the history of screen printing (just to understand the context).
Screen printing is the most widely used and appreciated textile printing method in the market due to its quality and durability. At Maudlin Merchandise, we always recommend screen printing for clients who are looking to produce a significant quantity of items with solid colors and who value quality above all else.
We print quality on all our jobs, but this is undoubtedly the most durable, due to its process, but nothing beats seeing it to be sure of what we're talking about, right?
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Screen printing with quality since 2006!
Screen printing is a widely used printing process in t-shirt printing, which fundamentally involves transferring ink through a stretched mesh on a frame, where ink is passed onto the print, for the areas that do not have an image.
This technique is one of the oldest techniques in existence, well-documented and well-founded. As it is beloved by our customers, we have created a large following and professionalized our services to this level.
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The word "serigraphy" comes from the Latin "sericum" (silk) and the Greek word "graphé" (action of drawing or writing). The objective of screen printing is to transfer an image onto a specific object using a mesh, known as a screen.
It is possible to screen print on various types of materials (for example: paper, plastic, rubber, wood, glass, fabric, etc.). It is possible to screen print on surfaces as well (whether they are cylindrical, irregular, light, dark, matte, glossy, etc.). Screen printing can be done in many shapes and forms. And as we love to print variety and possibilities to our work, we adore this method.
Screen printing well is indeed an art in itself. And if we are good at that art.
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How do we quality screen print?
Screen printing is a type of printing that isn't complex and yields very good results if done properly. Not much material is used for screen printing.
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What we use in our screen printing:
- A mesh or screen with the reproduced image;
- A frame to stretch the mesh;
- A squeegee to spread the ink;
- The screen printing ink;
- The printing substrate;
- The drying system.
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There are various types of screen printing. Do you want to know which?
We'll begin with manual screen printing:
This type of screen printing is the most common and also the most used. It is done by one person (yes, only one), and it works as follows:
- We place the piece to be printed on a special base;
- We clean the mesh or screen that will be in contact with the product to avoid wrinkles;
- We apply and spread the ink on the mesh with the help of a spatula;
- We apply pressure to ensure that the ink fully penetrates the mesh;
- We pass the spatula again to remove excess ink;
- The printing is then ready - we let it dry or use a special drying machine.
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Now we move on to automatic screen printing:
This technique requires a technician or operator and a machine to carry out the process.
Now we move on to the process:
- The item to be printed is placed on the machine's base.
- The machine automatically lowers the screen and performs the printing.
- The product is left to dry, and soon you have your finished product.
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What we say at Maudlin Merchandise about screen printing and why we like our work so much?
Here we like the simplicity and beauty of screen printing. Screen printing is indeed the printing method that offers the highest quality and durability. In the market, you won't find any other method that can beat this printing method in terms of image definition and wash durability.
However, we can't say that we want all jobs in screen printing. Agreed, screen printing is not suitable for all textile printing jobs. It's a production method with high complexity and cost, with several important constraints.
If you're a designer, you must consider some factors: despite the high quality of the print (both visually and to the touch) and the impressive durability of the pieces (we're talking about several years of regular use as long as natural washing care is taken), preparing files for printing is probably the most complex and rigorous, with more rules and limitations than normal printing options.
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Because we really love screen printing, we are your advisors!
If you want to do a good screen printing job, we work well as a team, so we'll guide you to achieve a final result that we're proud of and that you're proud of too.
Come join us in your special projects.
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So we leave the frequently asked questions for the end.
They often ask us what is the minimum production for screen printing jobs?
Exceptionally, screen printing has a minimum production of 24 pieces per image. This happens because much of the work for this customization method occurs BEFORE any piece of clothing is produced. Printing is almost a formality; the preparation is where the work lies. Preparing and printing files, preparing frames, aligning the machine, mixing inks, conducting tests, etc., all of these can sometimes take hours.
If you are looking for, for example, works with lower quantities, we recommend direct to garment, which has almost the same finish.
The costs of screen printing decrease considerably with the number of pieces you purchase and become particularly attractive from 50 pieces (although we can already offer very competitive prices for quantities below).
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They also often ask us, when should they use screen printing?
There are many myths related to this issue. People generally think, "If I want a high-quality T-shirt, it has to be screen printed." No! It's an excellent method indeed, but there are other good ones too! Screen printing has a lot of quality, but it's not the only method with quality. Not everything can be done in screen printing.
In fact, screen printing has many specificities. For example: the colors of the prints must be solid (no shades, they cannot be photographs); it must have a maximum of 6 colors and even then it's "pushing the envelope" in terms of costs (screen printing is taxed per color) and medium to high print quantities (it can't be done for that test t-shirt).
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One of the most frequently asked questions is about the costs of working in screen printing?
This question has influence on various factors: in order to budget accurately and properly, we need to know the quantity of the items and the color as well; we also need to know the number of prints and the number of colors of each. Only then can we provide a tailored quote.
Are you now properly informed about how well we can screen print for you and how knowledgeable we are on the subject? Great!
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The next step is to request your quote! Shall we work together?
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