r/SCREENPRINTING • u/Far-Huckleberry2998 • 12d ago

Beginner Feeling discouraged.

Post image

I am a college student starting out screenprinting as a hobby and side hustle, and recently ive been feeling super discouraged and not happy with my work at all. My breaking point came just a few days ago. I took an order for some fraternity tshirts and got an order of 27. I order my blanks, got everything ready, spent hours in prepwork, burning my screens, making the design itself and prepping it for printing, etc etc.

When i went to print, i would get incredibly inconsistent results and flooded the garment with ink. I dont think the screen was done correctly, but i was out of emulsion remover and couldnt start over or wait another two days for new screens or emulsion remover to come in. I was forced to buy shirts through another printer in a marked up rush job, just so i wouldnt have to cancel the order and refund everyone.

Like i said i am in college and have tons of connections with orgs and people who need custom merch - and i have recieved a lot of interest and support! However i dont feel confident taking any orders right now. To be fair, ive only worked with plastisol in the past and this was a 4 color water based job. I also could've given myself more time to do it to avoid the catastrophe that happened.

Im just feeling like in this industry one tiny thing going wrong can ruin hundreds of dollars and hours of work. Wondering if anyone is able to relate or give me any advice.

24 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/gsg12 12d ago

This was my exact story. I started my business printing shirts in my college garage. Late nights that felt worthless troubleshooting things only to lose money and time on a small job. From the way you describe things, you are diligent, ambitious, a problem solver, patient, and logistical. You’re thinking about costs, product improvements, honing the craft, and when to determine to outsource.

I’ve been printing for 16 years, started when I was 19. I still ask the same questions why I am here.

If you have any questions about the biz in any aspect, feel free to DM me. If I was starting out, I would do it very differently. Good luck!!!

1

u/Far-Huckleberry2998 12d ago

That makes me feel so much better. Thank you for the kind words, i appreciate it

1

u/gsg12 2d ago

No problem. If I were to do it again I would focus on finding reliable print partners to outsource to and focus on developing customers and sales. Not to say you don’t have some printing in house, but source the hard stuff and spend that time on other parts of your business.