I'm looking to start a business selling custom t shirts designed off of my art, but all the options for screen printing I've looked into only print in bulk. Is there any way I can get just one or two t shirts of a certain design without paying a rediculous bundle of money? I'd appreciate any help, thanks! I need professional quality printing, not iron on transfers, as these are to sell.

wilfred112

i hope this helps i have ordered a t-shirt with my chosen image of this website an it is very good quality but you do need to have your picture on the computer in order to see what it looks like on the t-shirt an to be able to upload it on the t-shirt. The t-shirt cost me £15.
Personalised T-Shirts, Mugs, Mouse Mats & Custom Printed Gifts. Quality Printing Fast. TShirt Studio.

Emland

There is so much involved in setting up silk screening that I can understand why they only do it in bulk.

Have you considered getting your own silk screen equipment (maybe used) and cut out the middle man?

alkalineangel

dont really know if this is what you are looking for, but I use it from time to time...quality is excellent.

CafePress.com : Create, Buy and Sell Unique Gifts, Custom T-Shirts and More

firmbeliever

Have you tried hands on painting with acrylic colours.
I have tried them and if you iron it on the reverse side before washing, it is colourfast for quite a long time.

Or you could cut out your designs on transparent sheets used for presentations/overhead projector types.Make stencils and use them as a guide then fill in the colours with a paint brush and acrylic colours.

Acrylic Painting -- Getting Started
Painting How to Information, Technique, and Tutorial Resources

sveltskye

Thank you for all the tips. The painting might be worthwhile, and give it a more personal touch, but I wonder if it would seem as professional as printing.
On thing about silk screening- I do full blown illustations that are very complex in terms of color and line, not simple 3 or 4 layer/color designs that I've heard that process is limited to. Can silk screening give me a complex illustration like this?
Thanks for the tip about cafe press, too. I might use it at least temporarily, but I'd like to have my own website and my own method of doing the printing eventually. I think I'll steer clear of the British one cause of conversion pain in the butt stuff.

firmbeliever

I think if you test it first on a T-shirt and get the hang of it, it does look professional and the good thing about acrylics is that they give a glossy finish.
The best way to do it, is to first paint in white and then over it paint the colours as some clours do not hold well on T shirt material and others will fade colours.White base is the best way to do it.

The hard part for me is recreating one design twice,maybe you could try with one piece one design and when you have enough practice you could try recreating the same image on a different t-shirt.

chek101

That's hard to say without seeing the design you are talking about. I did silk screen work for eleven years. I'm thankful I came into it when the actual cutting of film died out. Boy did I hate that part! What a pain in the neck that was to do, very tedious, but gratefully I only had to do that twice. Screens are not cut today, they're burned ... and burned fast! Maybe even faster than I remember because I was doing this 20 years ago, and not since. Again without knowing what your design looks like I can only say that every color in a design requires its own screen. If you had an eight color design then you would need eight screens, which of course you would have to build yourself. But then you could make a four sectioner like I used to do instead of constantly having to build individual screens. That way I only had to build two! Screens are fast to make anyway, and the actual screening process fast and fun to do! Just squeegie on the photographic emulsion, shut the lights off and let everything bake, let them all bake at the same time, maybe 20 minutes if my memory serves me well. I managed to make my screens do some cool blends, but no two blends were alike if you know what I mean. And I am asuming you'll want identical reproduction.

Why not go to a good art supply store? I am lucky that I live here in NY where I can get to Pearl Art ... that is one phenomenal art supply store. They have everything from soup to nuts. Maybe you have a good one like that near you. Pearl Art is on the web and they do carry silk screen materials (as does Blick) you can order right from there. But first ask questions like the ones I'm sure you're thinking right now. Contact whatever company that SELLS silk screen supplies either by web or wherever so you can get a better idea of what the silk screen capabilities are today AND what the process is like. It wasn't hard back when I was doing it, so how can it be harder, now? It might do the trick for you. It might not. You have nothing to lose by enquiring. Hope I helped, Patty