Genelia

  Managing a business, no matter the size is hard. Screen-printing entrepreneurs know there is no shortage of roles required to run a print shop. Here is a short list of example activities you manage daily; artwork, reclaiming & exposing screens, printing, marketing, customer inquiries, accounting, family responsibilities. What about you? What about managing your mental health? As hustlers we often overlook our own well being and bog ourselves down with the demands of the job, clients, and others. Today we dive into how your mental health stuggles directly affect your business and how you can help manage your stress to run your shop more efficiently.  Your business is dependent on your ability to function! Burn out is real and can impact your business. A 2022 study from  UC Berkeley  found entrepreneurs are more likely to experience mental health problems than people who don’t own their own businesses, 72% of the entrepreneurs in the study reported mental health problems. Of the 25

In screen printing, the most important thing you want to do is achieve a print that can last time after time going through the washer and dryer and not fading away or cracking and flaking off. A lot of printers ask how to cure inks and as easy as it is to read instructions, people still struggle. For starters, there are two popular types of inks to screen print with. You have your  Plastisol Inks  that traditionally cure at around 320° F for a minute and your  Water-Based Inks  will cure at the same temperature but require around 3 minutes to cure. The popular plastisol inks these days are curing at around 260° - 270°. Curing Tools So first there are 4 tools you can use to cure your ink. Let us all recognize that not everyone has the same budget to start off with so tools may be different and that is ok. There is no right or wrong even if you think you are a know it all. Heat Gun The tool that most people start out with when entering screen printing is a heat gun. Will a heat gun work