Today, screen printing is a popular tool used by companies for anything from promotional mugs to movie posters to graphic t-shirts, but its history is as rich as the pallet of colors used by modern screen printers. The inception of screen printing dates back thousands for years.

By cutting shapes into banana leaves and pressing dye into the cut-out portions, early Polynesian Island natives were able to produce some of the first screen prints. This process transferred the stenciled design onto a bark cloth. This is the basic premise of screen printing - forcing dye through a stencil to create a design. Early forms of stenciling (using blowpipes to apply the colorant) were also found in the caves of Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain.

At the time of the Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960 -1280), the Japanese were using stencils to produce intricate designs. In order to keep smaller, loose pieces of a stencil in place, Japanese printers used human hair as a "tie." Human hair was strong enough to secure the free parts and thin enough to allow ink to pass around them and onto the desired medium.

In the middle ages, similar stenciling was used for mass production, such as the production of the Hoyle playing card.

In the 1700s, western culture caught onto screen printing. In England, screen printing was used for wall designs, like wall paper in upper-class homes. At first, Englanders were using "ties," but intricate designs necessitated a change. Silk replaced human hair, which allowed for more intricate and uniform prints. This is also where the name silk screen printing derived, although silk is rarely used anymore; man-made plastics or metal are the preferred materials for modern screen printers.

In 1907, Samuel Simon of Manchester, England patented the first industrial screen printing process. His process paved the way for modern screen printers, which used woven silk instead of "ties" to hold the stencil in place. Detailed designs were glued to the mesh fabric.

In 1914, San Franciscan John Pilsworth, patented a multicolor screen printing process.

During World War I, from 1914-1918, screen printing was used extensively for recruiting, such as the ubiquitous "Uncle Sam wants you," posters. Screen printing was ideal for high-quality, high-volume signage. Screen printing remains a staple in promotions and advertising.

In the 1920s, screen printing was used by a number of graphic artists of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau movements. They referred to the process as serigraphy.

In the UK in the late 40s and early 50s, Francis and Dorothy Carr are sometimes attributed as the first artists to use screen printing as a fine art in its own right. In the 1960s, Pop Art was popularized by the likes of Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg and Hamilton, which furthered the movement of screen printing as an art form.

Graphic (and art) screen printing is still widely used in mass media but also in an underground do-it-yourself screen printing subculture. This is due to its low cost and ability to print on a variety of media.

Some say, however, that screen printing is a dying art, soon to be replaced with other forms of image transfer, such as modern industrial printers. I guess, we shall squeegee.

Labels: custom screen printing, history of screen printing, screen printing

In custom screen printed tees the options for ink colors is unlimited. We can mix to your custom ink color at no cost to you. The best thing to do is to send over you custom artwork that you would like to be screenprinted on your custom t-shirt and label the colors with you custom pantone color. If you are able to give us a custom pantone color we will be able to mix the color to your specifications. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when custom mixing on custom tees. First we use plastisol inks which have a shiny texture, so your ink may be a little shinier than what your computer screen shows when looking at your custom pantone color. Secondly, we are unable to match exactly, in most cases we are able to get so close that no one can tell a difference between the pantone card and what is printed on the shirt. There a couple of reasons why this is not a perfect science. First, the ink is not always printing on a white surface which brings in the under color which distorts the outcome of the print. Secondly, there is human error involved because it is all done by hand.

If you have any questions about screen printing your custom tee shirts with custom pantone colors please give us a call at 1-888-222-9542.

Labels: custom ink color, custom inks, custom screenprinted tees, custom screenprinting, pantone colors, screen printing, screenprinted tee shirts

At www.bendershirts.com we have a minimum of 25 custom printed items at a time. The reason we have minimums on custom screenprinting is because set up on screenprinting is very time consuming. To cover the cost of the setup we spread the cost across the 25 garments. If we only spread the cost of the setup across 12 custom screenprinted garments the price per garment would not be competitive enough.

We run fully automatic screen printing press that give some of the best quality prints available. The downside to automatic screen printing is the setup time. The benefit is print time. This makes it so that printing small quantity orders is not as cost effective. We still offer a fairly low minimum but our prices are more competitive the higher volume of custom screenprinted garments you purchase.

Let me give you an example, if you purchase 25 of the 29m Jerzees 50/50 t-shirt with a 2 color full front print the price would be $8.98. If you purchase the same custom print on 250 shirts your price would drop to $3.59.

Labels: cost of screenprinting, custom screeenprinted t-shirts, custom screenprinting, minimum quantities, screen printing

There are a couple of different ways to get the cost of custom screenprinted t-shirts down. The first is in the quantity ordered. The more custom screenprinted tee shirts you order the lower the price per tee shirt. The second way is on the amount of screenprinting that has to take place to make you custom t-shirts. The more locations (front, back, sleeves, etc.) you screenprint, the more your custom t-shirts will be. The third way to lower you cost in custom screenprinting is to lower the number of colors you print on you custom t-shirts.

Try our Quick Quote at http://www.bendershirts.com/. Look at the pricing and test out some of the techniques above to get your custom screenprinting in the desired price range.

Labels: custom ebroidery, custom screeenprinted t-shirts, custom screenprinted tees, custom screenprinting, custom t-shirts, screen printing, screenprinted t-shirts

Bender Apparel Graphics is the headquarters for custom apparel, including custom t-shirts, custom screen printing, and custom embroidery. We can digitize your company logo and embroider it on any of our fine apparel.

At Bender you will find the lowest prices on polo shirts, fleeces, embroidered hats, t-shirts, sweats, denims, and more, all customized for your satisfaction. That is how we have run our business for over twelve years and that is why nearly one-hundred percent of our custom embroidery and custom screen print clients become long-term customers and friends.

Browse through our online store to find embroidered polo shirts, custom t-shirts, embroidered hats and much more custom apparel that will fit either your personal, corporate, or school needs. Please feel free to contact someone from our sales staff should you have any questions or if you would like to receive a quote.

Our quoting system offers a diverse selection of clip art that may help in deciding on the perfect design for your custom apparel. You can also provide your own logo and artwork for the screen printing or embroidery.

Visit us online at http://www.bendershirts.com

Labels: custom t-shirts, embroidered hats, embroidered polo shirts, embroidery, screen printing