DIY Screen Printing on a Budget

So you have a great design and you want to make t-shirts but you’re on a budget and can’t afford a minimum order from a local screen printer? Well, you can get your own setup on a limited budget and we’ll show you how. In this article, we will take you through the essential materials and how to outsource some of those expensive items.

Screen Printing: The Essentials

These are the materials you will need to have a basic setup, later on, we will give you resources on how to either make your own, where to find a good deal, or best practices on how to waste less to get more.

1. Screen - The screen has a mesh, which is the fabric stretched over the screen’s frame, and is a weave that has tiny holes in it, which allows the emulsion to harden and adhere to it, and also allows ink to pass through the mesh that is open, IE the stencil. The common sizes are 18″x20″, 20″x24″, and 24″x31″, but there are companies willing to make screens to any size needed.

2. Press - The press holds the screen in place between prints, making it easier for the user to swap out the paper or clothing being printed.

   Learn more about Choosing the Right Screen Printing Press
   

3. Photo Emulsion - This is a thick liquid substance that reacts to light. Essentially, emulsion becomes "tougher" when exposed to light, making it more difficult to remove from surfaces. The emulsion is applied to the screen, at least one layer on both sides, using a scoop coater.

4. Stencil - Stencils are basically opaque sheets, similar to transparency sheets, that the designs are printed onto using a laser printer. The design needs to be as dark as possible so that it blocks UV light from the exposure unit to the areas behind the design. Learn How To Screen Print with Stencils

5. Ink - We recommend using water-based ink to have the best result. Water-based ink is friendly to the environment, stays longer wet on the screen, and requires little chemicals for cleaning. This ink requires technical expertise. Another option is plastisol based Ink. This ink was the most common choice for a long time because water-based ink is more difficult to use, therefore requiring printing expertise.

6. Squeegee - A squeegee is a rubber blade attached to a long wooden, metal, or plastic handle. It’s used to push the ink through the mesh screen and onto the surface being printed.

7. Darkroom Light - For this process, you will need a darkroom to be able to apply and mix your emulsion. A darkroom-safe light is necessary to be able to see while you’re preparing the screen.

8. Exposure Light - After coating your screen with emulsion, it’s time to place your stencil on it and expose your design using an exposure light.

Check out The Art Of Making: Hand-Screen Printing

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But How Do I Print on a Budget?

We get it, the materials list is long and it’s not looking cheap! - Don’t worry, we got you! Here’s how you can cut costs on your materials.

Tip: You can almost always find some of the materials listed above on websites such as Craigslist, OfferUp, or Facebook Marketplace. This is a good way to get exactly what you need without paying full price.

Screen

With the price of lumber being low, building your own frame can be cost-effective, although screens are fairly affordable. Screens for screen printing range in price from $20 to $35 dollars, however, if you are making a print requiring more than one screen, this can get pricey. We recommend that if you’re just starting to only get one screen and begin printing single color prints.

Screen Printing Press

A press is the most expensive part of this process, it can run you anywhere from $100 to $1,200 dollars but you don’t have to have a press. Many printers have simply used a screen on a table and applied pressure with one hand while printing using a squeegee with the other. The trick is to make sure the t-shirt is placed always in the same spot.

Now, if you’re doing a large print and it requires a little more concentration, we suggest you set up on a table that you don’t mind drilling a hole into, and add door hinges to your screen and the table - this will prevent your screen from moving and you can use both hands while printing.

Ink

Inks can get pricey, but as we recommended, you can find this on Apps like OfferUp or Facebook Marketplace. Otherwise, a way to conserve ink is to minimize your use by pouring smaller amounts when printing and keep pouring as you go. This practice will prevent you from wasting ink.

Learn about What is the Best Ink for Screen Printing

Squeegee

Squeegees are very affordable and you can find a whole kit for less than $10 dollars if you buy directly from a wholesaler.

Darkroom Lighting and Exposure Light

The best way to work with the photo emulsion is in safelight conditions. A darkroom safe light lets you work with the photo emulsion in safelight conditions so that you can see what you’re doing when mixing the emulsion and coating the screen without exposing it to UV light. Because film photography is not as popular anymore, you can find a lot of Darkroom-safe lights on websites such as eBay for $20 dollars.

For exposure lights, you can go to your local hardware supply store and find 500-watt or higher halogen work-lights anywhere from $20 - $40 dollars. They generally have a black housing and clear glass lens at the front with a wire grill covering it. Start by removing the grill and glass from the front. It is a UV filter and when you expose your artwork to your screen you will want maximum UV exposure. This is a great alternative DIY exposure setup.

For a more in-depth list of screen printing materials, check out What is Screen-Printing and What Materials Do I Need?

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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Our showroom at 2755 Fruitdale Street, Los Angeles, CA 90039 is open by appointment only from 10 am - 4 pm Monday through Friday.

A Guide to Branding in [2023]

Author Irene Floridia, Content Creator

Thinking of starting your own business? Looking to improve your customer satisfaction or ensure customer retention? We have a guide on how to improve your branding efforts and new ways to enhance brand awareness in the fast-paced environment of consumerism.

What is Branding?

Branding is the process of researching, developing, and applying a specific set of criteria to an organization so that consumers can associate the brand with the product or service.

Branding is generally an action taken before the launch of a brand to ensure there is a cemented identity and to then establish standards for the product or service provided. This action also helps determine who the consumer for this product or service is to then tailor marketing efforts so as to target a specific group of people.

The Importance of Branding

The importance of establishing a brand is arguably the most important first step in starting a business. It gives your organization an identity, it makes your product or service memorable and it encourages consumers to support and trust your business. Being able to define your business and its purpose can have a big impact on the ability to build a consumer base. Most often, branding can be the deciding factor for consumers when they make a purchase decision.

In a 2015 global Nielsen Survey, almost 60% of shoppers said they actively buy from brands they know, and 21% said they bought a product because they liked the brand.

How To Create A Brand Strategy

• Establish Target Audience

  • Branding leads to awareness, recognition, and revenue; this outcome stems from customers. The first step in constructing a strategy, as a business, you will need to understand who your audience is and that is how you will understand what will resonate with them. Who does your product serve? Who is your ideal customer? Read about what is Brand Awareness.

• Mission Statement

  • To establish a mission statement you must ask yourself ‘why did I create my business?’ Answering this question will help you write your mission statement, which defines the purpose of your brand. Check out ‘How to Define Inspiring Mission and Vision Statements”

• Define Features and Benefits

  • There are most likely other businesses or services in your industry, and it’s important to set yourself apart from them to engage consumers and convince them that you are the best option. Ask yourself, what is the one thing that your business has that no one else has? take some time to write down unique values, benefits, and qualities that set you apart from the competition. Read “How to Develop a Unique & Memorable Brand Identity”.

• Create Visual Assets

  • Some will argue that this is one of the most important steps when building a brand. People are attracted to well-thought-out designs, this means having a good logo, color palette, attractive typography, iconography, and other visual components. To create these elements, building a brand guideline is helpful to create a composition and use of your visual assets.

• Find Your Brand Voice

  • How your brand communicates with the consumer is important, think about what this voice would sound like if it were a person. The brand voice is particularly important for a well-rounded marketing campaign, social media, blog posts, and your brand story. How you communicate with your targeted audience sets a tone and should be consistent throughout all of your written content.

How to put your branding to work

Social Media

All posts, cover art, and branded imagery should reflect your brand. Using your logo as your profile image will make it easier for customers to recognize your business. All of your content such as blog posts, product copy, captions, and videos should reflect your brand voice.

Packaging

If you have a physical product, your packaging should reflect your branding - this means, design, color pallet, fonts, size, and feel. Detailed packaging helps build confidence with consumers as it reflects on how much you care about your product. Packaging also assures the buyer that they have purchased something that is high-quality and this way you can build brand trust and loyalty.

Businesses like Family Industries can help create packaging with logos and preferred color pallets as well as fulfill your orders directly. Not only is Family Industries a screen printing shop, but they offer a variety of different services from branded apparel tags, to stickers and soft enamel pins to be included in your package.

Marketing

Marketing such as advertising, both digital and print, are tools used to establish brand awareness and introduce consumers to your brand, therefore, it is critical that they reflect your branding. All this work on your brand identity should make the marketing ads creation process easier - by following your brand style guide, you will already know how your ads should look and what type of copy to write.

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Pro Tip: Overall consistency is key to brand recognition, brand trust, and loyalty.

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For questions, send us an e-mail at quotes@familyindustriesla.com, or give us a call at 323.227.1547 and we'd be happy to help.

Our showroom at 2755 Fruitdale Street, Los Angeles, CA 90039 is open by appointment only from 10 am - 4 pm Monday through Friday.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

What Is The Best Ink For Screen Printing?

In screen printing on apparel, there are various techniques and two types of inks that are commonly used, water-based inks and Plastisol inks. So, which one is the best? Well, like many techniques in this field, it depends. In this post, we will compare the two and ultimately give you advice on the best ink for the type of print you are trying to achieve.

What is water-based ink?

Water-based inks are inks made with water instead of plastic or PVC, water-based inks can be split into two primary ingredients which are water and pigment. One of the main features of this type of ink is the fact that it is a more eco-friendly option. Water-based inks soak into the fabric as opposed to sitting on top of the fabric, therefore, making the print smoother and breathable. Water-based inks are better when printing on light-colored cotton, if the design has a lot of details, and if the ideal print has muted colors.

What is plastisol ink?

Plastisol ink is made up PVC particles suspended in a liquid plasticizer, it is very durable, flexible, and is commonly used in apparel printing. Plastisol is thick and opaque and it can be mixed easily to create just about any color imaginable. With plastisol ink, we can create special effects like suede, glow-in-the-dark, glitter, shimmer, or metallic. Plastisol is most commonly used on dark-colored fabrics, and it is ideal when printing designs that are less detailed and very colorful.

Which one is the best?

The best ink depends on what type of print, the fabric, and the design you are trying to accomplish as there as many factors to consider. Below we’ve broken-down the considerations for you to make your choice as well as our opinion.

Softness & Breathability

Water-based inks allow for a lighter and softer print which makes the fabric more breathable and comfortable, while Plastisol tends to be a lot thicker and because it is made up of PVC (or plastic) particles, and the ink sits on top of the fabric, it is less breathable around the printed area.

Color

Plastisol inks allow for more vibrant colors and a more accurate color matching process, especially on darker colored fabrics. Vibrant prints using water-based inks are possible, however, the fabric would need to be a lighter color. Plastisol is considered 100% solid, so every bit of it stays on the fabric when cured.

Durability

While both types of inks are durable, Plastisol ink has the reputation to be the most durable, however, some factors need to be taken into consideration. For example, Plastisol ink is thick and can withstand several washes before fading, although, Plastisol inks tend to crack when exposed to high heat. Water-based inks tend to fade faster with frequent washing.

Versatility

With Plastisol inks, you are able to use a variety of different types of fabrics, other inks, and additives. Water-based ink is best suited for 100% cotton fabrics. Blended textiles are less likely to absorb the water-based ink, although there are some tricks to do this successfully, you will run into a lot of difficulties.

Eco-friendliness

While water-based inks are more eco-friendly, but it’s not by much. Why? Well, water-based inks also contain plastic in the form of acrylics and other binders. they rely on solvents that evaporate, leaving the pigmented binder compounds on the garments. The primary solvent is water, but they often contain co-solvents such as formaldehyde and alcohol. These solvents can be harmful and put you at risk unless you use protective gear to protect you from evaporative fumes. Therefore, the two inks are not that much different when it comes to this issue.

Cost

In most cases, plastisol inks tend to have a lower cost. However, as more people prefer softer prints, water-based inks are becoming more popular and print shops are able to reduce their cost by making large purchases with ink vendors. Therefore, consumer prices may vary from shop to shop.

Based on the criteria above, we believe plastisol inks are ultimately the best option in most cases. It is easier to use, cost-effective, and long-lasting ink. Plastisol is sure to maintain the color and details of the design for a long time.

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Check out T-Shirt Screen Printing Instructions

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For questions, send us an e-mail at quotes@familyindustriesla.com, or give us a call at 323.227.1547 and we'd be happy to help.

If you’d like a quote, contact us!

Our showroom at 2755 Fruitdale Street, Los Angeles, CA 90039 is open by appointment only from 10 am - 4 pm Monday through Friday.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

Screen Printing With Puff Ink

If you’ve been paying attention you’ve seen that more and more streetwear brands are bringing back the Puff Ink prints. This type of ink is a plastisol based ink that has been modified with the addition of a heat reactive foaming agent that makes the ink expand tp give you that ‘Puffy’ look.

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How Does It Work?

Puff ink adds a 3 dimensional aspect to screen printing on garments. With this type of ink, you will follow the same screen printing steps as printing with standard water-based inks.

You can use puff ink across the entire artwork, or you can choose specific elements or colors of the design to give it the desired effect to bring more attention or 'pop' to a particular part of the artwork.

One of the downsides to printing with puff ink is that it’s hard to match the exact Pantone ink colors as opposed to using regular water-based ink. This is because the puff ink additive changes different colors in different ways. However, usually, lighter Pantone colors are easier to match than darker colors.

Keep It Simple

There are no fundamental limitations when using puff ink for t shirt printing, apart from when your design has small details that are less than 1 - 2mm wide. For the best puff print, you will want your design to have thick lines and minimal small details. When creating a design featuring text, choosing the right font is key. The thicker the lines the more your design will stand out.

Check out How To Add Puff Additive To Plastisol Ink

How It’s Made

You should use plastisol inks of any color and add a puff additive such as “Rutland NPT puff’ which recommends a 5% to 15% ratio for an optimum puff. The amount of additive dictates how much the ink will rise. With puff ink, it’s important to measure how much additive and paint to mix by weight.

When it comes to your screen, the lower the mesh count, the more open the holes are, which translates to more ink deposit and results in a more “puffy” print.

Once you’ve added the ink to your garment in the chosen design, as the ink goes through the dryer and the heat rises, so does your ink. Like a loaf of bread!

Aftercare

To preserve a puff print or any other specialty prints, it is recommended that you wash it inside out with cold water. Do not use a tumble-dryer, hang dry if possible and do not iron over the print.

Check out Puff Ink – The definitive designers guide for apparel creation

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Pro’s and Con’s List

Pros of Puff Screen Printing

• Fast printing technique for printing in large volumes

• Can be printed in conjunction with a wide selection of other inks and effects

• Can produce designs with multiple colors

• High-durability, will not crumble and flake off

• Professional finish and usually less expensive (consult with your printer)

• Can print on most types of fabrics

Cons of Puff Screen Printing

• Initial setup fee makes it unsuitable for small quantity orders

• Not good for use in fine detailed artwork

• Can not be used for image (raster based) prints

• Can not be printed alongside, foil, flock or high density print effects

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Are you looking to printing

your design with Puff Ink?

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Get the inside scoop from Lee Stuart printing with Puff Ink for the first time!

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Brand Spotlight

Japangeles is a Los Angeles based streetwear brand located in the heart of Little Tokyo. Japangeles has done collaborations with other major brands such as Kirin, Hello Kitty, Champion, and Lexus. Their simplistic yet eye-catching approach to design and word play has caught the attention of many people looking for high-quality garments and minimalistic aesthetics in Los Angeles. Their newest design features a puff ink print, demonstrating the current popularity of this type of specialty print method.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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A Guide To Creating Your Own Merch

Creating a brand is a way to develop your unique business personality, connect with the consumer and establish yourself within the corporate market. Once you have solidified your brand, the next step can be creating merchandise that is exciting and viable to market to new or existing customers.

Some businesses may appear more suited for merch than others. For example, creative businesses or businesses that deal in similar merchandise may seem more well-placed to sell custom promotional products on the frontlines. However, the truth is that all businesses can benefit from creating merch for their own brand, no matter the product or service.

Creating merchandise for your own brand can give you the freedom to sell and use swag as custom products for any service. It’s a great and creative way to get your brand design out in front of other people and make some extra income while doing so.

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“Conversation is not simply a two-way process, but also a continuous process. Brand research enables brands to ask the questions and listen to their customers, allowing them to keep their finger on the pulse and adapt appropriately.”

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Research

Researching your audience whether you’re a service provider or a product retailer is a must. By identifying your customer demographics, you will be able to gear your merch products more specifically and ensure a successful launch.

When doing your research, you’ll want to follow these questions.

• How old is your audience?

• What are generally their interests?

• What is the general socioeconomic status?

• What is their employment industry?

The use of social media often can also be very revealing. Sometimes people aren’t that willing to share details over interviews or creating an account on your platform / store, or simply aren’t aware of their own habits.

Following your audience on social media can most often give you a very good idea of what they are into, this requires a lot of time but can be very rewarding.

Design

After the research phase, design becomes the focus. It may be enough to add your logo to a cool gadget or a wearable good, but if you are looking to make a profit, adding an element of design can really bump up the interest in your merch. It’s necessary to try to make a statement by either creating a clever design or creating a product with a lot of color and character.

Some companies may hire an artist to create a work of art to be printed unto their merch, which makes those pieces a little more valuable than if it was just your logo or a simple component of your branding aesthetic.

Diversify Your Merch

Not all merch is created equal, and not all merch is equally useful for everyone.

By diversifying the products offered, you’re giving the consumer a choice of products that best serves them. Your demographic according to your research may have different variants, this is when you should make the decision of creating different products for different people.

Anyone willing to buy merchandise is usually happy to browse a range of products and see what you have on offer, rather than only having the option to buy one thing. Happy merchandise consumers may also return to your online store to buy a different item next time, so having a choice is key.

Budget

Maximizing your budget can make all the difference. If you’re unable to offer a variety of products, concentrate on the product you think will perform the best according to your audience research.

Many brands will also launch a pre-order product(s) and can fund their merch production using this method as the purchase will be done upfront making it easier to increase your budget. While this works for most companies, we suggest you advise your customer of potential lead-times as printing and production times my vary.

Read more about What To Include In Your Promotional Products Budget

Fulfillment

If your budget allows it, we recommend using companies such as Family Industries for all your fulfillment needs. The good thing about this process is that you will never have to touch the product, they will be made, printed, packed, and shipped all from a single source. Fulfillment can become overwhelming if you have a large following and a healthy stream of daily orders, and services like fulfillment can be a time-saver and allow for you to focus on your overall business.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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The Rise of Gender-Neutral Clothing

Source: Christen Press and models sport gender-neutral streetwear in a promotional image for Re-Inc.

We often think of clothing as a way to express our gender identity, but what about defying the gender norms when it comes to what you wear? This ideal has become more and more accepted by newer generations who are working to break down the berries of gender norms in fashion. In this article, we’ll take you through the latest in this fashion movement.

What is Gender-Neutral / Genderless Apparel?

Source: Youth Incorporated

We actively break down apparel into 2 main differentiations, men or women, while the conversation of gender continues to evolve within our society, and fashion is trying to keep up. It is true that the notion of clothing having a gender is a social construct, for example, when looking back at the way in which the high heel shoe was invented, men wore them to imply their upper-class status; only someone who did not have to work could afford, both financially and practically, to wear such extravagant shoes.

So, gender-neutral apparel is now becoming more popular among the new generation, but what does gender-neutral apparel look like? Well, “Genderless” clothing is being designed without a specific color or texture in mind, it is simply designed to be able to fit a variety of body types and the fashion is fluid, not inherently masculine nor feminine.

Check Out 3 Designers on How They Define Genderless Fashion

“The term gender was first used in 1955 to describe social and cultural aspects of whether a person was male or female, regardless of their biological sex. Next, the term unisex was coined in the 1960s in reference to garments that were intended to be worn by either sex.”

Comfort Over Gender

Source: One DNA

One of the many reasons gender-fluid apparel is trending, is the comfortability factor. Women’s clothes have a history of being uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time, and this is part of the reason many women look for more comfortably fitting clothes, oftentimes in the men’s section.

Additionally, not only is athleisure wear becoming more and more gender-less, but it’s the every-day clothing choice that attracts people, especially after more than a year being stuck at home wearing sweats or pajamas due to the covid-19 lockdowns.

In March of 2020, pajama sales increased by 143%2, but bra sales decreased by 13%. Right from the start, comfort became a priority.

Sales of gender neutral clothes on the rise

For brands looking to maximize sales, going gender-less can be a beneficial move. Because design isn’t inherently feminine nor masculine, fabrics and patterns can be worn by either gender or non-binary person. By taking the gender-fluid route, brands can cut costs on design time and sourcing fabric as well as manufacturing.

We have seen big brand such as Zara who introduced a line of unisex clothing for adults, while GapKids did the same for children’s wear. Toronto’s Muttonhead Apparel, whose utilitarian casuals are designed to fit both men’s and women’s bodies, has gained a huge following. Haute fashion houses like Hood by Air, J.W.Anderson and Gucci have all released unisex lines.

“Brands can create long-lasting, high-quality pieces that can be sold at higher prices.”

Source: EDITHMARCEL.

Photo: Alessio Costantino

Ethical & Sustainable

We have seen that fast fashion is slowly losing traction, and shoppers are looking for more sustainable options and ethically sourced apparel. This is where smaller brands can outshine big corporations. Yes, the cost is higher but studies show that consumers are more interested in quality, so they are more likely to spend a little more if the product is marketed right.

The Future of Apparel

Designing apparel that goes beyond the binary is predicted to become more and more popular among young people. Along with the size inclusion movement and trans and non-binary issues on the forefront of social conversations, we will be seeing more brands launch unisex apparel.

Read In-depth guide: un-gendered fashion and unisex clothing brands

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How To Design

Unisex Clothing

Source: Zero Waste Daniel

Proportions

Biologically speaking, women’s bodies and men’s bodies are inherently different, therefore, adjustments are necessary but it should not compromise the overall style of the garment.

T-shirts for example, are easy to design to be worn by either gender. However, for a jacket or a blouse, it is important to have variety in size and proportions.

Design

Keep It Simple. If you’re just getting started, select a few garments that can be worn by either gender and adjust sizes accordingly. The overall design should be simple and loose, nothing form fitting but not too baggy.

Most unisex clothing was, and is, based on male styles. Fit may be adjusted, some new fabrics may be introduced, but it is still basically men’s clothing adjusted to include women wearing it.

Color

Go crazy with color, don’t be afraid to use a lot of colors and patterns.

Functionality

Not only is comfort a big part of unisex design, but functionality such as deep pockets, buttons, and zippers also play a big role. Think utilitarian!

Fabric

It is recommended to source recycled or natural fabrics like silks and organic cotton to achieve an “adaptable-type style” that downplays certain parts of the body and that can be worn in various ways.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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