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is there still a market for screenprinting?
Is there still a large business screen printing?
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18 Replies
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course there is… you gotta be kidding me?
screen printing has been in my head last few months… new forum opened, “Knowledge needed” watch this space…UKSG and DSPA have now formed an alliance. both recognise each other for what we are worth, while other groups stand ignorant.
watch this space.
great to have you on board, look forward to seeing more from you 😉 -
screen printing can be very cost effective.
people are saying it`ll finish, due to the introduction of machines like the cadet etc, we have a cadet and are still screen printing some jobs, horses for courses.
today, i supplied a graphic for a screen printer to make a screen.
he told me the price of the jobs.
6 pannels, foamex, white, 2ft x 8ft with a single colour print £25 each……
sounds really cheap, but once he makes the screen, he`ll print them in less than 10 mins.
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quote Robert Lambie:great to have you on board, look forward to seeing more from you 😉:lol1: well at least we get to see the feet!!! Are you talking toes or are there other parts of you? 😉
I agree …. I think there is still a huge call for screen printing. Nik a member/mod here does a lot of it …. recently did a write up with her partner Ed in Signworld too.
😀
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Yes Carrie sorry about the feet, need to get a pic of my self on there(just trial and error) Getting to grips with the `awesome` site!
I asked the question about any need for screen printing, i myself have been a printer working for someone for 14 years. So i decided to go it alone, (if you can print for some one that long you can line your own pocket with the rewards,) but now listening to all the latest machinery out now from you guys, no wonder why I’m short of screen printing work in the midlands. I am now considering to jack it all in and go into graphic designing working for some one( not really wanting to do that) 😥 😥 -
oh p.s Thanks Robert I’m sure i`ll enjoy it here (sorry about the feet)
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down here in Devon… screen printing has slowed right down, so there is an impact but screen printers tend to use cheap prices compared to the sign makers, a manual screen printer does an awful lot to prepare to print a job and it isn’t cheap.
UV silk screen and UV Inket will dominate in years to come, the price of the machinery is dropping, which will make the prep work much easier for silk screen and inkjet printing will be more UV with cheaper ink and less hassle ink. The Litho industry recently has been shaken up by new things, the UV plate making side has been replaced by ComputerToPlate and the demand for PrintOnDemand laser (Pronto Print/Staples) copiers which do litho quialtiy print.
I suspect you have a fair bit of equipment which is taking up a lot of space as the exposure / printing side require large spaces, then their is the moving racks… i personally would stick an advert here or on eBay when time comes but then there is the issue of if the graphics job doesn’t go very well.. argh. hope it does for you. welcome to boards…
I personally see all our industries getting cheaper and more people getting into sign / sticker game
cheers
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i agree uv is the way to go…if you have the volume of work on a regular basis…..but screenprinting will never go.. its been around for the past 5000 years…try and get a large format to print an a4 binder spine 😮 it will always be needed for the most unconformable substrates, and i actually thought it ‘was‘ on the way out a few years back…but i am actually producing more screenprinting work on a daily basis 😀 so i think its here to stay 😉
nik
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I actually hope it doesn’t die as I am still quite involved in it… but T-Shirts is no-longer a big seller… stickers can be done in litho/inkjet/flexi… the only thing that really is big is the ‘surface printing’ for odd objects like binders, shaped items etc., I think that will shrink to small sizes like A5 printing so no-need for large premises & machinery.
Film can be replaced with inkets printing film or direct to screen. Posters will also fade away to large format litho. Printing objects is now becoming a thing that UV inkjet can do but at considerable cost.Object printing will keep it around in the future, but the other technologies will take over, I am pretty sure of it as t-shirt printing was put in the home and then that swallowed that.
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On the subject of T-shirts. At my day job we do a fair amount of t-shirt business. We design and then have a local silk screen wholesaler print the shirts for us.
I am not familar with but heard of T-shirt Vinyl. Was wondering what other process there are and how do they compare to the quality of silk screening.
Thank you.
PS sorry to change the subject
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Hi Bryan,
How does full colour exact photo reproduction of images onto a wide variety of things, not just t-shirts, grab you?
Dye sublimation is the way. The only bummer is that you have to use a white substrate as it uses dyes not inks and you can’t get a true colour on an already coloured item.
But check the quality out. Let us know how you think it compares.
Check out http://www.unisub.com if you are interested. There are loads of others in the States but can’t think of them off the top of my head.
Cheers,
Simon Kay. -
dye sub is great^^
we used to screenprint dye sub, then moved into printing it digitally, the digital side is awesome for photo/bitmap effects onto the fabric, and defenitely more cost effective, but the colors are not as “rich” as screenprinted dye sub. -
Screen printing is an ink friendly process. The process enables you to apply the thickest ink film of any printing process. Admittedly all the excitement is with digital printing and would be easy to be persuaded that screen printing is a dead process. This is nonsense! The screen printing market in the UK approaches £1 Billion.
Pressing the GO button on a digital printer is easy. Developing a skill in screen printing is a real advantage for those involved in the Sign Industry., making full use of the characteristics of screen printing needs skill and experience. This will give you a business advantage over your competitors.
Don’t think innovation is dead in screen printing I spent 3 hours yesterday speaking with an ink technologist who has just launched four new products.
1) A Braille ink system that is the only ink system to meet the RNIB specification for dot height and profile.
2) A remarkable ink that produces an image on a mirror when it steamed up that disappears when it dries.
3) An ink system that prints onto plastic where the image becomes part of the plastic and there is nothing left on the surface.
4) An ink that when printed onto certain plastics does the opposite it creates an effect as if the image has been engraved into the plastic. Details as fine as a human hair can be achieved.Add these to the huge list of other special effects that can be obtained with screen printing and you have a process that is alive and kicking.
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quote Peter Kiddell:A remarkable ink that produces an image on a mirror when it steamed up that disappears when it dries.
sounds interesting peter, do you know what the ink is called? 😀
nik
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Nik,
Sorry to be so long in replying. The system for use on mirrors has been developed by John Davison of Davison Chemographics. He can be contacted through mod-edit John is the foremost ink technologist in the UK. If you have a special ink requirement he will be able to supply it. Drop him a line he will be pleased to help.
Regards
Peter
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thanks peter, those guys are invaluable to the screenprint world 😀
nik
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I am enjoying the topic! I have been screen-printing textiles for the last 30 years Started with bootleg rock n roll T’s in the 70’s (originally from Kingston Surrey). I believe and hope screen printing will be around only, there will be changes, I see ink-jets on machines with heads for printing other processes i.e. high density, glitters, metalics burnouts puffs and gloss effects etc etc Us screen-printers are quite an innovative and creative bunch.
I remember in the early 80’s when puff ink first came out, my mate over at Champion ink and I created a puff base for flash curing hence under-puff which gave 3D effects. And now I have a patent on animated screen printing where i.e. Background print of Broadway and Spiderman actually running, yes running and every hear and there spiders popping up.
These types of things cannot be done solely on an ink-jet or through sublimation.
Keep those creative minds thinking and trying new idea’s
GAry -
I’ve been printing for twenty years now, estate agents boards/signs in the eighties during the housing boom, PCB circuit boards in the nineties. I would never go back to either, For sale boards are low profit, printed circuit boards can imported cheaper and better quality from Asia.
Screen printed architectural toughened & laminated glass is still new & growing in the construction industry, with architects specifying screen printed ceramic glass for partition glass walling, balustrades on staircases, splash back panels in bathroom changing areas & even screen printed floor panels with non slip print finish.
All the above are screen printed using standard Kipp ax hand benches & infra red dryer. The only issue is, ceramic inks have to be fired into glass normally during the toughening process.
As far as I’m aware there is probably only half a dozen glass processing companies in the UK who screen print glass.
These companies get bogged down with work sometimes and end up offering ridiculous turnround times to their customers (6-8 weeks sometimes)
Maybe there is a business opportunity for some commercial screen printing companies out there?
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quote Peter Kiddell:Pressing the GO button on a digital printer is easy. Developing a skill in screen printing is a real advantage for those involved in the Sign Industry., making full use of the characteristics of screen printing needs skill and experience. This will give you a business advantage over your competitors.
mabey but everything that comes into play before and after pressing the go button is still a skill
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