If you have a creative and arty edge that’s going to waste, don’t you wish there was some way you could make use of it? Even if it’s just for your own use, but better still, to make a bit of money through a side gig. Well, you could by investing in a machine to do some screen printing from the comfort of your own home.
Screen printing is something that even if you’re not familiar with the ins and outs of, you will be aware of its existence and may even realise that it’s one of the most common ways of making t-shirts. The process, sometimes known as silkscreen printing involves transferring ink onto a substrate of some kind, usually a t-shirt, but not on the parts blocked by a stencil.
Although in the past it may have been fiddlier and involved more complicated machines, the average modern
screen printing machine is much easier to use and portable enough that it won’t take up toom much room in your home.
Not sure what you could do with a screen printer? That’s why we are here. To help you out. Below we have put together some great options for putting a screen printer to good use and getting your money’s worth.
Design Your Own Arty T-Shirts
The most obvious way to get great use out of a screen-printing machine to get those creative juices flowing is the one we’ve already noted is designing your own attractive and arty t-shirts. This is also a great way to practice your screen-printing skills, because t-shirts are larger than some of the other items you may want to make designs for and spruce up…more on that later.
Obviously, it’s up to you what you put on your t-shirts. If you are making them for yourself or someone in your family, you can make it very personal. Whereas, if you are making t-shirts with a view to selling them, you may way want to research to see what designs are trending etc. It really depends on you how serious and how involved you want to get.
Screen Print Arty Ceramic Mugs, Plates and other Similar Items
As noted above, it’s not just t-shirts that you can bring to life with a bit of art and colour. You can also take ceramics like mugs, plates, bowls…. whatever you fancy and transform them into amazing one-off pieces or specialist arty collections. A set of relatively plain ceramic crockery can be made into a stunning piece of dinnerware that you could give as a gift to a friend or relative or sell through a store like etsy or even eBay.
Design Your Own Wall Coverings
Now it may be a little ambitious to screen print a whole room’s worth of wallpaper, but you could, in theory, if you fancied a challenge, use one of these great machines to design wall coverings. Even if it’s just some posters or art-inspired prints to place on your wall as decoration, a screen printer will enable you to achieve that.
Decorative Glass
Got some glass vases or plain tumblers and wine glasses that you don’t really need? You could use a screen printer to turn these pieces of plain glass into spectacular ornaments. Be careful though, because you might find that friends, relatives and other visitors to your home will want you to do some for them, or at least ask you to show them how you do it.
Even Plastics and Metal
Screen printing is an extremely versatile form of crafting and you can use just about any material, even metals and plastics. Which, let’s face it, could often live with a splash of colour and bit of art to liven them up. Whether it’s a plastic container that you want to personalise, maybe for one of your kids or a hideous metal tray that you don’t want to get rid of but don’t want to use in its current state.
Even Leather
Even leather can be transformed into something amazing with the help of a screen printer. Old boots can be glammed up, to hide away worn out bits or to turn them into decorative pieces or collectables rather than wearable boots.
Hopefully you can now see that there’s really no limit to what you can do with an artistic flair, a screen-printing machine and a suitable item or material to use as a blank canvas for your designs.
