Anyone know much about silk screen printing?

[julian]

I remember i printed onto fabric at school, but that was ages back.

What im keen on doing is screening onto metal and plastics, but the process, i understand, is the same, just the inks that differ.

Im wondering if anyone is involved in this kind of printing, and could give me a rough idea of the kit list i need etc.etc.

I dont know - i know noone who does it themselves, and there must be some reason for this that im overlooking, surely? I dont remember it being all that complex, so im guessing the reasons muse be either space needs, and / or expense?

Like i said - anyone have any knowlege on this that theyd like to chuck my way?

Cheers, julian

[ckpqerjwrpwp]

If it is the same process as t-shirt printing it is very cheap. Basically you just need to get a screen made.. a friend got one which was about 2 feet square with loads of different designs on and it cost about £30 if I remember correctly.

[julian]

i was thinking of doing it all myself - ie exposing it as well.

its not so much the money thing, but the dynamics of it. i always get more active after midnight, and shops dont tend to answer their phones then.

dont they realise the market theyre missing out on!

im keen on the idea of going from concept to artifact without having to wait on anyone else

[Whuffle]

Kitlist is pretty minimal really, but cutting it can be painstaking depending on the design and how many screens you need to do (one per colour)..

I also know that in T-shirts, you need a pretty good turnover before it becomes profitable after you acount for your time.

Like a lot of people that run their own business, the hourly rate if you dared to calculate it, is comic!

Not trying to piss of your chips tho mate, I don't have the drive for something like that and if you do then maybe you should use it!

[antithesis]

I've never tried silkscreen printing but I remembered reading this a while back when I read your post. Seems to cover all the basics as far as technique goes.