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MentinkiZM · June 22nd, 2008

Ok. So. I haven’t been on t-shirt forums for a while, I have been trying to get my clothing line up and going, and im almost there. Although, I have hit a snag. My problem is this. Is it a problem to print over colors already printed with a different color? I have a lot of "grunge" looking designs as backgrounds of my new line. these grunge styles overlap each other and are different colors. Do I have to go through and somehow cut around each grunge (I know, for screen printing, each "color" is supposed to be a new layer) or can I print over one another? Any help in any way on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

-MzM

splathead · June 22nd, 2008

You kinda lost me as you went into describing what you are wanting to do. Can you screen one color over another? Yes. Will it look ok? Depends. The ink has to be darker than the one it's covering.

Also, if you are covering large areas, you design may become very thick with ink.

spreadingink · June 22nd, 2008

If your screen printer runs the artwork through a rip for output it won't matter as areas that are "covered" won't be output and won't be burnt into the screen.

You should be ok.

Hope this helps, hard to explain here.

Dave

xbrandon408x · June 22nd, 2008

yea i had the same problem to but i just learned to make it so where the colors underneath arn't burnt into the screen or to make sure the bottom color was lighter. you don't need a rip program to do this i don't have one but it does help a looooot :P

macmiller · June 23rd, 2008

you need to set up the art to be either butt registered or have a slight trap. personally, I have better luck with butting and grunge designs can get a away with a little mis-registration in some cases w/o killing the design.

xbrandon408x · June 23rd, 2008

whats butt register is that just the separation without any traps?
haha sorry noob question but i just wanted to make sure :P

macmiller · June 23rd, 2008

a trap is a slight overlap of colors. butt register is each color is butted up against eachother.

Sheepsalt · June 23rd, 2008

Yeah, if your colors overlap the top color will look a little different than it would if there were nothing under it. Also, you're wasting ink by doing that, and making the design heavier, as was mentioned before. Even with a black layer you'll see and feel the edges of the layer(s) beneath. If you're printing with discharge, water-based inks, or wet-on-wet, you'll definitely want to eliminate that overlap.

You didn't mention what software you're using, but if you're using photoshop you can put each color on a separate layer, select a top layer, use the magic wand set to non-contiguous to select all the empty areas, then select the layers underneath one at a time, and do a "cut pixels" to eliminate the overlap.

xbrandon408x · June 23rd, 2008

yea your right about that trap makes it easier but then you get those stupid edges
what if you have a press that doesn't have micro-registration can you still do butt
if you carefully put the seps. together. cause i can't affard a press with micros yet.

MentinkiZM · June 24th, 2008

Thanks for everyone that responded. You have been a great help!

TshirtsOnYou · June 24th, 2008

My biggest reason for dropping out the artwork underneath is that the overlapping ink areas will be slightly shiny because it's ink on top of ink.

Grunge tends toward the dull surface look.

But your overalpping ink colors could be a plus if they make new colors & add abstract dimensions to the overall design.

You might want to print one or 2 designs before you re-make the seps with butt to butt registration.

Experiment - then deicide what you like.

Sheepsalt · June 25th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by xbrandon408x


	yea your right about that trap makes it easier but then you get those stupid edges what if you have a press that doesn't have micro-registration can you still do butt if you carefully put the seps. together. cause i can't affard a press with micros yet.

The first time I did multi-color printing was on a single-color press. I drilled holes in the screen clamp, put the film on the platen, lined up the first screen and drilled through the holes into the screen frame... then did the same for the other colors. I'd print the first color, then unclamp the screen & clamp the next one in, using pins in the holes to get it close to where it was, then lower the screen, line it up, tighten & print. I'd also put a mark on the edge of the platen and a matching mark on the edge of the screen frame to help line them up when I brought it down. It worked, and I made piles of good shirts.

So, yes, you can do this without micros if you're diligent. If you have a multi-color press without micros, you can put the film on the platen & clamp each screen in place aligned to the film. Just take your time setting up, & make sure all the screens have the same off-contact and level.