How to Make Your Own Custom T-Shirts

When it comes to making your own custom tshirts, more often than not the decoration method will be silk screen printing. Here's how to customize t-shirts with your custom screen printed company logo or design in 10 easy steps.

1. Gather screen printing supplies – you'll need your blank t-shirts, a computer, printer, ink, film, screens, emulsion, drying racks, exposure unit, squeegees, and a screen printing press.
2. Design your image or company logo – use a solid image without thin lines if possible.
3. Print your image on film – print your image on a transparent film using an inkjet printer.
4. Coat your screen – cover your screen in an evenly spread layer of photosensitive emulsion.
5. Burn your screen – place the film with your design on the screen where the emulsion is and place it in an exposure unit. If you’re doing this at home use a 250 watt light bulb for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Wash out your image – spray down your screen with cold water. You should notice the section of the screen with your design on it is starting to flake off, keep spraying until you can clearly see your image. Once your image is clear let the screen dry.
7. Tape up your screen – use masking tape to go around the inside of the screen to prevent ink from running into edges of the screen and spot check for any emulsion that was missed.
8. Set up your screen on your t-shirt – connect your screen to the press and line it up with your tshirts then screw it into place.
9. Print your screen – pick your ink color and spread it across the top of your screen with your squeegee in smooth up & down motions. For commercial screen printing, this is typically done by a machine.
10. Cure your ink – carefully remove your t-shirt from the surface and set to dry or heat cure. Once dry your custom printed tees are ready to be worn!

Follow these 10 steps and you'll be screen printing your own shirts in no time! For a more in-depth look at the screen printing process check out our comprehensive Guide to Silk Screen Printing. Or you can let us take care of it all for you by shopping custom t-shirts with Merchology!