For the past few weeks, i've heen refining my screen printing of process color. While overall things were going predictable, i ran across a problem of snow flaking. This is where the process color has a tiny hole which allows the white underbase poke straight though.
To overcome this problem, rather than single stroking the squeegee, i now take 2 back to back strokes without any flash in between. Because 2 strokes transfer more ink, in photoshop i modified the transfer function back 20-30% to compensate for the second squeegee action. (see attached)
I'm now starting to get quite pleased with my results. The images attached are my personal test files and are not anything i ever plan to sell. Each was selected for the color content characteristics along with my personal desire to wear "the coolest" shirts.
The photos are taken from actual shirts. Only the level was adjusted.
To better bring out captain Spalding, i printed the magenta screen last. The black background was printed in superblack using 100% of cyan, yellow, magenta and black, rather than just 100% black.
The dali lama is the image i used 2 squeegee strokes and cutback the inks to compensate. If anything, i might have pulled the color back a little too much.
Both images were done at a 55 LPI screen.
The film was output on a laser printer using kimodesk transparencies
Union ink was used for the cyan, magenta, yellow and black
High pigment black was used rather than a process black
High pigment white was used for an underbase.
The white underbase was printed with a 110 line screen
The CMYK was printed with a 305 line mesh.
The exposures were done with a mercury light and vacuum frame
This technique should mean that the person making the shirt does not need to be 100% perfect in order to get a consistent result.
fred