How do you screenprint your own t-shirts?

Question

As in, how do you put your own graphics on a shirt?

Answer 1

You can buy t-shirt transfer paper to make your own t-shirts off of your computer's printer, or if you want to screenprint, then here are some instructions (quoting from the source below):

Things You'll Need
* organdy silkscreen fabric
* wooden artist frame
* staple gun with staples
* squeegee
* set of silkscreen photo sensitizer and emulsion
* heat-set fabric paint
* your chosen image printed out in all black (no greyscale) on a transparency
* a big cleared space to set up your light station
* lamp with a 200 watt bulb.
* almost completely dark room
* black non-glossy paper
* place to wash your screen (shower or tub)
* whatever fabric you want to print on
* household iron

1. Lay out your wooden frame.
2. Staple your fabric very tightly to the frame -so tight, you think it is going to rip. Staple one of the corners first, stretch it, then staple the opposite corner. Go back to the first corner, stretch the fabric, and staple about one inch clockwise from the 1st staple you made. Go back to the opposite corner, stretch the fabric, and staple one inch clockwise next the the other staple. Keep doing this, going back and forth, and stretching every time, until you get all the way around the screen. What should happen is that you have to re-staple the first couple that you made because they are looser than the rest.
3. Spread your mixed-up emulsion onto the fabric very thinly in a completely dark room.(although some emulsions are safe to use in a low light/sunlight environment). The package should have directions on how to prepare the emulsion. Spread on both sides, make sure the whole thing is wet, with no spots missed. To see what you are doing, use a red photo-darkroom light.
4. Let it dry in a completely dark place overnight.
5. Spread the black paper all over the floor and put your screen on top, wood side down (with staples on top).
6. Tape your transparencies with clear tape to the dry surface of the screen.
7. Set up your lamp directly over the screen (distance according to directions), and turn the light on for however long it says in the directions.
8. Rinse your screen with very cold water. Let dry.
9. Lay your screen staple-side down on your fabric, put a line of paint on the screen, along one side, and with your squeegee, lay down a flood stroke using light pressure, the next pass should be firm with a smooth motion to press the ink through the screen onto the fabric.
10. Lift up the screen and you have an image on the fabric! let dry.
11. Iron the back side of the fabric for however long it says to on the paint container.
12. Wash the fabric.

Answer 2

Screenprinting machines are very very expensive. You can pay someone (not cheap) to screenprint for you. There are also ironon transfers which is just a type of paper you can print your graphic on and then iron it onto a t. The more expensive the ironon the better it will last. Cheap ones tend to crack very quickly. Another option is www.cafepress.com where you can sell stuff with your graphics/pictures on it.