Choosing the stencil. Placing the stencil, lining up and laying down the frame.

Applying the ink and drawing the squeegee across to print.

Carefully lifting the screen: the legend is reborn yet again!

My process to a “tee”

I first buy blank COMFORT COLORS t-shirts dyed by Barry T. Chouinard, Inc., located in Northfield, Vermont. It’s a nice 7 mile country drive, and the employees there (Barry, Kevin, Mary, Tracey, Jeremy, John, Susan and Rosalie, plus many more… the list is long) are wonderful people that treat me like their biggest customer (though I’m not, I’m small potatoes). Their computer-controlled dyeing process results in 2/3 less water and utilities used. They responsibly treat all dye effluent, and even reuse much of the water. The shirts are dyed with soft-fade pigment colors and direct dye colors. Their quality, great styles and earthy colors are key to my tee’s success.

Working alone upstairs in the small studio that my wife Melissa and I built out of a tumbled-down garage. (The studio is also home to my drum set and guitars and sports a mult-pinned map tracking the locations of many customer-friends around the world.) I apply the design using one silk screen frame, a squeegee and a homemade stencil.

Water-soluble black ink is used for the prints. This produces a flexible subtle black image, unlike the hard plastic prints that are used for mass-merchandised tees. I heat-set the prints with an iron and the wash the shirt for good measure. The first washing softens the black print nominally, giving it a nicely faded look without having to wash it 100x. The shirt is preshrunk and as soft as your old, favorite tee. Browse through the Shirt Designs and check ‘em out!