# Best t-shirt screen printing kits



## Guest (Oct 18, 2009)

Instead of going out and enjoying the sunshine this weekend, I spent most of it researching and trying out a bunch of *tshirt screen printing kits*.

I thought I may as well share the results of my findings on my blog, Tshirt Alert, so I wrote a rather lengthy article about my favorite screen printing kits to suit all budgets and levels of experience, which you can read by  clicking here.

I know that there are plenty more kits out there though, so I'm curious to know if anyone else out there has a favorite screen printing kits that represents good value for money? If you have bought a DIY screen printing kit that you have loved, could you please share the name of the kit with me, and the reason that it was so good? My aim is to eventually create a list of the absolute best kits on the market


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## muneca (Sep 30, 2008)

Aw, that was thoughtful of you. Thanks Jake! I'll check out your findings now.


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## Guest (Oct 18, 2009)

muneca said:


> Aw, that was thoughtful of you. Thanks Jake! I'll check out your findings now.


Ha, I'm always here to help others! What do you think of the article...is it detailed enough for you to make an informed decision, or is it lacking in parts?


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## HRClothes (Jan 19, 2009)

Hey Jake,

Nice blog, I liked it, but also what you should do is have some high end stuff. There are Crafting screen printers, then business seeking ones as well... For the higher end I would really look at www.Silkscreeningsupplies.com. Which is a preferred Vendor here, amd from what I hear they have amazing customer service too! But include everyone, not just crafters. This is my opinion, hope u enjoyed :-D

Bobby


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2009)

HRClothes said:


> Hey Jake,
> 
> Nice blog, I liked it, but also what you should do is have some high end stuff. There are Crafting screen printers, then business seeking ones as well... For the higher end I would really look at www.Silkscreeningsupplies.com. Which is a preferred Vendor here, amd from what I hear they have amazing customer service too! But include everyone, not just crafters. This is my opinion, hope u enjoyed :-D
> 
> Bobby


Thanks Bobby. I'm just after a bit of clarification though....are you suggesting high-end service providers, who will do screen printing for you, or high-end products that you can purchase? 

If it's the latter, then can you suggest and specific products?


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## HRClothes (Jan 19, 2009)

JakeThePeg said:


> Thanks Bobby. I'm just after a bit of clarification though....are you suggesting high-end service providers, who will do screen printing for you, or high-end products that you can purchase?
> 
> If it's the latter, then can you suggest and specific products?



Yea Bro.... here is kinda price range u left off of and on

Screen Printing Starter Kit

Econo 4 Color Screen Printing Press & Package

Semi-Pro Complete Screen Printing Kit

it does go on from there, but these are good starter kits, u may need an exposure light with 1 of them which is $50.... but this is where im gonna get mine, not sure what package yet!


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2009)

HRClothes said:


> Yea Bro.... here is kinda price range u left off of and on
> 
> Screen Printing Starter Kit
> 
> ...


Sweet dude...you'll have to let me know which one you buy...I'd like to write a review on it too, with your help 

Do you know anyone else who has tried out one of these kits?


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## HRClothes (Jan 19, 2009)

JakeThePeg said:


> Sweet dude...you'll have to let me know which one you buy...I'd like to write a review on it too, with your help
> 
> Do you know anyone else who has tried out one of these kits?



I would look at these forums.... people have bought stuff from Ryonet on here!


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## CrossYourHeart (May 6, 2009)

Jake, I have the Ryonet 4-color silver press that Booby was talking about. 

It's higher-end than the ones you reviewed and more money, but it's the closest you can get to professional without a huge investment. Not only is it a beautifully constructed aluminum and gas-shock set-up but is comes with everything you need to start. All the chemicals, inks, screen, squeegee, lights... everything for around $700.

I created all of my designs using this press and love it. There are a lot of hobbyist/indie clothing companies on this forum that use this press or one like it. It's definitely worth mentioning in your review.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2009)

CrossYourHeart said:


> Jake, I have the Ryonet 4-color silver press that Booby was talking about.
> 
> It's higher-end than the ones you reviewed and more money, but it's the closest you can get to professional without a huge investment. Not only is it a beautifully constructed aluminum and gas-shock set-up but is comes with everything you need to start. All the chemicals, inks, screen, squeegee, lights... everything for around $700.
> 
> I created all of my designs using this press and love it. There are a lot of hobbyist/indie clothing companies on this forum that use this press or one like it. It's definitely worth mentioning in your review.


Hey mate - thanks so much for telling me about this kit, it does look pretty awesome. 

Tell me though - was there anything missing from the pack that you had to go out and buy in addition to what is already in there?

And I'm assuming that you use this kit for photo emulsion, right? Have you bothered with any other techniques using this kit?


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## CrossYourHeart (May 6, 2009)

Photo emulsion? It came with emulsion for burning screens if that's what you mean?

But this kit litteraly comes with everything... the only thing I ended up buying were random odds and ends like paper towels, pallet tape and stuff like that.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2009)

CrossYourHeart said:


> Photo emulsion? It came with emulsion for burning screens if that's what you mean?
> 
> But this kit litteraly comes with everything... the only thing I ended up buying were random odds and ends like paper towels, pallet tape and stuff like that.


Yeah sorry, emulsion is what I was referring to. Out of curiosity, how do you prepare your screens exactly.... do you print on a laser printer first?


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## HRClothes (Jan 19, 2009)

JakeThePeg said:


> Yeah sorry, emulsion is what I was referring to. Out of curiosity, how do you prepare your screens exactly.... do you print on a laser printer first?



Do not mind me answering for ya man, I hope I get this right! Preparing screens you have too use emulsion on the screens, generally u coat both sides and then you let them dry and you then put ur image** reversed on the flat side. then you expose it to a 500 watt halogen or a exposure unit... let it expose and then wash out unexposed image...

** Usually your image is a black image on transfer... and does not allow the light to get through which does not let that area get exposed which lets it wash out... with multi-color images you seperate colors and print our colors on different transparencies and put them on there own screen and line it up when u print!

and thanks for calling me Booby, Crossyourheart :-D


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## CrossYourHeart (May 6, 2009)

Yeah, "Booby" has it right. 

I print out film on my Epson 1400 printer that I got before I was doing screen printing. So I guess that's one thing the kit doesn't have, but one could always go to a Kinkos or any print shop to get these made.


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2009)

CrossYourHeart said:


> Yeah, "Booby" has it right.
> 
> I print out film on my Epson 1400 printer that I got before I was doing screen printing. So I guess that's one thing the kit doesn't have, but one could always go to a Kinkos or any print shop to get these made.


Thanks again dudes! So, does the 'film' come with this kit, or do you buy it externally? And I'm assuming that printer you have is a laser?


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2009)

CrossYourHeart said:


> Yeah, "Booby" has it right.
> 
> I print out film on my Epson 1400 printer that I got before I was doing screen printing. So I guess that's one thing the kit doesn't have, but one could always go to a Kinkos or any print shop to get these made.


Thanks again dudes! So, does the 'film' come with this kit, or do you buy it externally? And I'm assuming that printer you have is a laser?


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## CrossYourHeart (May 6, 2009)

No, the kit didn't come with film, so I guess it was missing one thing. But when I first got the kit and didn't have film, I just had Kinkos output my first one, it was cheep and easy.

The Epson 1400 is a wide format ink jet printer that costs around $200.


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2009)

CrossYourHeart said:


> No, the kit didn't come with film, so I guess it was missing one thing. But when I first got the kit and didn't have film, I just had Kinkos output my first one, it was cheep and easy.
> 
> The Epson 1400 is a wide format ink jet printer that costs around $200.


Ah ok, cool, thanks for clarifying that. What sort of film do you use (as in, which brand?).

Also, I'm from outside of the US, so am not all that familiar with Kinkos, but I assume their a big office supplies shop? Do you just go in with your image on a disk, and ask them to print to a transparency?


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## CrossYourHeart (May 6, 2009)

> What sort of film do you use (as in, which brand?).


 Not sure what brand... got it from a supplier on Ebay, I think it's just generic 13x19 ink jet film.



> Also, I'm from outside of the US, so am not all that familiar with Kinkos, but I assume their a big office supplies shop? Do you just go in with your image on a disk, and ask them to print to a transparency?


 Exactly, Kinkos is an office supply and print shop. Yep, brought it in on disk and they were able to output it up to 11x17. I'm sure a lot of copy/print shops can do this.


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