For a band, or otherwise. Ever done it? How is it done? What materials are needed?
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Thursday, 3 July 2003 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)
I've used CafePress for a thing I did. You don't make much money, but you don't spend any, so it worked for me (well, and it wasn't my decision anyway). I've heard some complaints about the quality of their image transfer, but I've bought four T-shirts from them and never had a problem.
― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 3 July 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)
hey, i just made some last weekend.
with cafe press the choices are so limited, you can't make any money, and they overcharge for the consumer. the thugbot way seems kinda cool, but you're going to have to stick with a specific aesthetic (rough, woodcutty).
the method i'm liking nowadays is kind of a middle road between d-i-y and save-the-pain-in-the-ass-steps-for-the-professionals. go to a commercial silkscreener to have them burn you a screen. that should cost between $20-40. there are just too many steps in burning a screen, too much equipment and chemicals to buy up-front, and too many different ways to fuck it up to do it yourself unless you are really serious about silkscreening. just bring them your artwork on disk/email it/ bring a clean b/w print and they'll do the rest. you'd have to pay set-up costs anyway if you paid someone to print shirts and buying the equipment to do that properly yourself might run into the $100's.
ok, once you have the screen (this is for 1-color of course), you need a squeegee ($15-25), ink ($10/qt.), screen cleaner ($3/spray can) for when the ink starts to dry in the screen, a board to put the t-shirt over (find one lying around), lite spray mount ($3/spray can) to make the shirt adhere to the board, and of course t-shirts. this is where d-i-y is good. if you buy shirts there are bulk minimums. this way you can do as few as you need and more as you need em. and you can silkscreen on anything you have lying around.
if you get mildly serious, you can make a simple t-shirt printer out of wood and hinges for about $40 with plans from *the bible* 'how to print t-shirts for fun and profit' by the fresners. simple metal ones retail for $200+ and are fundamentally the same. making a printer makes registration more consistent and reduces the *this is so frustrating and there's ink everywhere!!* factor. having a buddy or 2 around to help also minimizes this factor.
if you have any further art or design nerd questions, lemme know!
― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Friday, 4 July 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)
I used to paint mine with sparkly paint like you buy at an arts supply shop. They don't last for ever, but people seem to really love them. And the handmade quality (including spelling mistakes) only seem to enhance the appeal! If your lines are wonky, well, that is what serifs are for. Serifs fix almost all fontproblems! I heart serifs.
― kate (kate), Friday, 4 July 2003 08:07 (twenty-two years ago)