SCREEN PRINTING is the process of decorating a material with a stenciled design by forcing ink through a mesh screen, transferring the design from the screen onto the material. Traditionally the design stencils were hand cut or painted, now a days the screens are coated with a photo emulsion which creates a negative image from the design transparency when exposed to UV light. The term "silk-screening" comes from the silk mesh that was originally used on the screens, but today's screens use a polyester mesh on a wooden or aluminum frame. Each color is printed one-at-a-time from a separate screen, either by a person holding a squeegee in the case of a manual printing press, or by a machine which pulls the squeegee in the case of an automatic printing press.

Pricing is based on the number of colors in your design. Printing on dark colored items is more expensive because it requires a white base coat in most cases.

The size of the design doesn't effect the cost, so it's an economical choice for large designs like you find on t-shirts and jackets. Fine detail and small letters are no problem and 4 color process printing gives the illusion of a full color photo.

Designs with 4 or more colors can get expensive, especially on dark colored garments. You can't screen print on polar fleece, knit caps, 6 panel caps or most towels.

MINIMUM ORDER
1-4 Spot Colors: Minimum 12 Items
5-6 Spot Colors: Minimum 72 Items
Contract Printing: Minimum 12 Items
4 Color Process: Minimum 36 Items

Artwork for Screen Printing

General Information - Artwork can be 4 color process (CMYK) or up to 6 spot colors. Our in-house artists can work with your own design or create one for you from scratch.

Art Fees - Simple typesetting with up to 2 scans or stock art images is free. We charge $25 per hour for basic artwork or design editing, and $45 per hour for more advanced designs or color separation. This does not include the screen set-up fee.

Hardcopy - We accept clean, crisp black & white artwork for single color designs. It may be hand drawn or computer generated, but it should be actual size and camera-ready. Black & White laser prints or pen & ink designs are best. Color prints, faxes, pencil drawings, ink jet prints or low resolution pixelated prints may be subject to Art Fees at $45 per hour.

Vector Graphics - This is the prefered electronic format. We use Adobe Illustrator CS in PC format and accept the following file types: CDR, AI, EPS. Files can be submitted on a Thumb Drive, CD/DVD disk or by email to orders@abbadesigncompany.com. It's important that all fonts be converted to curves, or we may not be able to open the file.

Bitmap Graphics - We use Adobe Photoshop CS in PC format. Bitmap files should have a resolution of at least 300dpi at actual size. We accept the following file types for single color designs: PSD, TIF, BMP. We also accept full color designs in Photoshop format. Spot color bitmaps should be saved as PSD files with each color on a separate layer. Because of the size of these files, we recommend that they be submitted on thumb Drive or CD/DVD disks. If you must email large files, please use zip compression and send it to orders@abbadesigncompany.com
When sending files via e-mail, please use a PO# that will help us identify your file.

Color Matching - We offer a wide range of stock ink colors to choose from. We will mix custom colors or match Pantone PMS colors for $15 each.
Halftones - Normal halftones should be printed at 45dpi - 55dpi depending on size and detail.