Anybody know anything about screen printing?

I'm unemployed ... and I hope to keep it that way. I'm selling on ebay and ... surviving, selling old musical instrument catalogs. Problem is, I'll run out in the not too distant future. So, I'm looking for ways to capitalize on the clientelle that I've built up.

I hope to expand into other areas of interest to musicians. To start, I have in mind a line of t-shirts. I know about that online service that everybody uses, but from what I hear you don't make much money using them. I would need to maximaize profits in order to compensate for a limited customer base.

So (finally!) my question: Can someone tell me about start up costs? What would it cost to get one design off the ground. I would have the t-shirts done by a professional, of course. What are we talking as far as minimum quantities of shirts?

I suppose I should make some phone calls, huh?

you pay by the screen. i had some shirts done with my artwork on them. they were a full color, 8 x 10 picture on a dark shirt. that meant 7 screens. i did 150 of them, they cost me $13 each.
simpler designs, and a white shirt keep the cost down.

a one color print is fairly cheap.The more colors you add the more work there is for the printer,and more cost involved.Keep a simple one or two color design.

Another option is laser-printing,where they take a design and transfer it to a special paper and then press it on the shirt (a fancy "iron-on" in effect).The good thing about this is it allows you to use full color pics (even just something taken with a digital cam and saved to a disk) as your design.The shirt has to be either white or light gray in color though as the shirt color will show through if it's a dark fabric.We did these at a cost of $15 for the first shirt and $10 for every one after (that included the price of the shirt).

As for cost,the more you buy the better deal you'll get.When I was doing it the cost averaged about $6 per plain white shirt if you got 20 or so.(This was a couple years ago so the prices might be higher now).Hanes T-shirts are fairly cheap though not the best quality.Anvil and Fruit of the Loom are a tad more but better quality.

Also,have your design done by yourself or a friend.Many places will help you (we did it for free) but they will charge you for their time designing your design,and the price varies wildly depending on who you let do it.Have your design set,and a round figure for the amount that you want printed when you go in.Fifty shirts will cost you less per shirt than just doing a dozen.

Lastly,if you think you'll be getting more done at a later time ask the printer how long they hold onto the screen itself for.Most places will hold one for at least six months,but again it can vary,and they do charge for the screen itself to be prepared.

I would only need one color too, one screen. And my artwork would come right off the web (not copyrighted). I don't know how that would work either come to think of it. I'm just starting the wheels to turning (in my head) on this.

big no no,and only a very few printers will take the chance on one.

Save your pic/design as a TIF file if possible,though JPEG images are fine.Save it to a floppy,take the floppy in and the printer should be able to handle the rest.

A one color print shouldn't be too costly at all.