What is silk screen printing? This stencilling method which is known to be the most common way of printing t-shirts involves the use of a screen mesh to transfer images or designs onto t-shirts. In the distant past, natural silk was used for the mesh or screen; however, nowadays, business owners typically use nylon, stainless steel or polyester for it. You can’t blame them though for silk doesn’t come cheap. This printing method works best for apparel companies that’s why it’s commonly used for printing t-shirts. To carry out silk screen printing several items are required.

  • Tape
  • Films
  • Squeegees
  • Scrubbers
  • Screens
  • Plastisol ink
  • Printers

Once you have all these items and your chosen design, of course, you can begin printing. Though you must remember that the colours for your print must be applied one layer at a time and a separate screen for each colour is needed.

Now that we’ve got that covered, let’s move on to the main question of whether silk screen printing is worthwhile or not. In a way it is, and it isn’t. Feeling confused? That’s alright as we’ll break it down for you.

Pros and Cons

1. Printing Efficiency

As a stencil is used to print out the design through the mesh, this printing process is efficient if the design is uniform and of a solid, simple form. However, if the design incorporates a lot of colours, the process will become slightly more time consuming as you’ll need to wait for the first layer of colour to dry and only then can you apply the next colour.

2. Cost

This then brings us to the next point where the use of more colours in silk screen printing results in a much higher cost. Although, the cost can be lowered and turn profitable for business owners if the order quantity is large.

3. Versatile Design

The design choices for this type of printing method are more diverse due to the printing versatility in terms of location on the item. Besides that, compared to other printing methods, there is no size limitation. Yet, in relation to the first point, the design to be printed mustn’t be colourfully complex for as the saying goes “time is money” and if you waste time here you’re definitely going to lose money.

We’ve presented you with the positives and negatives of using silk screen printing, so what’s your verdict? Our opinion on it is that it can be beneficial and it can also be harmful to one’s business operations. This all depends on how the business owner manages their printing business. What we’d like to suggest for current or future business owners interested in the printing venture is to use a combination of printing methods.

Other than silk screen printing, one can also make use of heat press printing as well as digital printing. At diyprintingsupply, we provide you with the means to start off your own printing business from heat press machines to printable items themselves. Our various business packages include name card printing, button badge printing and lots more. With us, you can easily set-up your printing business or add on to your existing business operations.


 

 

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