Key Points for 4 Color Process Screen Printing

Posted by Mary Yaeger - 8/7/2017

Also seen on Printwear 

If you are new to the industry or a veteran of 20+ years, you have heard of 4 color process printing. This style of printing is one of the many ways to achieve photo realistic prints. With only 4 colors, just about any image can be recreated on a garment. Hard to believe? Maybe not. Even though it sounds over simplified, it was discovered that you can break a photograph down to 4 primary colors – cyan, magenta, yellow and black. By breaking the photograph down to 4 primary colors we can then print using halftones and white to create the photorealistic image we want. Here are a few things you should know before diving into process printing.

Shirt Color

White is the ideal shirt color for CMYK printing because CMYK inks are translucent. However, you are not limited to only printing on white garments. If you are printing on a darker shirt, use a white under base to really make those colors pop.

The garment that you use to print on should have a tight weave so the individual “dots” of your design have a surface to print on. While the weave should be tight, don’t use heavy thick materials as these usually interfere with the detail of the halftones. Not saying that it can’t be done – it just isn’t recommended.

Art Quality

This one is simple - the higher the quality of the image the better the print.

Printability is another factor to consider. Colors that look great on the computer screen may not work when they get printed on the fabric. Likewise, doing a test print on paper doesn’t mean it will be the same when it is printed on fabric. For best results use test pellons (available in black and white) or a fabric that is a similar color to your actual print job.

Color Separations

Color separations start with a print ready file which is something you can achieve using programs like Photoshop. Alternatively, you can use a separation software meant for screen printing. You want to make sure that the file you download is a high resolution JPG. The very first thing you should do when you open your program is make sure it is set to CMYK. When using programs like Photoshop, the default settings are ideal for printing on paper – not shirts.

Not only will you strip the image down to the four main process colors, you will also need halftone dots. The dot shape will have to be adjusted to and elliptical shape which works well with the squares created in the screen mesh. It is also important that you adjust screen angles for each color.

One of the unique aspects of process printing is having the ability to integrate texture, gradients and special effects within your design.

Mesh Size

For CMYK printing you want to use a high mesh count. 305 or higher is industry recommended.

Print Order

While people have their preferences a general rule is to print light to dark. The preferred print order for CMYK printing is yellow, magenta, cyan and black. If you are printing with a white under base, you will have to print that first.

Wet on Wet

Time to print! Generally there is no need to flash between colors unless you are printing a white under base. In that case, only the under base is flash cured. The inks blending create a myriad of tones so it is important that you print wet on wet.  One of the biggest challenges of CMYK printing is to lay down the same amount of ink to create a consistent image. If you are manual printing, make sure to use only one print stroke per color. The ink must not retouch the stencil once the print has been made – you will have a mess otherwise. 

How to Make the Most of the Athleisure Trend

Posted by Mary Yaeger - 5/12/2017

Defined; Athleisure is a fashion trend in which athletic clothes are worn in settings outside of the gym - work, school, or social occasions for example. There are a couple of theories to why Athleisure has become so popular, but most people describe the style as convenient. Instead of having to change for the gym, change to go to work, change to see your friend for lunch and change again to go to that party later Friday night; now you can be in style for multiple occasions without breaking a sweat (literally).

As with anything in the fashion industry, once a style starts trending, it’s up to everybody to keep up to make sure that their brands stay relevant. Athleisure is no different. So what does this mean for the screen printing industry? It means that we have to adapt to the style with the inks and techniques that we use.

According to Vogue Magazine, there are a few “golden rules” for the Athleisure trend. These rules must be paid attention to if your business is going to keep up with this newly evolving style. The two biggest ones that are especially important to note for screen printers are this:

Number 1: It has to be Seasonal

Remember when you started working out and you went to look for workout clothes, but the only color that was available was black? Not anymore. The Athleisure trend demands that styles be seasonal. This means that the wilder the pattern, brighter the color and color blocks are the go to for this trend.

Number 2: It has to Combine Function and Fashion

Athleisure combines two must-haves that continue to dominate casual clothing - durability and comfort. With the Athleisure trend, many of the clothes we would consider strictly “gym wear” are now work approved. Materials like spandex, polyester, and blended materials like 50/50 cotton and polyester have risen to the top of the comfort charts.

Athletic Materials

As mentioned above there are a variety of athletic materials; all of which can be tricky to print on. Keith Stevens from International Coatings shared a couple of tips to help you master athletic prints:

1. Plastisol inks are usually stretchy by nature, but adding a little bit of stretch additive can greatly improve the stretchability, especially for performance and athletic fabrics, which often contain a high percentage of Lycra spandex. Adding excessive amounts of a stretch additive, however, could reduce the opacity of the ink, so it is important to add only about 1%-5%.
2. There also are new inks on the market, such as International Coatings’ 7100 Performance Pro, which have been specifically formulated for these next-generation performance fabrics. These inks have great stretchability and allow for lower curing temperatures (275°F). The ability to cure at lower temperatures helps to control any potential dye migration issues.

Athletic Inks

Today's athletic inks far out shine the original “athletic” inks that were dull and difficult to work with. With as many materials there are to print on, there are just as many types of inks to choose from. For example:

• High opacity ink. These inks provide good bleed resistance and brilliant colors when printed in a lower mesh range, and used over a low-bleed white. These inks are made to increase the overall opacity and contain a high pigment load over general inks.
• Low-bleed plastisols. These inks are press-ready plastisol meant for printing on polyester and poly/cotton blends. These inks stand out on dark garments.
• Low-cure additives. Low Cure Additives effectively lower curing temperatures of most plastisol inks to less than 300° F (149° C). You can use this additive when printing heat-sensitive materials such as 100% polyester or non-woven polypropylene bags. It is ideal for printing athletic and synthetic fabrics that are prone to dye migration.
• Silicone inks. These inks print well on light and dark cotton, cotton/polyester blends, and 100% polyester. Unlike other types of inks, silicone inks can be ironed without re-melting the ink film. They create a very nice, supple print with the ability to stretch and regain its original shape.      

The truth is that there is no perfect ink for all athletic prints, but it is important to have a good understanding of the inks you have at your disposal when printing on athletic materials. It is also important to understand how the inks vary in printability, flashing characteristics, and opacity to name a few.

Some of these materials and material colors may require you to print an underbase for your athletic graphics. When printing vibrant colors on black or dark garments it is often necessary to print a white underbase first. This is due to the fact that many plastisol inks do not have the opacity to cover well on dark garments. White is printed first to provide a base for the colored ink to rest on. The under base is flash cured before the remaining colors are printed.

It is kind of like using a primer before adding the new color to your kitchen walls. The primer seals the surface which makes it nicer to paint on. Just as important as the ink itself, you also have to select the right screen. Selecting the right mesh for your screen can be just as tricky, but this article should help clear the air.

Choosing the right Artwork

When printing, remember to make your graphics as printer friendly as possible. This goes for all of your prints, not just athletic! And in addition to ink characteristics, you also need to be aware of the fabric type, required cure temperature, and (as always) your clients’ expectations.

In many cases, you will find athletic prints with excessive ink thicknesses on the garment. This is typically the result of overcompensation in fear of the dreaded dye migration.

When printing athletic graphics (as with any of your screen printing projects), the ultimate goal is to consistently reproduce a quality print.

Now that you know a little more about athletic materials and athletic inks, we hope that you are ready and motivated to get out there and tackle this exciting active wear trend!

Increasing D2G Production

Posted by Alexandra Perry - Webmaster on 9/20/2016

D2 production is an abbreviation for direct-to-garment production. Some pros of D2 production are photo quality images, easy to operate, and an essential way to make profit. The negative aspect of D2 production is that it is not known for being able to produce a high-volume of printed t-shirts.

  The average production rate for D2 is around twenty to twenty-five printed white shirts an hour, but now we are seeing an increase in production with a few simple tricks. This newfound information is allowing some printers to produce eighty or more printed white shirts in an hour.

  In order to increase production a few adjustments to the decorating process and dual CMYK printing process must happen. Before making adjustments it is important to know that while this will increase production time it will limit you to white and light colored garments only and it will decrease the print quality somewhat due to the high volume.

  The dual CMYK removes the white ink from the printer in order to add another set of CMYK inks. In order to make the changes necessary to increase production you must first and foremost check that your printer and RIP program will support the CMYK setup; then you must flush all of the white ink from your printing system. A step that you can cut out in order to save more time would be to skip the pretreatment of the garment which will lessen the quality of the picture but if it you wish to increase production then it is well worth it.

                    

Direct To Garment Printing Can Be Easy And Affordable

  Adding a second heat press or a conveyor dryer will speed up the drying process of each print because you can lay two shirts side-by-side allowing for a fast print time. Another way to decrease printing time would be to use a printer that has a removable platen system because you can load a shirt onto the second platen while another one is being printed.

  As I said before, the short cuts are simply to improve production time. It would be deemed quantity over quality but if you wish to have maximum print quality then pretreating the garments beforehand would be your best option. By taking the time to pretreat your garments you would be gaining two minutes per print and if you chose not to pretreat it would be one minute per garment. It seems like a small difference but if you want to increase production time a few minutes can mean everything. These shortcuts tend to work best if you are printing a lot of white garments because it maximizes the potential of your D2 printer.

  For many D2 printers sixty to eighty shirts an hour is not the average rate of production but if needed a D2 printer can be maximized for this purpose. As technology advances we may not have to sacrifice quality or quantity or vice versa.

For more information feel free to contact the Texsource sales staff at 888-344-4657.