Learn How To Screen Print Tee Shirts At Home

I have often been asked, “which inks do you prefer?”

And to be honest, that is not an easy question to answer. Well… actually that’s not true, most of the time.

As far as inks go, I do prefer Wilflex as a general rule. However, I do not like their Tiger White. In the past I was sold on Triangle Ink’s Phoenix White. Not just because of the name either. It used to be an excellent white ink but consistency problems between batches can be frustrating. The other con for me is that it is shipped from New Jersey.

Ink preference is really based on personal preference. You have to just try out different inks and get a feel for what works best for your application. You may form an opinion about a particular brand but there will always be certain inks that are better than others. The perfect example is how I like Wilflex colors but not their white.

Black ink, is black ink. There are rare occasions where a black ink is not good to use due to separation of its constituents or it is just too thick for some reason. Most black inks tend to be on the thinner side especially after being worked on the screen a bit. But I have found that I am able to easily use most any brand of black ink.

For textile printing, you want to stay away from inks that are too liquid or thin. Inks that run on the screen when lifted or drips off of the ink spatula most likely will soak into the knit of the tee shirt fabric. Textile screen printing works best with inks that tend to sit on top of the shirt fabric. And of course that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t intentionally push this type of ink into the knit either. It is just better to use inks with that tendency.

So for what it is worth, that is my preference.

Thanks for reading!

Creating dense film that will block near 100% of light is often difficult using home printers. Make sure to check out the article on the website covering film output and RIP software. It’s on the Printing Articles section under the More… tab.

And make sure to stay tuned to Catspit Productions this week for the release of a new video which talks about film output. In this video I compare laser vellum and film to inkjet film. I explain how I compensate for film that is not dense enough when printed at home on a standard home printer without RIP software.

The new video will be uploaded on Friday the 14th.

Thanks for watching!

There have bee a few new additions to the website in the past weeks. Of course this blog is new. I hope everyone who reads it , enjoys it. I will try very hard to make regular blog entries. You may post comments to my blog if you have a Windows Live ID. If you use Hotmail, Messenger, or Xbox LIVE, you have a Windows Live ID.

The Guestbook is brand new adding the feature of being able to leave comments without a password or ID. All of the fields in the posting section are optional except perhaps the comment. So you do not have to enter an email address to comment either.

The new heat transfer article is finished and on the Transfer Articles page of the website. It takes a look at Inkjet and Laser heat transfer papers.

Tomorrow, I will reveal the topic of the next video and its posting date. Stay tuned!

Thanks for visiting Catspit Productions!

When you are running a small screen printing shop, it is often difficult to keep up with the demands of your customers. The same goes for anyone just starting up with a limited budget. Many screen printers start with an 8.5 x 11 printer to output their film. Most of the time this letter size will do for business logos and low key corporate wear. But you will eventually be asked to print a design that is bigger than what will fit on an 8.5 x 11 piece of vellum or inkjet film.

For myself, I had been putting off addressing this issue by working around it as much as I could. This meant either outsourcing the film, working with a friend who can print 11 x 17 for me or splicing simple designs together. As you can guess, this adds extra work and labor time to each “oversized” project. Ultimately to build an efficient and profitable business, you will need to output film in house at any time. This is a great advantage especially in the ability to modify film and burn new screens as needed.

Since I definitely can’t afford an imagesetter, I had to investigate inkjet printers. My budget is limited as my company is still small and growing very slowly during these sketchy economic times. So I shopped around online and stumbled on the Epson Stylus 1400.  This 13 x 19 inch printer has some pretty good reviews and over all has a lot of positive feedback. The 1400 is a full color printer aimed at novice to semi professional photographers wanting high quality oversized prints. The best price I found was an instant rebate from PC Connection. Originally it was $194 with free shipping. Now it is $209.95 with free shipping until the end of August 09. So I was lucky to get it at $194 because it seems to vary quite a bit even above $300.00. This was the best online price I could find. I would check with PC Connection to see what they are asking for it. Be aware, they are backordered about 2 weeks.

The ink cartridges are $18.99 directly through Epson. However, there may be other options for that as well. I know I have a local company that sells just computer printer inks and toners. They often have a price a bit lower than the average retail list price. This printer is also supported by AccuRIP software. This will allow the densest film output and allow you to convert the printer to all black ink.

I am hoping to use the free RIP software Quad Tone Rip or QTR. I am not sure if or how it will configure to the 1400 but it seems like I should be able to get it to work. I’ll keep you updated on this project when the printer arrives.

Thanks for reading!

Catspit Productions is an entirely free screen printing educational resource. It is our hope that you will find the screen printing information on the website useful and entertaining. But please remember, Catspit Productions has absolutely no money to pay for website development, the making of educational videos, or answering all the questions about printing in the detail that we do.

This is where we ask for your help. Please help spread the word about the Catspit Productions website. Tell your friends, family and co workers. Blog about Catspit Productions and link to the website. Feel free to embed videos to your blog or website. Share us with the world!

If you have an account with MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn or Flickr, please connect with Catspit Productions through those networking sites. Tell your friends and family to connect with us too!

Catspit Productions needs your support and help to grow. We appreciate all of the visitors to our website and to the YouTube channel. 

A new article comparing inkjet heat transfers to laser heat transfers is in the works. I hope to have it done by the end of the weekend coming up.

Thanks for all the support!

As many of you may know from this video:

“How To Screen Print: Washing Out The Stencil & Reclaiming”

My pressure washer had broken the day I chose to make this video. It was a real inconvenience and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do the video. Then I decided to use the same screen I used to show how to wash out the stencil, to show how to reclaim the screen. I knew the screen would reclaim with just a garden hose. Why? Because the screen was never used, still wet and had not had a chance for the emulsion to fully dry and set into the mesh. This will not be the case with used screens or screens that have been sitting with emulsion on them for extended periods of time. A pressure washer is needed to be able to handle any reclaiming situation that occurs in your shop.

Now to the point of this blog entry. The reason my pressure washer broke was because it was a $100 Husky unit made for household usage. These lower end home owner’s type pressure washers are not really designed to withstand the industrial use in a screen shop. The most common problem with these home units is the diaphragm that controls water flow to the compressor and finally to the spray gun. I am not certain of the details but the diaphragm gets severe abuse from the constant on and off that occurs in screen making. The water compressor may also burn out simply from extended usage. Over heating can also be a problem for home units as well as insufficient pressure. 

So the big dilemma comes in trying to decide which pressure washer to purchase for your needs. For most screen shop applications you will want an electric unit. If you are just starting out and only reclaim 3 or 4 screens each week, then a home owner’s unit might be fine and last about a year. If you reclaim 4 to 6 screens a day a home owner’s unit would burn out in less than 6 months. The industrial electrical units made for screen making and other industrial uses can cost in excess of $800. An intermediate unit from Home Depot may be around $450 but may not be electric. These are educated ballpark figures. See links for more information.

I ended up having to compromise and I bought a high grade home owner’s unit for about $200. It is a Husky and has a 2 year warranty but in order to get warranty claims the unit is only to be used for household purposes. So because I have a limited budget, if the unit brakes, I would have to omit the fact that I am using it for commercial applications. Shhhh! Don’t tell….

The bottom line is if you have the money to invest in an industrial pressure washer, do it. It will pay off in the end in its durability and ability to be repaired easily rather than be replaced. If you are just starting out or have a limited budget like myself, try to find the highest grade homeowners unit with the best warranty.

There is a new video on reclaiming and de-hazing screens using a pressure washer in the works.

Good Luck my Friends!

Since the very first Catspit video I have understood the limitations and hardships of being my own camera man. Making the videos entirely by myself from filming to editing is not as easy as it may appear. The physical tasks involved with setting up the makeshift lighting and camera for each different shot can be tedious. Having to walk back and forth to the camera to check on settings, time, cropping and battery power is lame. And for each shot I have to check everything again and again. That limits scenes.

I really want to tap into Arizona State University, as I am an alumni, and try to find a film student who may be willing to make the videos with me. That way I could show more screen printing action and close up shots. It would be great to have someone managing the camera for me. It would open up creative doors for the educational videos. 

So, I have been thinking about how to increase the production value of the screen printing videos. I definitely have to figure out how to make it easier for me to do closer shots. Just know that I am working on things like this and hope to make the YouTube channel and the website better as time goes on.

Thanks for watching!

I have noticed that many people use a blog much like a website. Evidently, blogs are very powerful in their ability to handle multi media postings and HTML. I never knew this until now. I am new to blogging in that I am actually doing it now but I never thought a blog site could have so much potential.

I may take advantage of these great blog functions in the future but most of my blogs will be very simple text entries. I will leave the cool stuff for the actual website. Anything that I don’t post to the website may show up here.

So as I blog, I learn more about it. Much like the website in that as I build it, I learn more about building it. The whole Catspit project has been a lot of fun and it is continuing to be a great source of satisfaction knowing people are learning from  and enjoying the educational videos.

Keep on printing!

I just wanted to make a quick note about the annotations on my educational videos. The annotations, as is obvious, are made through YouTube’s annotation editor. Therefore, the annotations are not complete immediately after the upload. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes for me to finish adding annotations.

Since the annotations complement and add informational value to the videos, it is recommended that you wait to watch the video or re-watch the video about 30 minutes after upload. That way you will see all the additional information I add in the annotations.

Thanks for watching!

I have noticed lately like many YouTube users that some of my view counters on my videos are very, very slow or stopped at times. I see that this has been a problem for many others as well. I have read that this may be caused by various reasons most often attributed to YouTube’s anti-fake view software. Evidently, if someone keeps hitting on your video from the same IP address, it will stop the counter. Some say this happens around 200 sequential views.

I really don’t know what the cause is and it only bothers me in that I like to see people are watching and enjoying my videos. It is very hard to tell if my video just sucks or if the counter is goofed up. I have definitely seen some of my counters stop while I still get comments and ratings. So please remember to rate 5 stars and comment!

A new video will be uploaded later today. It will be about wood & metal frames as well as an introduction to the tension meter. Make sure to check it out…