Wild River Custom Screenprinting—

Using Tradition And Innovation To Make An Imprint On The Marketplace

By Kaaren Valenta

Wild River Custom Screenprinting is tucked inside a nondescript building in the Simm Lane Business Park on South Main Street, a commonplace location belying the creative work that is done inside.

Here Paul and Meredith Ledney use computers and other high-tech equipment to augment a centuries-old process that transfers designs onto fabric and other materials.

Paul Ledney, 35, has been a screen printer for about ten years after studying graphic design at Westchester Community College. He worked for several screen printing businesses in New York and Connecticut before deciding it was time to launch his own company two years ago.

The business has expanded from printing logos on T-shirts, sweatshirts, and other pieces of apparel to offer a wide range of services.

“Anything that anyone would want to put their name on, we can do it,” Meredith Ledney said. “Shoelaces, bathrobes, socks, mouth guards for sports teams, banners, mouse pads — you name it.”

Screen printing is a method of printing based on a stencil process. Invented about 2,000 years ago in the Far East, it was reinvented in the West about 100 years ago and popularized by artists such as Andy Warhol.

In a process called “burning,” an image is imposed on a screen made of silk, nylon, or some other fine mesh; blank areas are coated with an impermeable substance. The screen then is placed, or “registered,” on a press that is hinged to move up and down.

Using a rubber blade gripped in a wooden or metal handle called a squeegee (not unlike a large windshield wiper), the print maker forces ink through the mesh onto the fabric, imprinting the design. Multiple screens, each with a different color, may be used. The fabric then is cured through a dryer.

“Everything is hand-screened here,” Paul Ledney said. “We use no automatic presses on apparel.”

Although many jobs involve only one or two screens, others are much more complicated. “We did six screenings on the T-shirts and tank tops for the Polar Paradise, an ice cream shop in Stony Hill.”

Sometimes, when a photograph or hand-drawn artwork is supplied, a different process is used. The design is printed on transfer paper with fabric ink, then put into a heat press to transfer it onto fabric. In this dye sublimation heat transfer, a baby’s photograph can be printed on a shirt, for example. With this method, as small an order as one piece can be produced.

“It’s amazing. I didn’t realize what went into this before I met Paul,” his wife said. “This is detail work.”

Paul Ledney is responsible for all of the artwork. An assistant, Newtown High School senior Chris Morgan, who is studying graphic design and screening at school, helps with the printing. “I like it,” he said, pulling the squeegee across a screen loaded with ink. “I’m planning to study it in college.”

Wild River specializes in hard-to-print products such as dark garments that are to be printed with light-colored inks.

“It’s a time-consuming process,” Mr Ledney said. “The ink often will bleed through so other printers don’t want to touch these kind of jobs.”

The company also produces a lot of advertising specialties for businesses that want their names or logos on pens, key chains, cups, and other promotional items to give away. This type of work is outsourced for the printing, which is done by machine.

Wild River can start with a rough pencil sketch supplied by the customer, or a business card that has a tiny logo on it. Using a process called vectoring the artwork, Mr Ledney can enlarge a design that is as small as a guitar pick to something as big as a wall without losing any quality.

“It’s done in a mathematical format,” he explained. “I trained with many different Photoshop instructors,” Mr Ledney said. “Everyone has a certain way of doing things. I trained with seven or eight and used the best from each to develop my own style.”

During the holidays, Wild River supplies a lot of client gifts including gift baskets with the businesses’ name printed on the ribbon or wrapper.

 “We offer a huge line of gifts from various sources,” Mrs Ledney said. “We also do custom engraving — we did awards for Kevin’s Community Center in Newtown — and also do paper printing — stationery, wedding and christening invitations, birth announcements. People can bring in their own ideas or I have books with paper samples, card stocks, and colors. They can also go online to view them.”

“It is very painless [for a customer] to do business with us,” she said. “We do a lot of correspondence by email. We want to make sure that everything is right before we produce the finished product.”

The company’s work can be seen on two websites: www.wildrivershirts.com and, for the paper printing, www.wrprints.cceasy.com. Most orders can be produced in a week to ten days.

The Ledneys live in Middlebury but were originally from Danbury, where Meredith Ledney grew up as Meredith Pickel. They met on a blind date, married in 2001, and had a son, Matthew, the following year. A second son, Christopher, was born last year.

“We found Newtown when we were looking for a place for our business,” Mrs Ledney said. “We love Newtown. The people are fantastic. They really welcomed us. We spend so much time here that we practically only sleep in Middlebury.”

Mrs Ledney had always worked in the corporate world and thought that having their own business would enable her to spend most of her time with her children.

“It didn’t really work out that way because it is difficult to bring a baby to work,” she said. “Our older son goes to Merryhill [Child Care Center] in Newtown and my mother-in-law helps a lot with the baby. She’s great.”

They also hired an office manager, Lynn Bergeron, who lives in Redding.

The name Wild River was selected by Paul Ledney, who said it was the name of Japanese computer software program that he had heard about and searched for unsuccessfully for many years.

“He never found the software, but I have a phone bill that showed all the calls to Japan,” his wife said. “But we liked the name and incorporated it into our name.”

Wild River Custom Screenprinting is at Suite 2E1 Simm Lane. For more information call 426-1500 or email info@wildrivershirts.com.