T-Shirt Printer’s Boot Camp
3-Day Garment Screen Printing Class
Taught by Scott and Michael Fresener
This class is very focused on how to screen print garments. You will start off with “this is a screen” and end by screen printing high-end multi-color images on light and dark shirts – AND, you will know how to do it yourself once you get home! Due to the complexity and wide variety of printable items, some topics are offered as an overview and others are in-your-face hands on.
If you want to leave with the confidence to create proper artwork and color separations, make a very respectable screen, setup the press correctly, and make a detailed bright print – this is the class for you.
Return to Training Class page.
Day One – Hours 9:00 – 5:00
Day one is all the stuff you won’t get at other classes. It is great to learn how to print a shirt but it is more important to know how to market and sell your prints, how to run the business and more. And, if you are new to this industry you need to know about computer graphics.
- Overview of the process.
- Hands-on printing exercise. Print your first shirt!
- A good part of the first morning is spent on the business side. This is probably the most important part of the class.
- All about the industry, trade shows, trade magazines and more.
- Where to buy shirts and how to get the best prices.
- How to market and sell shirts. How to find customers and keep them.
- Setting up an internet website and getting online orders.
- Basic shop layout and setup. Learn about zoning, using chemicals and the law.
- Understanding the legal side – copyrights, trademarks, artwork ownership and more.
- How to price your work and be profitable.
- Developing and promoting your own line of shirts.
- The basics of computer graphics, including Corel Draw, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. This is not hands-on but if you have a laptop and battery you can follow along. Learn what programs are best and if you should use a MAC or PC – or does it matter.
- Scanning artwork.
- How to work with customer supplied artwork and fixing bad artwork.
- Simple design creation.
- Basic color separation techniques.
- Overview of color separation software like FastFilms and T-Seps.
- How to make film positives for screen making.
- Learn about film output devices and options.
Day Two – Hours 9:00 – 5:00
Now that you know all about the industry and how to create artwork and make film positives you need to know about the screen making process. If you can make one great screen you can make lots of great screens – and good prints start with great screens. On Day Two you will also learn about basic and advance printing techniques from setting up the press, and using inks, to printing on dark shirts.
- Proper screen making including frame types, screen mesh selection, all about stencils and emulsions and how to make a good screen to make a great print.
- “Burn” your own screen and learn how to develop the screen and prepare it for printing.
- Learn about exposure systems including using sunlight to burn/expose screens.
- Screen making for multi-color printing and special screens for dark shirts, puff ink and more.
- All about inks and how to mix them and dry them.
- All about the equipment and whether to make it, buy used or buy new. Get an idea of what you need to outfit a shop.
- Press-setup. Setup a multi-color job and print light colored shirts. You will print a number of designs on shirts and get plenty of time to learn proper printing techniques, loading and unloading garments, print placement, how to get a sharp print and more.
- Quality and what makes a great print.
- Tearing down a job and re-using the screens.
Day Three – Hours 9:00 – 4:00
Day three is fun. Now that you know how to print you will learn about foils, discharge and other specialty and special effects inks. You will also learn about your shop and safety along with printing on a wide variety of textile and non-textile items. You will end the day printing a HOT six color photo realistic image on a black shirt.
- Clean up materials and chemicals and how to handle them safely.
- Learn about the trendy all-over prints.
- Special inks for athletic printing and special effects printing including puff ink, discharge, glitter, water based and more. You will print with some of these inks and see the latest techniques and trends.
- Special effects with foil. Create stunning images on shirts with foil.
- An overview of digital direct-to-garment printing. This might be where you start or you can add this to your business when ready.
- How to print on other items including caps, sweatshirts, towels, uniforms and more.
- Basics of non-textile printing including stickers, posters, signs, decals and more. These are profitable types of jobs and can be a nice addition to your business.
- Final printing exercise – printing bright full-color image on a black shirt.
Return to Training Class page.
