Designer's Guide
Design Considerations
Separation Techniques
Trapping
Types of Presses
Hardware and Software


Hiring a Printer Determine Your Needs
Finding a Printer
Communicating Needs
Ask For Samples
Hiring a Printer
Pricing
Quality Control Issues


General Information General Information
  About Printing

Ink Systems
Old Vs. Modern Presses
Shirt Weaves
Environmental Issues

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Finding a Printer

Finding a printer is actually easier than you might expect. Since the equipment needed to just get some globs of ink on a shirt is rather rudimentary, garage t-shirt butchers tend to proliferate like lawyers. If your needs are simple and your expectations flexible you can pick up the Yellow Pages and shop on price alone. If you have more complex art you will need to dig deeper. Word of mouth is certainly a more educated way to perform your search and can lead to a decent results, as long as someone you know has dealt with lots of printers and has similar needs. Perhaps a better way to find what you are looking for is to find some examples of what you hope for at a local t-shirt shop and find out who did the work. Another way is to visit or call a local screen print supply house and ask them to recommend someone. If they are reluctant to pick sides you can browse some of the industry rags, (for a list of such periodicals click here), and see if any of the profiled artisans fit the bill. In this modern information age there is little necessity for your printer to be local. The cost of shipping these goods is small in comparison to cost of the goods themselves, so this need not be a limiting factor. High end printers capable of superior results with challenging images are rare and generally more expensive, but worth seeking out if you have high standards.


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