Charlie Taublieb

Screen printing starts with the screen so in this session you will learn how to make consistently good screens. Jump hands-on into the darkroom and learn best practices for screen selection, cleaning, coating, and exposing.

Why Someone Should Come

A perfect print is impossible without a perfect screen. The darkroom is often where the most critical, yet overlooked, steps of screen printing occur. This session covers the science and technique behind creating durable, high-quality stencils that will hold up during production and wash out easily when the job is done.

Who Should Come

New screen printers, darkroom technicians, and anyone experiencing issues with stencil breakdown, pinholes, or difficult screen reclaiming.

What They Will Learn

• Positive Imaging: Learn the best practices for printing opaque positive images onto film.
• Screen Preparation & Coating: Understand the different types of screens and mesh counts, and learn the proper techniques for coating screens with emulsion to create a solid stencil.
• Exposure Techniques: Discover how to properly expose and dry screens, including the benefits of using advanced equipment like LED exposure units for faster times and higher detail.
• Reclaiming & Maintenance: Master the cleanup process in the washout room, including the use of ink degraders, emulsion removers, pressure washers, and dip tanks to efficiently reclaim and dehaze screens for reuse.

Before we print, get hands-on with proper press setup. Taking the time to calibrate your equipment and register your job correctly saves hours of frustration and wasted garments during production.

Why Someone Should Come

Proper press setup is the bridge between a good screen and a great print. Taking the time to calibrate your equipment and register your job correctly saves hours of frustration and wasted garments during production. This session teaches the systematic approach to setting up a job so that printing becomes the easiest part of the process.

Who Should Come

Press operators, production managers, and shop owners who want to reduce setup times, eliminate registration errors, and improve overall print consistency.

What They Will Learn

• Press Calibration: Learn how to properly set off-contact and tilt to ensure the screen clears the garment perfectly after each stroke.
• Job Registration: Master the three primary ways to register a job: to film, to print, and using pre-registration systems for maximum efficiency.
• Garment Handling: Understand the differences between printing on 100% cotton versus polyester blends, and learn the most efficient techniques for loading shirts onto the platen.
• Platen Adhesives: Explore the pros and cons of different platen adhesives, including traditional spray mist versus eco-friendly water-based options.

Where the magic happens. Learn the hands-on techniques for laying down ink, curing garments correctly, and handling different materials like a seasoned production pro.

Why Someone Should Come

The actual printing and curing of the garment is where the magic happens. This session focuses on the physical techniques of laying down ink and the critical science of curing it. You will learn how to handle different types of inks and how to ensure your prints look vibrant and last through countless washes.

Who Should Come

Anyone involved in the physical printing and curing process. This is essential for operators who want to improve their squeegee technique, understand ink behavior, and guarantee washfastness.

What They Will Learn

• Ink Dynamics: Compare the handling and benefits of Plastisol inks (like Wilflex Lava) versus Water Base inks (like Green Galaxy), including when to use reducers.
• Squeegee Technique: Learn how squeegee durometer, angle (10-15 degrees off 90), and pressure affect ink deposit, and master both push and pull printing strokes.
• Flashing & Underbases: Discover the secrets to printing a smooth, opaque white underbase on dark garments, and learn the proper use of flash dryers (infrared vs. quartz) to gel ink between colors.
• Curing & Quality Control: Understand the critical temperature requirements (typically 320°F) for fully curing both plastisol and water-based inks using conveyor or flash dryers, and learn how to perform stretch, rub, and wash tests to guarantee a perfect cure.

Why Someone Should Come

Great special effects printing starts long before ink hits the screen—it starts with the idea.

In this session, Charlie Taublieb will take attendees through the art and concept side of special effects printing, showing how to look at a garment, an idea, or a piece of artwork and begin imagining what it could become through screen printing.

Rather than starting with an effect and forcing artwork into it, Charlie will explore how strong concepts lead to smart decoration choices. Attendees will learn how dimension, texture, color, garment selection, print placement, and visual hierarchy can all work together to make a shirt feel more premium.

This session sets up the entire day by establishing the creative thinking behind the prints attendees will ultimately see produced on press.

Who Should Come

This session is ideal for screen printers, production artists, shop owners, creative directors, salespeople, and decorators who want to develop better shirt concepts and become more intentional about how they use special effects.

It is especially valuable for shops that want to move beyond simply printing customer artwork and begin presenting clients with creative ideas that can command attention—and higher prices.

What They Will Learn

• Starting With the Concept: Learn how to begin with the shirt and the idea rather than immediately choosing an ink or printing technique.
• Designing for Dimension: Explore how scale, borders, layers, shadows, texture, highlights, and negative space can create the foundation for dimensional printing.
• Choosing the Right Effect: Understand how the artwork itself can help determine whether puff, faux appliqué, high-density, texture, or another specialty treatment makes sense.
• Thinking Beyond a Flat Graphic: Learn how garment color, placement, print size, texture, and dimensional elements can become part of the overall design.
• Art That Looks Expensive: Discover how thoughtful concepts can make screen printed apparel feel more premium and create greater perceived value for the customer.
• Designing With Production in Mind: Learn how to push creative ideas while still considering screen count, registration, ink deposit, print order, garment choice, and production reality.

Get hands-on with special effects printing and learn how to make a print that looks amazing but can be reproduced in production settings to differentiate your shop and make more money doing it.

Why Someone Should Come

Special effects printing is only valuable if it can be produced profitably. A print that looks amazing but takes too long, wastes too many garments, or cannot be repeated at scale will not help a shop grow. This session brings the full FX Camp workflow together by focusing on how to run special effects jobs in production, price them correctly, explain their value to customers, and build samples that help sell premium decoration. Attendees will see how creative effects such as faux appliqué, puff, and HD-inspired decoration can become practical, profitable shop offerings.

Who Should Come

This session is for shop owners, production managers, lead printers, sales teams, and decorators who want to turn special effects from occasional experiments into a profitable service category. It is especially useful for shops that want to wow clients, increase margins, build a stronger sample library, and have more fun producing prints that customers cannot get from every decorator.

What They Will Learn

• Production Workflow for Effects: Learn how to plan job setup, screens, inks, test prints, flash points, cure requirements, operator roles, and quality checks for specialty production.
• Pricing Premium Decoration: Understand how to price special effects based on added value, setup complexity, production speed, materials, testing, risk, and customer impact.
• Selling the Wow Factor: Discover how samples, storytelling, retail inspiration, and side-by-side comparisons help clients understand why special effects are worth more.
• Reducing Risk in Production: Learn how to control variables, document formulas, approve strike-offs, train operators, and prevent one-off successes from becoming full-run problems.
• Profitably Having More Fun: Understand how special effects can energize the shop, create stronger client relationships, and open the door to higher-margin, more memorable apparel.