FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR
DIRECT DIGITAL & SCREENPRINTING


Screen Printing Price List
Direct Digital Price List


DIRECT DIGITAL FAQ's
Can I really get ANY photo printed on a T-shirt ?
Yes. We can print any digital image on a T-shirt! Send us any image (photograph, drawing, art piece, whatever!) by either email or the US Postal Service and we will print that image into either a men’s or women’s T-shirt. We say print “into” because our system bonds the ink pigments directly into the fibers thereby creating a lasting print.

Whatever you can capture digitally we can print in an on-demand fashion. If however you cannot capture your art or photo digitally you can of course mail us your artwork to our shop whereupon we will provide this service for a nominal charge. Your photos and artwork will of course be returned with your order.

Uploading your photo on our Custom T-shirts page or sending an email with the digital file attached are the easiest methods, as we will simply download the file, print the the photo on a t-shirt, and then ship to wherever you’d like – it’s that simple.

What if I want more than one shirt or multiple shirts for say a club or my family?
Simply let us know through email or by a call how many shirts you require and we will offer a quote based on the volume of shirts ordered. We take the position that our services are on-demand and customized so however you’d care to put together a package, don’t hesitate to ask.

Other ideas for our prints: family reunions, birthdays, events, once-in-a lifetime moments, historical photos, retro-images, your pets, book covers, album covers, the possibilities are limitless.

What resolution of image will work best for a print?
We print typically at 200 DPI so any image at that resolution or higher will work fine. If you’re using a digital camera you can set your image resolution at high and save that image as a JPEG. Most digital cameras are 3.3 mega-pixels or higher, so if your camera captures images at 3 mega-pixels or lower don’t worry, simply set it to capture at its highest setting. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions regarding this topic.

How many colors can your system print? What about black and white photos over that of color?
Our on-demand system prints in both color and black & white with amazing results as we can print millions of colors and or shades of gray just like that of an actual photograph.

Do you have both women and men’s shirts?
Yes, our women’s t-shirts are Hanes form fitted, pre-shrunk 100% cotton. Our men’s t-shirts are white Hanes 100% pre-shrunk cotton as well.

Is white the only color shirt available?
No, but please bear in mind that you will lose the substrate color of white on colored shirts. Think of it this way, we’re literally printing a photo on cloth. Whatever the base of the color shirt that’s the color that will represent the white in your image be it a photo or art print. The same applies to photography whereby most photographs are printed on white paper, same concept just a different substrate (cloth over that of paper in other words). We can however order alternate colored shirts if you like, just let us know what you have in mind.

Do you have children’s t-shirt sizes?
Sure thing, just let us know what sizes.

I’m interested in some photo t-shirts, but what about colored art such as concert posters or book covers or other images that might be copy-written?
In most cases this is not a problem. However, we cannot print any copy-written images for resale. If however you want a personal memento image on a shirt for yourself, no problem, so long as it is not for resale. If you have any doubts on this matter please contact us for further qualification.

The safest bet in this area is to simply have original art or get the artists permission.  If that’s not possible, contact their agent or publisher for the rights. Asking for permission more often than not will win the appreciation of the artist so don’t hesitate to ask.

Can you help us clean up the images if they’re in poor shape?
Yes we can. We will probably ask to see the image before we offer you a quote however. Most images don’t take but 30 minutes to touch up (depending on condition of course).

How long will it take for us to get our shirt(s)?
On average 7 to 10 days is reasonable depending on demand and the time of year. For urgent or rush orders we charge a 25% added rush fee and will ship USPS Express which typically takes 2 -3 days within any of the 50 states.

How about foreign shipments?
The world is our oyster and yes, we do ship overseas. However, we cannot promise or track deliveries unless special arrangements are made such as with Fed Ex.

How many images have you printed since offering this service?
Thousands of our printed images have been shipped around the world. We have extensive experience in working with this technology and as such have the skills to take the guess-work out of how to reproduce a perfectly printed image every time.


SCREEN PRINTING FAQ's

Step 1: You think it!

The journey from idea to t-shirt is a detailed one. We start with the customer's idea or logo, next we send it to the art department to start shaping it into the final design. Upon approval, we then take that final design to our production department to create the screens for each of the colors in your shirt and begin the printing process

Step 2: Making the screens

A film transparency needs to be printed out for each of the colors in a design (3 colors = 3 separate film transparencies). These are then checked for detail and quality. Once the transparencies are ready, the screens are prepped.

- Each screen is coated with a photosensitive emulsion. - Next, the screens are dried and placed on the vacuum light table and exposed with a 3000 watt metal halide light. - After being exposed, the screens are then washed out with a pressure washer at around 1300 psi. Once the image is washed out, it is double checked with the transparency films for accuracy and quality.

Step 3: Printing!

Each color (screen) in the design must be blocked, taped, setup, and squeegeed. Screens are attached to a manual printing press in the order by which they will be printed. Shirts are loaded one at a time onto a printing pallet and each color layer is printed separately. Shirts need to go through a “flashing" or drying between each color layer before the next color can be printed.
LINKS

Secret Hawaiian Images

Charles Barsotti

The New Yorker

The Bark

Lolouila

KKCR - Kauai Community Radio

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