Screen Printing?

gmc22 · September 2010

Does anyone know a place in Pittsburgh that will screen print onto hankies? I am thinking of buying vintage style hankies and having our ceremony info screen printed onto the hankies as our 'program' - I'm having a hard time finding a place that will screen print items other than t-shirts and thought I'd ask you ladies for recs. TIA!

ETA: I did a quick google search and am a bit overwhelmed with the results! I really don't know where to begin!! lol - Thanks ladies!

Nunu&Eddie · September 2010

You could probably do it yourself at Artists Image Resource on the North Side.

I can't think of any places that will do it without you buying the hankie from them, but it is worth a call to a few print shops in the area.

punk-Ness · September 2010

I think it will be difficult to find someone that will SS on hankies that you purchased. Most promotional product companies sell the product because the imprint method has been tested and they know it will work on that material.
There are some promotional products companies online that do sell hankies, they may not be the vintage look you were going for though. You could always contact them and order a sample.

ros3392 · September 2010

Gianna- One of our interns does screen printing somewhere.. it may be the same place as where nunu was talking about. I will check in with her and let you know!

ros3392 · September 2010

It is the same place as nunu was talking about. Open nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-10. You just have to pay for the screen and the ink!

SeymourButts · September 2010

U must be rollin in the dough if ur going to spend money on something that dumb. What a waste, go buy some blow with that money instead.

gmc22 · September 2010

Thanks Trisha and Nunu! I'll look into it!!

gmc22 · September 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-pittsburgh_screen-printing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:116Discussion:7593f1da-c428-4e29-ae7a-c43bccf6b3cePost:c2becb69-0f2e-4dc1-aca0-54be11889656">Re: Screen Printing?</a>:
[QUOTE]U must be rollin in the dough if ur going to spend money on something that dumb. What a waste, go buy some blow with that money instead.
Posted by SeymourButts[/QUOTE]

And this is exactly why I think people have stopped posting here... real classy...

SeymourButts · September 2010

Wut, I'm aloud to have an opinion and I think the idea is stupid and wastefull.

jlbaxter33 · September 2010

And we think you should learn to spell.

SeymourButts · September 2010

I have a learning disabaility its not nice to make fun.

jlbaxter33 · September 2010

I'm "aloud" to have an opinion just like you.

kwynn · September 2010

I'm sort of puzzled by this idea. I like it, but I don't think screenprinting necessarily goes with vintage in the way that I'm thinking of it.

Is it a theme that you are going with, like fabric? Or vintage?

Or do you just want to use the hankies?

I see screenprinting as pretty modern, like maybe a 70's vintage, but not vintage-vintage if that makes sense.

Also, it might be kind of hard to read the print on them and hankies are usually pretty translucent.

And you'd have to make a lot of them. I'd imagine it could get a bit expensive to buy all the hankies, especially if they are true vintage.

If you want to do it, go for it! If you want some other ideas too, we can help you out as well! HTH!

gmc22 · September 2010

kwynn - Thanks for the input - I'm not 100% sold on this idea, but I saw it on a wedding blog and thought it was SO beautiful! I'm not even entirely sure if it is, in fact, a screen printing method that was used but I don't know how else they got the text onto the hankie.

I found a seller on ebay that sells vintage-style hankies for very inexpensive so the cost (beside the printing) would be no more than if I were to buy nice paper to print my programs onto... Here is the picture that I found as my 'inspiration' - maybe that might help visualize what I'm talking about... Any ideas/suggestions are more than welcome! I still have a lot of time to think about this but I just saw the idea the other day and got my mind wondering...

I also found this post on LuckyLuxe.com and it is virtually the same thing that I am trying to do but WAY more expensive than DIYing it becase they fully design it for you and you are paying for their hankies etc. It says at the end of the blurb "screenprinted on cotton' which led me to believe it had to be screen printed...

http://www.lucky-luxe.com/handkerchief.html

slm13 · September 2010

I just want to say that it looks, at least from the picture you posted, that the wording was transfered onto the hankie, not screen printed. The sheen of the fabric near the wording looks slightly different than that of the hankie around it. This happens with transfers as not only the wording, but also the surrounding "white space" is transfered to the fabric.

kwynn · September 2010

I actually really like how it looks on the photo you showed. Does it fit your theme/the look you are going for?

That said, it is hard to read, no doubt, especially with the words running through the flowers. I agree with Shannon that it seems to be transferred on in some way and not a screenprint. I notice a light tan background all around the text...but maybe a larger photo would help me see it better? (If you point me to the original link, I can even try to blow it up and see).

If I recall how screenprinting is done, I think it would be really hard for an amateur to get a great result with such tiny detail. Do you have experience doing it?

Luckyluxe.com does say in their frequently asked questions that they will allow you to use your own hankies, but you still have to pay for design/printing. It looks like 100 or so will run you $880.

Even if you find super cheap hankies on ebay, you would have to factor in the cost of the ink, your time, the several trips down to the printing place to do them, the ink, etc. My programs were pretty cheap, but they were paper. I'd have to imagine that this would be more expensive. I would maybe only do half as many as guests, since I can't see a man keeping this or using it.

They are beautiful; I can certainly see why you would like them. I just imagine my frustration level trying to screen print on a tiny little thing that I know several people will just throw away.

If you decide not to do them for everyone, you could still do a bunch for family and give them to mom, grandma, etc, who I think would like them a lot.

gmc22 · September 2010

kwynn - thanks again for the input! You always have such great advice. I saved the image on my computer and the other day while at work, and when I tried to go back and look for the original I couldn't find it. I KNOW I found it on either the blog site stylemepretty.com or weddingchicks.com but can't seem to place the original image.

As for screen printing, I have NO clue how to do it, which is why I was looking for a place to screen print it for me (which I'm now seeing may be pretty expensive). I did, however, find an article last night on paper transfers as slm noted and that may be the way I'll go (if I decide to go this route). I definitely have to do more research on costs and pros/cons to this method.

http://www.weddingchicks.com/wedding-chicks/diy-templates/12357/vintage-hankie-save-the-date/

Also, I really like your idea of ony having a handful of the hankies for special family members and the rest doing just regular programs. That seems to be a great option for me! Thanks again!!

kwynn · September 2010

The transfers look SO much easier! I would do that on one and if you don't like it, then try the screen printing!

marburs · September 2010

just FYI- I have about 20 all white vintage hankerchiefs from an old (literally) friend that I could sell you if you want. They are all white tho- the details are white as well. PM me if you are interested.

Screen Printing?

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