Audacious t-shirts

We uses digital craftsmanship to print stunning, unique t-shirts.

Creating a great screen printed t-shirt

Crafting an exceptional screen-printed t-shirt is a testament to artistic vision, technical expertise, and unwavering dedication to precision. It's a reflection of the digital printing revolution we've been sharing. Creating outstanding t-shirts featuring your artwork, design, or company logo is not just a task, it's a journey that requires effort, expertise, and perseverance.

Here's what it takes to produce a standout screen-printed tee, and your role in this process is crucial:

• DESIGN CONCEPT
• Creativity and Vision: Great screen-printed t-shirts and wearable art start with a robust and eye-catching design. Creating a great design requires creativity and a clear vision of the final product. Read our cancerART t-shirt case study to discover how we helped make an outdoor,  metal sculpture into a t-shirt.
• Detail and Clarity: The design should be detailed and precise, as screen printing can capture intricate details when done with expertise and care. The challenge is that detail is easy to lose in these stages. That's why we use checklists and our experience to ensure color fidelity and design accuracy and prevent the loss of detail inherent in the screen printing process. 
  
  
• ARTWORK PREPARATION
• High-Quality Files: We've discussed the importance of high-resolution files on our giclée printing page, and screen printing requires the same high-resolution files, or you lose details needed to print on cloth. We create or use high-resolution images or vector graphics to ensure your design transfers onto the t-shirts you ordered. Read the cancerART t-shirt case study to discover how we help create high-resolution files. 
• Color Separation: We typically use spot color printing. Spot printing separates your designs into individual colors, so the more colors your design uses, the more screens you'll need. Here, we do something different than most screen printers - only charge you to create your screens once. Many screen printers reuse the same screens, washing out your design after printing and replacing it with another. We don't do this because reusing screens decreases their effectiveness over time, so when you buy screens from us, you own them, and we store them. Refraining from reusing screens is another way to prevent the loss of detail when printing your shirts. 
  
  
• SCREEN PREPARATION
• Coating and Exposure: Coating and exposure are crucial steps in creating the stencils used to transfer your design onto t-shirts. We coat your screens with a photosensitive emulsion and expose them to UV light, creating a stencil that allows ink to pass through in specific areas, allowing your design to come to life on a shirt. 
• Precision and Accuracy: We take extra care to ensure precise alignment of your screens for multi-color designs, a process called registration. The slightest error in registration changes the design, causing ink to bleed or stroke over another color. Alignment is one of those areas where expertise and experience help your t-shirts look amazing. 
  
  
• SCREEN PRINTING PROCESS
• Quality Inks: We use high-quality, durable ones that provide vibrant colors and withstand washing without fading or cracking. Cracking, where the colors or lines of your t-shirt look like a Renaissance painting, happens over time to all screenprints, but with quality prints and garment care your shirts can last decades or longer. We suggest drying your favorite screen-printed shirts in low heat or line drying to prevent cracking and preserve your favorite shirt's design, colors, and fit. 
• Care and Technique: Good printers know when and where you need thicker ink deposits, especially with wearable art. An automatic press, which is how most commercially made screenprinted t-shirts are made, lacks the nuance and care that true art requires. Look for printers that hand-pull ink, with knowledge about how best to get the desired effects of your specific art. 
  
  
• SHIRT SELECTION
• Quality Matters: Choosing high-quality materials for your t-shirts, such as 100% cotton or cotton blends, is a crucial step in the screen-printing process. These fabrics provide a smooth surface for printing, enhancing the clarity and vibrancy of your design. At Audacious Printing, we don't start with the cheapest option. We start with the best-looking, most comfortable brands that we have vetted for labor and ecological ethical standards.
• Ink Compatibility: Ensure your shirt's fabric is compatible with the type of ink used to avoid issues like ink bleeding or poor adhesion. Knowing how to match ink and fabric is another area where expertise and experience can help. Knowing the unique characteristics of how different fabrics interact with various inks creates great screen-printed shirts and wearable art. As you can see in our Audacious Gallery, we work with artists in a group that understands the complexities of how different kinds of paint require different types of treatments to prevent the same issues we face when inks aren't compatible with the fabric being printed, such as poor adhesion, cracking, and loss of detail. 
• Soft Hand Feel: Hand Feel refers to the texture and feel of the printed area on a garment, particularly how the ink feels when touched. You want a "soft hand feel" because thick, plasticky printed shirts can be hot and uncomfortable. We do many things to create a soft hand feel, from ensuring our screens are tensioned properly to mastering our squeegee technique. When you evaluate screen printers, ask how they achieve a soft hand feel. 
  
  
• DRYING AND CURING
• Proper Curing: Drying and curing are essential steps in the screen printing process that ensure the longevity and quality of your printed shirts. Curing is applying heat to the printed ink to fully dry and set your designs into the fabric. Proper curing ensures the ink adheres well to the fabric, making the print durable and resistant to washing and wear. Inks have different curing temperatures, so expertise and experience are crucial in outstanding screen printing. 
• Quality Control: We start our print runs with proofs - where we screen print your design and inspect the result. We almost always find things that get fixed during proofing. Proofing is a "rinse and repeat" process where we adjust and print another proof and adjust again if needed. Once we have the proof as close to perfection as possible, we share it with our customers for approval. Thinking of the hundreds of things that have gone into that moment can be overwhelming, but we have mastered those details, so we can repeat them when we print your shirts.
  
  
• CONSISTENCY & Repeatability
• Finishing Touches: The final steps in the screen printing process are not just about perfecting the print, but also about ensuring that each of the t-shirts we print for you meets the highest quality standards. These steps involve meticulous attention to detail, a process that we have mastered to ensure the quality and longevity of your screen-printed t-shirts.
• Packaging: We work with our customers to carefully package their t-shirts to maintain their pristine condition, and this can take many forms, from individual poly bags with certificates to carefully packing your shirts for delivery. 
• Process Control: The key to ensuring quality through your design's second, third, and tenth run is maintaining consistent printing parameters and monitoring the process closely to ensure repeatability. We call this the "rinse and repeat" phase of outstanding screen printing. We create "digital diaries" for every job we print. Diaries outline details of your printing job, including screen tensions, inks, and fabric. They go into the diary when we learn things that will help us do our job better. 
• Guarantee: As with any hand-made piece or art, there may be small character differences between pieces. We never send any garment to a client that doesn't meet our strict quality standards. We have a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee on all hand-printed shirts.  But be aware, that this process is different than commercial machine printing. You are not buying clothes, you're buying wearable art.

Creating a great screen-printed T-shirt is an art form that combines creativity and precision. By focusing on quality at every stage—from design to final inspection—Audacious T-shirts are visually stunning, durable, and comfortable to wear.