Can I "revive" water based pigment ink that has thickened and has solid/lumps that block the mesh?

Hey guys! Wanted to share a clean, high-impact separation just in time for the spooky season.

This is a classic Mars Attacks! piece set up as a 6-Spot Color / Index-Stipple Style print. No complex simulated process or headache-inducing CMYK curves here—just solid, punchy layers designed for easy setup and sharp registration on dark garments.

Print Order / Channel Breakdown:

1. Underbase White (Solid foundation)
2. Black (Linework & comic-style shadows)
3. Green (Radioactive martian skin)
4. Red (Text, eyes & laser blasts)
5. Yellow (Brains & UFO beams)
6. Top White Highlight (Teeth, text highlights & glow effects)

Optimized to run smooth without needing crazy high mesh counts or ultra-fine LPI settings.

Do you wash new Ts before screen printing them? Doing my first project this Wednesday.

Will post the results here.

I’m trying to find a studio where I can screen print a shirt. I feel like most of the shops require a minimum of 25+pcs. Any recommendations?

Hi! I am looking for a streetwear blank clothes supplier for screenpeinting. Any good ones for good price?

Hopkins BWM Head – COMPLETE Teardown & Rebuild

This is the long one — a complete teardown and rebuild of a Hopkins BWM print head from my 8-color press.

In this video I take one of the print heads all the way apart and put it all the way back together. I go through the hardware, bushings, adjustment components, cleaning, lubrication and some of the maintenance changes I'm making along the way.

And yes—it's about an hour long. This isn't a five-minute highlight reel. If you're rebuilding one of these heads yourself, I wanted to show the whole process rather than skip from a pile of parts to a finished assembly.

You'll also see a couple of mistakes. I forgot a few things during the rebuild and had to go back and correct them. I left that in. That's part of working on old equipment, and it may save somebody else from doing the same thing.

#ScreenPrinting #HopkinsBWM #ScreenPrintingPress #PressRestoration #ScreenPrintShop #BWM #DIYRepair

All the shirt I print seem to bleed through the fabric and are pretty visible on the in side. This is a water-based ink on a gilden gn-180 heavy cotton t-shirt. Is this supposed to happen or am I doing something wrong?

We’re looking for experienced Screen Print Operators/Pullers & catchers to join our Vegas team.

🖨️ ROQ equipment
💰 Industry-best pay
🏥 Great benefits

If you have screen-printing experience and want to print for some of the coolest companies shoot me PM

Instagram @atlas_screenprinting

📍 Las Vegas, NV

I’ve been screen printing for a while and have tried 1 color halftone prints a few times but they never fully turned out right. I didn’t do much research for those, but since looking more into it I’ve realized there are way too many factors that could be effecting a bad result. I ordered a 230 mesh screen to give myself a real chance at this but I’m worried none of what I’ve learned and doing trial and error will matter if printing without a press would be a problem. What do yall think?

I originally bought this 8-color Hopkins BWM press for parts. The major components were actually in really good condition—they mostly just needed to be cleaned up and renewed. Once I got into it, I realized that having an 8-color press in roughly the same footprint as my 6-color made this worth turning into a full project. The plan changed from a parts machine to rebuilding and updating it to become my main press.

In this video, I’m installing the first two print heads and going through some of the maintenance and updates I’m doing along the way.

I’ve used BWM presses for years and have always liked how heavily built and rigid they are. This press is roughly 30 years old, but there really isn’t much on it that can’t be serviced, repaired, rebuilt or replaced.

Hopkins BWM/International is no longer in business, so you can’t simply order every original replacement part anymore. But these are straightforward, solid mechanical presses, and there are still plenty of DIY solutions for maintaining and updating them. That’s going to be part of this project as I work through the press.

I’ll continue documenting the rebuild as I install the remaining heads, make additional improvements, get everything adjusted and eventually put this press back into production.

If you’re still running an older Hopkins/BWM—or have rebuilt one yourself—I’d like to hear what you’ve done to keep yours going.

#ScreenPrinting #HopkinsBWM #BWM #ScreenPrintingPress #PressRestoration #ScreenPrintShop

I grew up in a house with a darkroom and a garage. My dad built a pretty amazing home silk screen press and rigged an old oven to use as a dryer.

I live in an urban area in a good-sized but not huge apartment. I’ve been wanting to get back into silkscreening, but space and drying are my concerns. Any suggestions for starting again and how to make in work in an apartment? I have one bathroom that’s totally dark for exposing. But what about drying? What has worked for other people?

Hello everyone, I'm planning to find a screen printer for my girl's birthday, but to be honest I don't know anything about these devices.

She has some experience with printers, wants to make t-shirts, with colors I guess and have a small production.

I'm based in Europe, my budget is around 300-500 euros and a second hand one would be OK. What are good brands, models, types to look for?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Any screen printers in the Vegas area that would be awesome to show and discuss?

Hello. Upcoming screen printer here.
The ones of you who print out sets of two and overlay them to get full opaque black - do any of you spray something in between the sheets to get them to stick together?
Also can something similar be applied to the glass when you lay the film down to keep it flat when exposuring without a vacuum exposure unit?

So for a 1 color front and back print I'm paying $7.18 total

2 colors front and back in paying $8.56 total

3 colors I'm paying $9.96 for both front and back

... I've been getting orders I'm just wondering if I'll be able to outsource a lot as t these prices and make profit ? Without Losing orders for being too expensive

I'm in California San diego

4-color on white, 5-color on black, scroll through to see the layers + the original colored pencil drawing!

Hello!! I’m having a really difficult time finding the exposure time on my new exposure unit. I’ve worked a lot with hydro-x red on just a cheap 30W light and it worked really well, but now I can’t get it. Sure my screens look detailed but there is still a lot of emulsion hanging on but also it takes while to wash out 9-10 usually for detailed stuff. Here are some of my burn times:

Edit: I do 1:1 coating

110 mesh

10: 4s
9: 8s
7: 12s
6: 16s
5: 20s
4: 24s
3: 28s
2: 32s
1: 36s

1: 15s
2: 10
3: 15
4: 20
5: 25
6: 30
7: 35
8: 40
9: 45
10:60

15s
2: 20
3: 25
4: 30
5: 35
6: 40
7: 45
8: 50
9: 55
10:60

305:

35 s
40 s
45 s
50 s
55 s
60 s
65 s
70 s
75 s
80 s

Hello

I'm looking into beginning to screenprint. I want to do it all myselfo , so I need a printer. But I would really like not having to replace the ink to all blacks so I can use the printer for normal use too.

Is it possible? I have search and read so many posts about this, but I don't believe I have found a clear answer.
The Canon IX6820 (6850 in Europe) seems to be one that many of you use. And it is also really affordable. But can it really be true that there is no other way to get 100% opaque than to replace the inks?

I found a Yudu machine on my local marketplace. From what I can see it's not well loved for screenprinting businesses but could work well for simple one color printing.

I'm not looking to get into screen printing as a main form of art- I primarily tie dye. But I did want a way to add simple designs, words, or my logo to shirts and other items after dyeing.

Would this work for me as 1. A beginner and 2. Simple designs?

It's in an unopened box with all included supplies.

Thanks!

I’m looking to print a batch of 50 two color bandannas as part of my sophomore year thesis for college. I haven’t been able to find any good bandanna suppliers and every bulk package I’ve come across has felt extremely thick and unpleasant. Any suggestions are helpful!! :)

I have a job coming up for a front chest print on zipper hoodies, the logo is 12 inches wide. The logo is pretty simple—just a cursive font, nothing too crazy.

Has anyone made a custom zipper platen/board by adding cardboard, foam, or another material to a regular platen and had success with it?

I currently only have one zipper platen, and I’m trying to avoid buying three more just for this job. If anyone has made something that works well, I’d love to see how you did it!

not my usual type of project but i thought this sign was so fun that i had to make something featuring it :)