Reddit reviews Screen Printing Today: The Basics

You're asking for quite a lot, but luckily screen printing isn't all that complicated once you understand the process and underlying concept.

Here is a nice guide with some helpful illustrations that should explain the process fairly well. It shows screen printing onto paper with a printing table rather than clothing, but the screens as well as the ideas are the same.

To print on shirts, you'll need a slightly more advanced/modified press, the most basic ones tend to look like this but they also get larger and more complex if you want to print more colours, like this, or as big and intimidating as this. The fundametals behind it all are the same.

To print on fabric you'll need special inks, most commonly an ink called Plastisol. It prints like normal ink, but it doesn't fully dry and resist washing until it's heated up ("cured"), so you need to pair the t-shirt press with a dryer that heats the garment up. The most basic ones look like this and cure the ink as the garment sits on the press. But there are also larger ones like this, with a conveyor belt that take the garment through an oven to cure the ink. There are also water-based inks available that air-dry and do not require curing.

There are a few places to buy equipment/supplies online, especially if you're in the US. The most popular is probably Ryonet.

That sort of runs you through the VERY basics. There is a lot more to learn however, but there is LOTS of information available online, and video tutorials on YouTube as well if you search for them.

Here are some good books for beginners on the subject as well:

Screen Printing Today: The Basics by Andy MacDougall

Screen Printing on the Cheap

And there's a ton of information and answers to common questions on various discussion boards online, two that I found most helpful when I was learning were T-Shirt Forums and the screen printing subforum on GigPosters.com. Most people on the latter forum print on paper, but a lot of the stuff is relevant to both media.

If you have any specific questions, this subreddit is a good place to ask, and from what I've seen we are all happy to share our knowledge. But hopefully this helps you get your mind around how it works.

Start small, get a solid grasp on the fundamentals, and then build.

At the end of this book

I think they also have them in the premium forums on gigposters.com

Screen Printing Today is the best book I have read on the subject.

You should be able to print this, even with your limitations. Oil based inks are safe to clean up by

1. physically scraping up/wiping up as much as you can before adding anything to clean it.
   
   
2. a little vegetable oil to clean up the ink
   
   
3. a little bit of a spray kitchen cleaner, like simple green, to clean the vegetable oil.
   
   I know people that print relief by hand on fabric, you will need to put the block face down on top of the shirt and press from the back. Look up srmprints on Instagram, she posts lots of process shots.
   
   I would pull a nice one or two, the repost the Etsy listing with new photos and describing the product as handmade with natural variations to cover your bum, then as long as it looks cool you are fine.
   
   If you want to screenprint, get a copy of Screenprintig Today, he talks about how to set up “shop” on the cheap and DIY. screenprinting today by Andy MacDougall

Buy this dudes book:
http://www.amazon.com/Screen-Printing-Today-The-Basics/dp/0944094619

The book not only has multiple process descriptions (with photos) but it also does a brief overview on the industry. It will explain all the details you need, including what an exposure unit is. Its a good start.

Andy is a screenprinting saint...or prophet..or...he is just the bomb, is what im trying to say.

Or random internets is always a good source.