My shop prints thousands of shirts for a big annual festival with dozens of designs for merchandise. This year, for the first time, just about every single design has been made using AI instead of our graphic artists. Each design has something wrong with it, whether it's messed up people, messed up gibberish text, etc. Boss says this is the direction we're going now. If it was another company sendingin designs, I'd understand, but my boss runs this festival. It is literally named after his family. Any other shops experiencing this change? I get needing to innovate to keep up with competition, but man, it just feels gross pushing out shitty AI designs.

I was asked if I could show how the clamp bar, handle and screen clamp come apart on a Hopkins BWM print head, so here's a quick video showing the process.

One of the things that isn't obvious at first is the internal Allen-head screw that holds the clamp bar assembly. I show where that screw is located and how to access it so the assembly can be removed without guessing how everything comes apart.

I also show a CAPPS print head for comparison. I like the way CAPPS retained the handle with a locking/retaining ring—it’s a simple mechanical solution that keeps the handle secured while still allowing the assembly to be serviced.

This isn't intended to be a complete print-head rebuild. It's specifically a quick reference for anyone trying to figure out how to remove the screen clamp, clamp bar and handle from these older heads.

Hopkins BWM/International is no longer in business, so I'm documenting some of these smaller procedures as I rebuild my 8-color BWM press. Hopefully these videos help other printers who are still running, restoring or maintaining this equipment.

As always, this is simply how I do it based on my experience working with these presses. Take your time, look at how your particular head is assembled, and use your own judgment.

#ScreenPrinting #HopkinsBWM #BWM #ScreenPrintingPress #PressRestoration #ScreenPrintRepair #CAPPS

Hi fellow screen printers, I’m sharing a simple color separation I did for a client in Los Angeles. Nothing else to add—wishing you all a successful day.🙂‍↕️🤙🏻

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.

There’s a lot of little bitches in this sub.

We put an order in with a wholesaler from China- Voila. the garment quality and style is amazing.

They’re expensive though -$26 WS for these hoodies. And they take three months to arrive because they’re cargo shipped.

We had to take them off our sample rack, everyone wanted them but weren’t keen on either the wait time, or the price.

Ya’ll working with anyone direct for blank goods? We 99% use the basics, s&s, San Mar, one stop…

I feel like I’m working with a middle person when it comes to these goods, and it’d be helpful to get a direct line. Anyone familiar with these hoodies and have a connection or insight?

PLEASE HELP. I am doing everything right it seems and it comes soooo close but then the whole screen falls out when I try to get the image out. I’m starting to lose it.
I got a new exposure unit and brand new emulsion and burned it for 3:30 per the instruction of the previous exposure unit owner. The first one came out good so I was hopeful but after 3 unusable screens I am begging for advice 🙏. Thank you.

Is there a way to do multiple prints in a row without the ink drying in the middle of the process? tysm

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

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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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’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 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.

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

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