i have never done anything related to silkscreening. does this require lots of expensive equipment and preperation and is only worth it for huge batches of t-shirts?
It requires, at minimum, a screen, a screen press, a squeegie, a way to burn the screen (typically, this means photosensitive screen print emulsion, a vacuum frame, and a strong ultraviolet light bank), and the ink. The ink most often used for T-shirts is thermosetting, meaning you also need a dryer–a large machine which runs the T-0shirts down a conveyer belt which heats them to the curing point of the ink.
It requires a fair bit of effort and a good bit of skill. Typically, screen printing is only good for batches of 24 or more. Typical prices for screen printing a batch of 24 in one color range from about $6 to $12 apiece.
This is the only realistic way to get a solid white design on a colored T-shirt. I have made white designs by cutting out opaque white transfer material, but it’s a lot of work and the results are not as good. —
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