do you use a pantone book, or eye it off the computer screen? I know you can order custom pantone colors pre-mixed. I was wondering how everyone else was doing it
We mix our own according to formulas. We used to use Wilflex MX but have changed to the equalizers and Pigments. The discharge formulas get you close and you might have to tweak them.
Every computer monitor is different, but you can callibrate them with something like the Spider from Colorvision. However, your clients monitor WILL be different. Also, the background screen color can affect your eye when viewing color. Grey background works well.
As far as the inks go, invest in a mixing system. many ink companies have them. I have used the Wilflex PC, and the Wilflex MX, both with great results. My personal choice was the PC system, but to each their own. Each comes with a formula book ( or software) that includes all of the pantone #'s. The PC system allows you to use differnt bases, as well. It also has a calculator to estimate how much ink you will need for a job based on mesh, coverage, etc.
With either system you can make as little as about 250 grams (1 cup?) for testing purposes. Then compare the CURED sample to an up to date Pantone book. Oh, and you will need an ACCURATE digital scale, accurate to 1/10th of a gram.
You will save yourself a TON of wasted ink in the long run with a system and formulas, as opposed to adding a little of this blue to a little of this yellow, hoping to get a green something like this....then a little more blue...and a little more...ooops too much, now a little more yellow...etc. Now what am I going to do with this gallon of ugly green? See what I mean??
Union Ink has two Pantone Matching Systems, one for regular ink (Unimatch), and one for Maxopake. I've got the Maxopake. You can download the mixing software to your pc and plug in how much ink you want to mix, and it'll give you the formula in ounces or grams. You can print them out as labels and put them on your container, also. Color match is pretty good. Personally, I now wish I'd bought the Unimatch inks because I underbase everything on darks, so I usually have to either base down or reduce my Maxopake mixes to get them a little thinner.
Cost depends on what type of mixing system you desire. Plastisol, water based? We use Wilflex. It works great. The cost is you have to buy all the mixing inks on pigments. I beleive there is between 11 - 13 colors.
Cost depends on what type of mixing system you desire. Plastisol, water based? We use Wilflex. It works great. The cost is you have to buy all the mixing inks on pigments. I beleive there is between 11 - 13 colors.
I'll be using plastisol ink.
Is there a kit that puts it all together for you. Ink, base, pigments and chart?
Where can one find this kit? Order it online....
Thanks again!!
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Wilflex has the MX system which doesn't require base. The PC system does/allows you to pick which base you want (amazing base, genesis base, puff base, etc.) The downside to MX is there are 14 colors plus white that you will need. There are quart and gallon kits available online.
We use the MX system for matching pantone colors. I'm so confident in the system and my mixing that I never look at a pantone guide to make sure I've mixed the right color. The customers are always psyched at the fact that the pantone color they wanted is now in a jar ready for them to print. It's never been wrong. They have a program you can download that tells you how much you need per color to mix (not all colors used as frequently). You will still need to buy a precision scale (like was said above) that can get to 1/10th of a gram.
That's the Gallon kit. Which gives you a 5 gallon of the white (most used) and 1 gallon each of the other colors. There is also a quart kit available, but I couldn't find it on their site.
They also sell quarts of the MX ink which is pretty good cause you won't have to buy gallons of colors you never use when you run out. Some colors are rarely used, but that depends on each printer because not everyone asks for the same pantone mixes.
how do you guys color match ink ? 
