Sub or Screen?!?! I need advice please for my t-shirts!

[FairyD]

Morning all.....I'm looking to start producing these t-shirts....they are obviously mocked up, I spend far too much time playing in Photoshop!!!!...but I would LOVE to do an oversized print to cover as much of the t-shirt as possible....I'm now in a position to buy my printer and I've saved enough for an A3.....but I pm'd Martin yesterday at BMS for some advice and I'm now thinking that I should just go down the screen-printing route for this...I would obviously lose some detail and it will require putting it on hold until I've saved up more money for the carousel etc, but has anyone tried printing as large as this on a white t-shirt?!?!

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Gayle x

[Paul]

if ou print it on 6 color press then you would not lose any detail. but... I am sure JohnG will agree with me. to print this kind of graphics on 6 color press is not bish bsh bosh job. it takes LONG time to train to get consistent results. I would farm it out of existing company at this stage.

[FairyD]

Thanks Paul...hence the reason why I was hoping I could do it as sublimation......I might have to pull back the size a bit until I can do it properly!!

[socialgiraffe]

Hi Gayle

You are going to struggle getting something that big using either method and in my experience you will not be able to extend over the arms as indicated. I will outline the two methods so you can make a balanced opinion...


TRANSFER
Cheap start up costs and ideally suited for small runs. Whether you print 1 garment or 100 the unit cost remains the same (there maybe a couple of pence saving in the garment purchase but that is it). Dye Sub garments are not considered the best garments as they tend to be too thick and the feel is not as nice. Cotton garments are much better and considerably cheaper but you would need to include specific washing instructions to prevent the image from deteriorating. The transfer process is very easy to master and stock control is easy. For example, if you have 100 large blank garments in stock and five different printed garments advertised you can show stock as 100 in each design. You would only print the garment when an order is placed.

SCREEN
Really only suited to larger runs. The screen printing process is farily complicated and is quite a large learning curve. Each individual colour requires a screen and a carousel to print on. Taking your image above you would need an absolute minimum of 6 screens and a six station carousel which is a very large piece of kit. If you are not going to make the screens yourself (which is another steep learning curve) then allow a minimum of £20.00 per colour for the screen (assuming you have already purchased the screens). Once set up the unit cost is very cheap and the biggest cost is the garment. Also, to get the colours you want you will need to mix inks, another learning curve!

My advice and given your background I would go for transfers as it is far easier to get set up and running. You will need to redesign your garments but I think you are creative enough to do this without loss of the overall effect.

The above is very brief and hope it helps.

[socialgiraffe]

Even with a 6 colour you will lose quality as linear blends are not great when screen printing. So for example the green in the hat (which is light to dark green and back) will drop out quite a bit.

Very skilled screen printers will be able to maintain it to a certain degree, but the key words there are "very skilled"

[FairyD]

Thanks Simon.....I'm trying to get onto a screen printing course up here (waiting list for the Spring one) so I knew it was a bit adventurous to start out with SP....but it's certainly not beyond me but I will just need to bide my time (SO hard to do!!)

What about the Magic Touch Paper.....would that be a better option!?!? I 'think' I saw that they do it in A3 yesterday on their site!??! I'm looking for WOW impact (aren't we all!!lol) but size DOES matter on this occassion!!! ;O) As I said, I've not purchased my printer yet!!

[Paul]

Even with a 6 colour you will lose quality as linear blends are not great when screen printing. So for example the green in the hat (which is light to dark green and back) will drop out quite a bit.

not if you use halftones should be ok.

[socialgiraffe]

Hi Gayle

Personally TMT's paper is my choice, having tried all of them this is the one that I think produces the best consistent results backed up by TMT's excellent customer service. Yes they do an A3 printer so you have no worries there. Bear in mind that if you want to produce these garments on different colours then I would recommend their new White laser printer.

The alternative is to hook up with a supplier of print and cut transfers, I do this as well as others on this site which might be an option for inital testing etc.

Bear in mind with screen printing you require a lot of space. A six colour station, plus dark room, dryer and cabinets for ink will require about 500 square foot with at least one clear area of 12-14 square feet for the carousel. If you think you are going to be selling these garments by the hundreds then screen printing is the way, but bear in mind that to make screen print work financially a very rough guide to your PRINTED stock would need to be 100 Units in each size (lets say small, medium, large, xlarge) so 400 garments per design. That is a lot of stock to be sitting on shelf and you still would struggle with the design flowing over the seams.

I would also look at direct to garment machines as this maybe a much better option for you. I can not remember the user on here but there is one who is producing some stunning work and I am sure he would be able to advise you.


Hi Paul

Even using half tones you will get a deterioration in quality. Plus you would have to print a "proper" black film using the old method with chemicals etc. You could not get the quality of black required with an ink jet print

[Earl Smith]

http://en.mister-transfer.com/
Hi Gayle, I would have suggested asking someone with a DTG printer to help you but I think your design might be too big. John Cooper , a member on here, has a DTG. Id offer to help but I gave my DTG back as I didnt have the work for it.
The Mister Transfer link is a site I use for transfers. Click their transfer tab for their on line calculator. You might find a better price elsewhere but it will give you an idea of the price you are looking at.

Love you designs by the way. Good luck with it.

[Renniwano]

Can't help on the printing.. but as a crafter Gayle - do you do 'biding time' ??? lmao