Fake Stitch Look
This one is fun. Have you ever looked at a shirt from a distance and thought it was an emblem or cloth appliqué stitched...
The Work Order Flow Through Typical Production
I talked last week with printers in Florida, discussing how a physical work order progresses through a production shop. Here's how it works for...
The Four Day Work Week
Terry Combs talks about going to a 4-day workweek. Good ideas!
Coating Screens by Terry Combs
Direct Coating Screens - Step by Step.
Direct coating of screens, the simple act of filling a scoop coater with emulsion and coating each side...
T-Shirt War Video
This is VERY funny! It is a short video called T-Shirt War by two wild and crazy guys called Rhett and Link at....... you...
Moving Up to an Automatic Press
Over the years I fielded hundreds of calls from customers and students asking if I think it’s time for them to get an automatic...
DTG Machine Maintenance – a Must Read if you own DTG or DTF
A Little DTG Direct-to-Garment Background
In 2004 when I first developed the T-Jet printer I was convinced it would be easy for the garment decorating...
How to make Artwork Color Separation Friendly
It’s Time For An Artwork Resolution to Help Make Separations Easier and Better
The title of this article says it all. For high-end color separations...
The Three Fastest Ways to Get New Business by Mark Coudray
The fastest way to get more business is to look at your existing customer base and see if you can't sell them more. There are a variety of ways of doing this. Two of the fastest are to create bundles and programs. Beyond these easy to implement ways are to reactivate old or lost accounts.
Understanding White Ink Options
White plastisol is white plastisol, right? On the surface it all seems simple, but there are a variety of whites on the market and...
Improving Poor Photographic Images in Corel Draw
Never leave a piece of photorealistic artwork untouched.
Although Adobe Photoshop is...
Third Party Inks for Film and Direct to Garment
Someone quizzes me on this subject three or four times a week. So here’s the scoop on those third party...
All About DPI, LPI, PPI & More
Quick Glossary:
Halftone - A series of large and small dots that represent image areas of a continuous tone image. Continuous tone artwork can be...
Nine Lies You’ll Hear About Screens by Terry Combs
There are a handful of common "misconceptions" about preparing your screens that are repeated often enough that they appear to have a life of...
The Confusion over RIP Software by Terry Combs
If you’re a screen printer, and you make your own film positives, chances are you own RIP software.
How to get Great Results with Direct Film
Although I have probably made my "millionth" screen using the Direct Emulsion method, I have had good results with Capillary Direct...
Color Separations 101 – by Scott Fresener
Color Separations 101 - Everything you ever wanted to know about Color Separations
This article is for anyone involved in creating, managing or just even...
Three new computer graphic articles from Scott Fresener
There are three new articles on the main Articles page. They are all on computer graphics and they are all topics that we deal with...
Combining Corel Images with Photoshop
Scott Fresener gives a short tutorial on the best way to use Corel images in Photoshop.
New Profession
My wife, Pat, and I spend part of our summers in Bowling Green, Kentucky to be near our son Mike and family (grandkids!). We...
Five Things to Know about DTG
Five Things to Know Before Jumping into Digital Printing
This article is very PRO direct-to-garment or DTG. While some of the comments may sound negative...
Dealing With Contract Printers
Do you deal with outside contract screen printers? Are you confused by all thetalk of underbasing, flash curing, screen charges, separation costs andmore? Do...
Improving Poor Photographic Images in Photoshop
Always take time to improve photographic type images in Photoshop.
Adobe Photoshop is the defacto standard raster/pixel based program that the world uses for...
Examples of Good Marketing Tools by Aaron Montgomery
This article was written back in 2010 by our good friend, Aaron Montgomery, and the information is timeless. Enjoy.
After a long break from writing...
Is The Future Here? – Watch Interview with Pete Bolsoni
We were thrilled when one of our very first students - and youngest - Pete Bolsoni told us he had upgraded his shop to...
Why every company should do a Marketing Plan – Big or Small – by...
to be a Pulitzer prize winning coffee table document that takes thousands of dollars to produce, but it does have to be something that...
Creating Distressed Look in Corel Draw
OK, I have to admit it. I have written this article before. In fact, in looking for older versions I found an article I...
Speeding up Manual Production by Scott Fresener
During the busy months it is important to get as much production as possible off of a manual printing press. This article details some...
Heat Transfer as a start to Direct-to-Garment
Direct to garment printing has come a long way since it first hit our industry as a decorating method that is here to stay...
Final Separation Tweaks in Adobe Photoshop
This article will assume you already have a basic Photoshop channel separation done as Simulated Process Color. The information here is geared more
towards doing...
Class Name Shirts in Corel Draw
Some things never change. Regardless of what shirts are in style, there is still a market for putting a list of students in a...
Six Common Screen Printing Mistakes
Over the years I have given thousands of classes and been in hundreds and hundreds of shops doing consulting.
I use to joke to...
Four Rules of Management for Each Department
Sometimes in the heat of battle, we forget there is a customer involved in this process. If every department has the attitude of pleasing the customer, your business will prosper, guaranteed.
Small Business Marketing Tips
Thank you small businesses! With your help our economy is recovering, and most people I talk to are telling me their businesses are improving.
Woodstock…I was there … or was I?
This is a "reprint" of a fun little article I wrote on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock in August of 2009. I thought I...
Secrets to High-End Printing on Dark Shirts – Important Information!
This article was promoted by yet another call from a new T-Seps user (large company) faced with the same old "we can't print that"...
FastART – Back by Popular Demand. Great Artwork – Cheap!
FastART Volumes 1 - 29. Re-Released!
FastART was first introduced in 2002 as a way to help users of our popular Photoshop color separation program,...
Wall Street Journal Article and Video – Finding the Perfect T-Shirt
On June 4, 2014, The Wall Street Journal had a great article and video titled Finding the Perfect T-Shirt. It was very informative and...
Choking, Trapping & Cleaning up Type in Photoshop – by Scott Fresener
A Little Background First
Choking and Trapping are two very common printing terms that relate to creating artwork that prints easy at the press. Computer...
Some thoughts about working from home
So as I sit here in my office which is less than 20 paces from my bedroom, I think about the ups and downs...
A Day In The Life Of Screen Making
This article is like a broken record and the reason I write about basic screen making is I am constantly reminded how confusing it...
T-Seps 4.0 Released – Color Separations Made Easy
We have released T-Seps 4.0! It has a lot of new features and fixes for Adobe's removal of the Pantone Color Books in version...
Creating an Underbase in Corel Draw
When printing on a black or dark background, you need to print either sold or halftoned underbase of white ink. This short article will
detail...
That Thing You Do With One Hand by Pat Fresener
I’ve been trying for some time to get around to writing on my blog. I’d like to say my excuse for not getting around...
Simulated Process Color Separations for Screen Printing – Part Two
Part Two - Simulated Process Color Separations for Screen Printing. Click here to read Part One.
Creating Underbase White
If you are going on...
Blur Text – No, It’s Not Your Eyes
I find it very funny that we strive to do high end photo realistic images on light and dark shirts, and there is a...
Using Foil for Great Effects!
By Scott Fresener
In the early to mid 90’s, foil on shirts was HUGE! We use to teach it in our classes and the students...
Halftone Dots Made Easy
Learn everything you ever wanted to know about halftone dots for screen printing and how to create them, expose them and print them in this article by Scott Fresener.
Helping Artists Understand File Formats by Scott Fresener
This is a topic dear to my heart. Now that I am doing a lot of high-end color separations every day I have a...
Basic Screen Printing Techniques 101 by Scott Fresener
Stop! Don't put this article down just because you a few years of experience. I teach beginners who can print better with ten minutes...