Hit 500 shirts printed on my homemade press and it got me thinking

I set up my first DIY screen printing setup back in 2019 with a $40 hinge clamp rig from Amazon and some speedball ink. Last weekend I burned my 500th shirt, which I marked by printing a goofy design of a melting snowman for my cousin's winter party. I never thought I'd get past maybe 50 shirts before giving up, but here I am with a garage half full of misprints and old screens. The thing that surprised me most is how my technique changed over time, like I used to flood the screen way too heavy and end up with ink bleeding everywhere. Now I do a light pass and then a hard pull, which cut my waste down by like 60 percent. The milestone felt bigger than I expected because it meant I actually stuck with something for once. Has anyone else hit a random number like this and felt weirdly proud about it? What was your count?

2 comments

2 Comments

smith.blair9d ago

Isn't it funny how small repetitive actions start to reveal the shape of your whole life?

linda3058d ago

I read this thing once about how doing 1000 hours of anything changes your brain structure, and it kind of stuck with me. @smith.blair is onto something with repetitive actions and life patterns, like 500 shirts is a lot of small decisions that add up. Pretty cool you hit that number.