Lake St Louis, MO

How Large Format Printing is Possible

Large format printing calls for special care and craftsmanship. In order to provide true Lake St Louis, MO large format printing options with quality results, a screen printing shop first and foremost, needs the right equipment. The major three things a screen printer needs to produce large format printing work are:

1. The Press

To screen print anything at all, you need a proper printing press. For both manual and automatic presses, the print area is limited by the length of the squeegee, and the squeegee size is limited by the build of the machine. The smooth, even designs on a screen printed item are the work of the machine, and large format printing means - you guessed it - a machine with larger-than-average parts to allow for a larger print area.

2. The Film

Here's a speed lesson of the screen printing process for those of you who aren't familiar with how it works; your design is "stenciled" onto a fine mesh screen within a framethat holds the mesh taut. How does one get that image or pattern stenciled onto the screen, you ask? The image is printed on film, and the screen is coated with a photosensitive chemical called emulsion. The light hardens the emulsion to the screen in the areas of the image where the film is transparent and allows light through. The hardened parts block the ink from moving through and attaching to the shirt. The positive space where the mesh is still exposed shows your image and is the part of the screen that allows the ink to pass through and come to rest on the shirt or other item.

Make sense?! If you don't quite get it still, no sweat (your shirts will still come out looking just as great)! Because film is required to make the stencil for your design, the print is limited by the size of the film. The film in generally available in standard sizes, but for larger designs, we have film with a larger surface area.

3. The Screens

After the film, the screen is the second ingredient to printing your design. If there was no screen, screen printing would just produce a messy, undefined blob. Maybe you're going for an abstract look, but usually it's not what you want.

The size of your stencil (which determines the size of your print) is limited by how large the screen is as well as the film. The biggest sheet of film in the world won't matter if the frames being used are too small to fit the entire image. Likewise, a huge frame can still only print your design as large as the print on the film. When printing in larger sizes than usual, we often use a different type of mesh that creates clean lines and detail that looks great specifically in prints of a large size.

The paintbrush in the hands of a novice, though, does not produce the same results as it does in Van Gough's hand. This also translates to large format printing; the right tools won't produce good screen printing work without the right operator. Quality Lake St Louis, MO large format printing, along with any type of screen printing, requires skill and craftsmanship. When you need large format printing in the Lake St Louis, MO area, all print shops are not created equal. Some print shops carry the film, screens, and presses capable of large format printing, but they may not necessarily have experience specifically in large format printing. To produce good large format printing work, we also invest in special inks and meshes and specialized training to make sure that what we print looks good, lasts, and isn't too heavy or thick.

Large Format Printing Lake St Louis, MO | STL Shirt. Co

Don't let other screen print shops limit you by trying to keep your ideas small. Trust STL Shirt Co. for all your Lake St Louis, MO large format printing needs. Whether you need a large printed sign for an event or love the look of a big, full print on a shirt, STL Shirt Co. can walk you through every step of the process, from the initial design to the final product. We guarantee quality, long-lasting results from all our work.

Get in touch with us to begin your Lake St Louis, MO large format printing now, and see what can happen when there are truly no limits! To learn more about STL Shirt Co.'s large format printing serving the Lake St Louis, MO area or any of our other services, get in touch with us today. Call us at (636) 926-2777, text us at (636) 299-0162, or jump right in by requesting a quote.