Our Process

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To understand the time and care that is taken into each silk screen printed job, we thought it would be helpful to show you what happens each time we have a job to print.

Step 1: Conceptual Design	Step 2: Vellum Printout
Step 3: Screen Coating	Step 4: Vellum is applied to Screen
Step 5: Burning the Screen	Step 6: Washing Out Image
Step 7: Screen to Press	Step 8: Automated Press Production
Step 9: Drying Product for Shipment

From initial conception to finished product, we do it all!

Once we have the artwork approved, it gets sent to our art department for processing.
They take a look at your printing instructions and come up with a composite proof for you so you can see what your design will look like on the t-shirts (or hats, sweatshirts, baby doll tees or other garments).

Our proofs will show you the ink colors to be used on your order, the print size dimensions for your artwork, and it will confirm the specific print locations you have instructed us to print.

At this time, you can instruct the art department to make any changes you see fit. If you'd like different ink colors used in your design, just let us know. If you'd like it to be printed smaller, just let us know.

We don't print your job until you are thrilled with your proof and you have specifically approved it for printing. We'll work with you until you are 100% satisfied with your design!

After the art has been approved, we need to output the film that we use to make the screens.

Turning out the lights:
All of the art is then pre-registered and checked for detail and quality:

Once the art is completely approved in-house we send the job to our screen dept.
The first step in the screen department is to coat the screens with a photosensitive emulsion.

Next, the screen dries, and it is placed on the vacuum light table and exposed to an ultra violet light.
      
The Final Touches:
After being exposed the screens are then washed out with a pressure washer.
Once the image is washed out, it is double checked with the films for accuracy.

The Actual Printing Process:
Each color in the design needs a screen and each screen must be blocked, taped, setup, and squeegeed.

Just imagine if we had to do this each time a t-shirt was ordered. You can see why screen printing was designed to print quality garments in bulk quantities.

For smaller runs, we may use one of our manual presses. For larger runs with more colors, we use our automatic press.