Screen Printing Q&A

Do I have to pay for a Screen Charge?
Yes, Screen or Setup Charges are a common charge within the Screen Printing Industry. A lot goes into setting up your print job such as creating film positives, cleaning and coating screens, burning your image into the screen, washing out the screen, setting up the press with correct squeezes and ink and don’t forget all the tear down and clean up too.

Setting up the job is where all the magic happens. If its not done correctly you won’t have a good quality print. With that said, Setup is the biggest part of the job regardless if your doing 12 shirts or a 1000 shirts. And trust us, our pricing is competitive, if your not being charged Screen or Setup Charges, its been factored in some where else…its there somewhere. If not, then you should be cautious.

Can you print me a sample first?
No, we do not print sample screen printed apparel. The setup involved in producing a Screen Printed job is quite extensive and because of that we require a minimum order. What we can do is provide you with an apparel sample if needed as well as a Digital Mockup of your Design on your desired garment. It’s the next best thing to the final t-shirt.

Can I have just a few more shirts printed after I’ve picked up my initial order?
As soon as your order is finished printing on press, those screens are then removed from the press, cleaned, washed and recoated for new jobs inline. If you need to get additional shirts that is not a problem but you will be required to meet the necessary minimums for Screen Printing. It will be considered a whole new order. If your doing a different quantity than your initial order your pricing may change as you may not be hitting the same volume price break.

What is a White Underbase?
A White Underbase is very necessary if your printing colored inks on a dark garments or polyester garments. The White Underbase acts like a Primer. It helps the colored ink be vibrant and true and not get “muddied” out from the shirt color. On polyester garments it keeps the dye of the shirt from migrating through your sweet design ~ known as dye migration ~ ever seen someone wearing a red shirt with pink ink? yuck!

Should Screen Printing Crack or Wash Off?
No, definitely not! Obviously if this was your fav tee and you’ve worn it to it’s near death, then yah just like the shirt the ink is going to wear out too. But if this is a new shirt and your experiencing your ink washing out…not good. That means the ink on the tee was not cured to proper temps.

Do you Save My Screens?
No, we do not save your screens. We process multiple jobs every day, if we saved every screen we’d have to have a GIANT warehouse to store them all…not to mention all of the costs we’d have in buying that many screens. That would make for one expensive t-shirt for you! Our screens are washed out after every job and reprocessed for the next job. Think of it as being “Green” and recycling…now don’t you feel good? We do however save all of our digital artwork as well as most film produced to create your job so we will pass on a discount if you place a repeat order.