Ken Styles

A band from church wants me to print up some black shirts for them with the image below.

Now he said I can do whatever I need to do - including takeing the background out (which I'm going to do), and I can also take the color out of the music notes and just make it solid white.

I wanted to surprise him by actually blending some of the bright colors in the music notes like the original art work. (Red, purple and Blue)

Now would I be able to just print the the lettering and then print the music notes without a white underbase?

Or should I print everything white, flash then print the notes with the color blends?

What do you think?

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TeddyRocky

You don't need a white underbase if you don't want. But it's a matter of how bright you want the notes to be. Since you want bright colors, do what you said, print notes and text white and colored notes on top.

 

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Ken Styles

Good point.

I don't really trust my machine to hold reg, so I'm thinking of just printing without the white underbase and hopfully the print doesn't turn a mud brown after a few hits.

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Ken Styles

Great ideas!

Yes, I'm def cropping out the background as the customer said I could.

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Ken Styles

You see this?

I want to try something like that..

I belive it's called "split foundation"

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EastBayScreen

Split fountain is multiple colors of ink in the same screen, pulled in one direction. I doubt the bicycle shirt is printed that way. Wouldn't really work for your design either, unless you played with the coloring, and pulled from the side.

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RichardGreaves

You need to study the classic method of printing on darks which is to "choke" the under base screen, and print the top colors without a choke. Imagine a bedspread that covers the sides of the bed - it has to be a little larger.



Imagine looking at a sandwich or poker chips from the top, all you see is the top color, but from the side (EVEN if your two prints are in PERFECT register like the poker chips), you will see the under base color. If I'd used a bigger piece of bread on the top, I wouldn't see meat or cheese.

Now imagine a chocolate covered cake. Across the top, and down the sides. Nobody knows what's underneath.

Are you hungry yet?

It is as simple as turning off the 'stroke' (in Illustrator) or outline (in CorelDRAW), but you will also eventually need to learn how to make a composite of all your colors - which would be the under base.

Scott Fresener has several articles:
U.S. Screen Print & Inkjet Technology

Creating Underbases for Dark Shirts in Corel Draw
Trapping in CorelDraw for Better Prints
Spot Color Underbase in Corel Draw

Big Tip #1: The under-base needs to be opaque, BUT THE TOP colors need to be transparent, to let the white through.

Big Tip #2: The fastest way to better prints on dark is higher tension. Most of your other troubles will go away as you raise the tension, lower the off-contact and raise your mesh count. Remember, New Buffalo Shirt Factory only prints on darks and doesn't have any mesh less than 300 tpi. They are all high tension Newman Roller Frames.

Big Tip #3: The top colors need to be printed with high mesh counts, because you are no longer printing on absorbent cotton, but the un-absorbent vinyl you just flashed.

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Ken Styles

aaahhh, I see. So if the white underbase is made slightly smaller, does that mean tha the overlay will be a little darker around the edges? I guess it wouldn't even show if it is done right.

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EastBayScreen

Your colors should be thin and printed through a high enough mesh so that if you were to print the color directly on a dark garment you would barely see it.

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RichardGreaves

Quote: Originally Posted by Ken Styles So if the white underbase is made slightly smaller, does that mean tha the overlay will be a little darker around the edges? I guess it wouldn't even show if it is done right.

What color is a transparent ink on a dark garment?

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RichardGreaves

Quote: Originally Posted by EastBayScreen Your colors should be thin and printed through a high enough mesh so that if you were to print the color directly on a dark garment you would barely see it.

Beware - thin would probably mean more liquid. That is one way to make an ink more transparent - or you could start with a transparent ink.

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