Reviation's Screen Printing Process

1. Designing Your Graphic for Screen Printing

The screen printing process all starts with your idea. Our job is to take that idea and turn it into something tangible. We are able to do this by using our team of highly trained graphic designers who will mock up your idea using the parameters which you have set for them. They will also provide you with a proof of what your design will look like on an actual garment!

2. Editing Art for Screen Printing

The next step in the process after you have approved the artwork is to break the artwork down into separate color files. The reason that we have to do this is that each color of your artwork represents a separate screen which has to be produced. After your file is color separated we are ready to print out the photo positives (films) for your job.

3. Preparing The Screens for Printing (Darkroom set-up)

Once your films are printed we are ready to move to the darkroom and expose your images to our screens. This is the most important step in the screen printing process. To expose your image to the screens we use a UV light emitting device called an exposure unit. Your film blocks out the light in your image area and exposes the screen in all of the areas where your image was not. Once exposed we are able to was out your image area and start setting up the press for production. 

4. Screen Printing Your Garments

After we are out of the darkroom we are ready to start production on your custom garments. First we have to decide whether your job will be done manually or automatically. Generally only large orders are done automatically. Once we have determined what press to use we have to register your job which is the process of aligning all of the screens correctly, so the colors match up and the placement is where you specified on the garment. After registration, we run a test print. If the test print is successful we are ready to produce your job!

Reviation's Statement:

A t-shirt is not just a t-shirt for some. It is a marker of identity, a reminder of a special time and a special place, or perhaps a connection to special people, or it can be all of the above and then some. Most people have a t-shirt from a concert, a family reunion, or a high school or university that connects them to specific memories of a treasured time in their life. It will be with them forever and will never be thrown away. We don't produce shirts as much as we produce tangible connections to what is special in our lives. We take pride in producing those connections. 50 years from now you will open an old trunk full of keepsakes, and you will come across the shirt that we are about to make for you, so let's get started when you're ready.