Fantastic Blognanza!

Series installment roll call! Part 1! Part 2! Part 3! Part 4! Part 5! Haven’t read ‘em? You might want to! Since, you know, this is a series an’ all.

For this batch of t-shirt designs, we outsourced the screenprinting to a local printer. As such, we can’t provide an in-depth look at the actual printing process, but we can at least tell you what to prepare if you contact one of these places yourself.

The GraphicsWe obviously had to send them the shirt designs somehow. Since we traced all of our designs in Inkscape, the designs were already saved as handy SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) files — no muss, no fuss. (Well, there was some fuss, but that’s been covered in previous posts.)

A note on the colors in your design: you might want to make sure they correspond to hues found in the Pantone Color Matching System (we used this handy online version). Essentially, providing your printer with Pantone colors makes it easier for them to match the color you’re looking for, whether you want an exact or an approximate match. We opted for an approximate color match (it’s cheaper and often just fine; try to get a sense of how good their color matching person is, though!), and honestly, I have an almost impossible time telling the difference.

The ScreensNow that the screenprinter has digital copies of your designs, they can go ahead and make the appropriate screens. While it might be possible for you to provide your own screens, it’s usually a whole lot easier to let the screenprinter make them for you — especially considering that the screens will have to conform to their production processes. There are also a whole host of variables that go into selecting the appropriate screen, so if you don’t know what you’re doing you can easily pick the wrong one.

The Blank ShirtsAs for the t-shirts themselves, we had the option of buying shirts from our printer or providing our own. We purchased our blanks from Continental Clothing and had them shipped directly to the printer. Often you will be charged less for printing if you buy your blanks from the printer, and some printers won’t print on customer-supplied blanks. If you are providing your own blanks, be sure to talk to your printer about an acceptable percentage of misprints. Nobody’s perfect, and it will make things much simpler in case something should go wrong. Trust us.

The Printing ProcessSince we didn’t print the shirts ourselves, Joe suggested I look for an appropriate and informative online video to fill in the gaps. The best one I came across is a do-it-yourself-er and consequently not an inside look at a business printing shirts in mass quantities. Regardless, it’s entertaining and it offers a general idea of the methods involved. Also, one of the hosts is a member of the perpetually dapper Etsy, which we’ve featured in the past. Take a gander:

The Final Product
Isn’t it beautiful? Yes. Yes it is.

Well, that’s all for today’s installment of BoaTS. (Joe dropped the initial T during an email conversation. He was right to do it.) Hold on to your pants in anticipation for the subsequent installment: I’m Ready For My Close-Up!