DIY Screen Printing Supplies

Tampa, FL — Mar 14, 2014 / (http://www.myprgenie.com) — DIY Screen Printing Supplies has launched a new screen printing kit under the brand name Merchmakr with an innovative design intended for broad appeal.

Merchmakr is an all-in-one screen printing system designed to make multi-color t-shirt printing in a tiny space easier. It packs many benefits that common hobby screen printing kits don’t, and even has a few patent pending features that broaden its capabilities. It also sports a stylish, designer look, and even comes in glossy red, so it can be stored at home in the open as a conversation piece.

While Merchmakr has a light weight compared to professional grade screen printing presses, and can be easily transported, the Merchmakr press is a little heavier than most hobby presses, with the exception of the industrial-looking, bulkier ones. It’s heft is due to its sturdy steel construction intended to appeal more to the prosumer market. To offset the heavier weight, Merchmakr is very compact, with a footprint even smaller than the well-known Yudu Personal Screen Printer, which surprised the hobby market with its wide popularity in 2008.

Some of the Merchmakr’s innovative features are its HotSwap clamp and tab registration system, and its exposure unit docking bay. Each of the those features work in conjunction to enhance the usability of the system. As an example, the screens can be prepared before an event, and then the press can be used on a small table to produce a variety of different designs. The only added consideration is an area for ink drying because, whether used with waterbased inks (more common for hobbies) or plastisol (ubiquitous in professional screen printing shops), the ink must be heat set.

The exposure unit is sized to fit the screens so that the images or stencils can be exposed on them in place (registration). For every color in a design, a separate screen is exposed with an image for just that area of color being printed. Once the screens are ready, the exposure unit is simply removed from the printing area entirely to keep it from interfering with the printing operation –a feature other all-in-one systems don’t have. In the case of using Merchmakr at an event, the exposure unit need not even attend.

The registration system is used with the HotSwap clamp to print the T-shirts. The screens (being prepared before hand) are locked into the press with the pull of a lever, lining up the print to be straight and center on the garment. Designs can be prepared for printing and simply stored in a library in a small space. The screens are only seventeen inches by seventeen inches and are less than two inches wide. The library can consist of different designs or even a number of multi-color designs.

“With the HotSwap clamp, you can just run into a place, setup quickly, and then start printing merchandise very fast,” says Gary Jurman, inventor of the Merchmakr. “The first time I showed someone what it could do, that the colors all lined up, the guy nearly flipped. …and he was a screen printer. Can you imagine what a band could do with this thing?”

The Merchmakr is not just for bands, though. During the development and testing phases, Gary used an all-in-one press at family functions to have T-shirt parties. To test the usability, he had the adults and children screen print outlines on T-shirts and then color them in with markers.

“It was awesome! Even Grandma made a T-shirt. And the kids were all so into making their own T-shirts. Everything from printing them to coloring them. They had a blast,” said Gary. “I just know crafters will love this too.”

Many crafters loved the Yudu Personal Screen Printer, but it is discontinued, and many had trouble learning how to use it. Some of the problems were the emulsion sheets were expensive and hard to use, the inks were not very opaque and dried too fast in the screen, and the squeegees available were either too stiff or not stiff enough. Gary learned about the issues crafters were having when he answered the tech support line for his screen printing company.

When he was developing Merchmakr, he took what crafters told him to heart. His company, DIY Screen Printing Supplies, is creating an expanding library of videos and supplies to support Merchmakr. They will be keeping the technical support line open as well, keeping in mind that many newbies may need help.

“Honestly, I just asked a whole bunch of questions and I listened a lot. I could hear the frustrations they were having, and I was in a really good position to help.”

Gary Jurman is the owner of DIY Screen Printing Supplies, a Tampa, Florida based screen printing supplier. At the time of this article, he has a crowd-sourced funding campaign that allows for pre-ordering the Merchmakr for Christmas 2014. To find out more about Merchmakr or how to order it, go to www.Merchmakr.com