Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
1. Will be purchasing a press from Coastal.
2. Have decided heat pressing shirts with plastisol transfers makes the most "economical" sense.
3. Am worried that many plastisol printers (such as First Edition, Dowling), only have a small <25 color supply. What happens when I need different / other colors?
4. Are they able to do fading effects? Such as toning from a very light gray, to jet black?
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Quote:
Originally Posted by error426
3. Am worried that many plastisol printers (such as First Edition, Dowling), only have a small <25 color supply. What happens when I need different / other colors?
4. Are they able to do fading effects? Such as toning from a very light gray, to jet black?
Thanks!
your best bet would be to ask them directly.
as far as i know, plastisol transfer makers can match any of your colors at no charge.
color blends and percentages are easy to do with spot colors. But the artwork needs to allow for such.
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Spot colors? I thought that was associated with "screen printing". So spot colors are plastisol transfers that are color matched uhn? The price of those if 2 - 3x as much as the stock colors, there's no money saved by going plastisol as that cost.
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Quote:
Originally Posted by error426
Spot colors? I thought that was associated with "screen printing". So spot colors are plastisol transfers that are color matched uhn? The price of those if 2 - 3x as much as the stock colors, there's no money saved by going plastisol as that cost.
Hmm...
nope,
like i said. It should not be a problem matching your colors (the colors of your artwork). Some plastisol transfer makers may DO charge you for it but NOT all do. This does not change the price because it does not really matter to the transfer makers what colors you use, be it brown, yellow, or lime green, it dont matter.
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Go to a transfer company like Impulse...look over the stock transfers they offer. Do you see all those colors? I am sure they are going to be able to match whatever you think your odd color may be. Lucy is correct...plastisol ink colors and usually on a pantone matching system.
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Quote:
Originally Posted by error426
Spot colors? I thought that was associated with "screen printing".
To clarify further, plastisol transfers essentially ARE screen printing. Instead of printing to a t-shirt, they print onto a carrier paper instead, which you can then use to transfer to the shirt instead. There are some variations (in the inks and such), but the process is basically the same.
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Quote:
Originally Posted by error426
3. Am worried that many plastisol printers (such as First Edition, Dowling), only have a small <25 color supply. What happens when I need different / other colors?
Some printers will colour match (sometimes for a fee, sometimes not), others won't. Even with the ones who won't, you might be surprised at how far a limited colour pallette can take you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by error426
4. Are they able to do fading effects? Such as toning from a very light gray, to jet black?
They generally won't fade from one colour to another (i.e. red to purple), but should be able to fade from dark to light (i.e. black to grey) using half tones; technically nothing is fading, it's just tricking the eye. It's an effective trick though
Quote:
Originally Posted by error426
Spot colors? I thought that was associated with "screen printing".
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Quote:
Originally Posted by T-BOT
it does not really matter to the transfer makers what colors you use, be it brown, yellow, or lime green, it dont matter.
It does matter to some.
If you want a specific ink colour it needs to be mixed. This takes labour, and creates wastage - both of which cost money. Some printers keep their margins lower (and therefore charge you less) by offering a limited choice of colours.
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
I dont understand Solmu....If I can fade white out via a halftone...why cant I fade another color falling into the white fade? Just interested in why we cant so i can create art properly.
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MotoskinGraphix
I dont understand Solmu....If I can fade white out via a halftone...why cant I fade another color falling into the white fade? Just interested in why we cant so i can create art properly.
You could fade two colours together using a half tone on each, it's just harder to create the artwork and harder to print. It would also require some tight registration.
Given some printers are reluctant (I'm told) to print a simple halftone, I can't imagine they'd be thrilled about doing it.
Sometimes there is a gap between what is possible and what you can hire someone to do, so you'd need to find out from the prospective printer what they're willing to do. Maybe I'm wrong and they're a lot more willing to work with that kind of thing than I've been lead to believe.
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Solmu...I do many outdoor events and they all have some sort of blend within the spot color in the show shirts. I agree the fades are very halftone simple but thats ok....I just want two colors to blend together within that screened effect
Re: Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buechee
I'm still wondering if and how they are or can be cheaper than regular silk screen. Can someone tell me this?
I'm not that familiar with the process, but I think they can print multiple orders (or gang up several from the same order) all at once on a huge paper, and then cut everything down. Something like that anyway; I imagine someone with more direct experience can enlighten us further =)
This is a discussion about Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations? that was posted in the Heat Press and Heat Transfers section of the forums.
Has anyone run into Plastisol color limitations? 
