screen printers in the bay area?

August 6, 2007 12:43 PM

Screen Printing Question: Looking for someone to professionally burn a screen for me in the SF area.

I have a relatively simple b&w digital image that I would love to have turned into a nice clean screen print. Trouble is I have zero experience with screen printing so I would love to enlist a professional to burn the screen for me. Searching for screenprinters on google seems to turn up a lot of t-shirt companies. My image is approximately 20" by 20". Are there shops in the area that do something like this? Alternative #1, can I do something like this through the mail? Alternative #2, if I can get the image printed onto acetate I have a friend who I can hire to do the rest but that part seems tricky at these dimensional as well. Suggestions?

posted by garethspor to media & arts (4 comments total)

If you just call any of the independently owned t-shirt places, they will almost surely do it.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 12:49 PM on August 6, 2007

Any traditional printer should be able to do this, as long as they have a plate-burner. You may need to supply the materials, so call around to some graphic supply houses. You may be able to order a small quantity, and store the rest until you need it again.
posted by The Deej at 12:51 PM on August 6, 2007

Call any t-shirt shop in the phone book. They all make a ton of screens a day, throwing another on the exposure unit isn't going to be a hassle for them.

I ran a print shop for a few years. I can still coat, expose, and wash out screens in my sleep.
posted by bradbane at 4:10 PM on August 6, 2007

If you have no luck with shops, you may want to try contacting local art students - many printing programs also have large exposure tables, and I doubt it would be hard to get a student to develop a screen for you [as long as you provide the design and the physical screen.]

For a fairly simple black and white design, you can actually print/draw the design on paper [coloring over it in black sharpie, just to be safe] and then soak the paper in oil. You'll need a longer exposure time, but I've made some fairly big and complicated designs with this process. Your friend would probably be able to handle this as well, as long as he/she has access to an exposure table.
posted by ubersturm at 4:22 PM on August 6, 2007