I was wondering if any of you who silkscreen items to sell:

A. stick to the tried and true method of doing it yourself the old way.
B. outsourcing to a silkscreener
c. DIY and use a Print Gocco to do it.


I'm currently working up my production budget and I'm trying to figure out what is the easiest and cheapest. Part of me wants to design and just outsource it and then the unruly crafter in me wants all the creative control from start to finish.

Any horror stories or love songs?

Having a real, good quality screen made would be your most economical choice 'cause it would last the longest. That's for silkscreen v. print gocco

Whether or not you do the printing yourself or have someone else do it is a matter of what skill/time you have vs. how much you're willing to spend.

I can't answer your question (sorry) but I was wondering if someone could explain what the print gocco is and how it works.

I really would like to hear others' experiences because I realize silkscreening for the pleasure of it is different from trying to meet demand for stores/build inventory for market. Right now, I can't afford expensive equipment and outsourcing limits my creative vision.(example: a screenprinter I contacted only prints on shirts they supply. I'm currently stitching my own styles so that doesn't work for me. Budget keeps me from being able to use someone more flexible as I would have to order larger quantities.) I'm trying to figure out if getting by with something like Print Gocco is possible, if I should just do it myself or if this is just unreasonable being a one woman business or if I should simplify and pay other people to do it.

One thing I would be curious about is the cost/effort of print gocco vs. screenprinting. Unless you're dealing with a lot of registration issues, screenprinting, beyond having a screen made, isn't really that expensive.
You can have a small screen made for, say, $20 and then spend maybe $30 on inks (that would obviously last you for a very long time) and a squeegee. A print Gocco kits starts at around $80 or $100, doesn't it? Doesn't the majority of the Print Gocco dealing with making the screen?

If you are near a university, check with students in the art department (post a flyer in the print department). Chances are there's a student that does screenprinting at home or in their own studio space who can do what you want for a reasonable price.