"It’s not just a job, it’s a creative outlet."
       - Artist and Owner of Freestyle Cartel

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Screen printing is a unique "attention-to-detail" and innovative technique that can transform ordinary materials into wearable art. Screen printing is the fastest, most efficient, and most durable form of decorating T-shirts, apparel , tote bags, bandannas, and other fabric products.

 

It begins with exposing a film containing the printed artwork to a special screen made of a mesh material using UV light. This creates a negative image on the mesh that will allow ink to pass through the clear areas, or areas where the artwork exists in the original. After the screen is exposed, washed out, and dried, the screen is ready for ink application. The screens are registered and mounted on a screen printing machine and a test print is made; if all looks good, printing can proceed. A thin layer of ink is applied onto the garment and hit with a flash dryer to slightly cure it. After the first color is dried with a flash cure unit, the second color can be screen printed onto the material.

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Garments are then put into a conveyor dryer featuring infrared heat that cures the ink to ensure a long lasting design. During the screen printing process, one color is applied at a time. For each color of a design, an additional screen is used, which means the artist must separate the ink colors in the design file before the printing process can begin.

 

The number of color arms on a printing press determines how many colors can be printed at a time. Our Vastex 4/4 manual press allows us to print up to 4 colors with accurate precision. This process of screen printing makes it one of the most high-quality and efficient methods for apparel design. Exceptional care is given to each garment to ensure the colors don’t overlap and are aligned perfectly to result in a beautiful, vibrant, and durable print leaving you with a very soft feeling image that will look great wash after wash.