[kentphoto]

I am about to get some plastisol cold peel transfers made for me. They are saying that some parts of my designs are too intricate, and won't come out well once they're screen printed on the transfer paper.

Has anyone else had this issue come up?

I'm told I have to start designing with wider lines, and outline some of the images.

 

[Jasonda]

I am wondering about this too. I read on this article that lines should not be thinner than 1.6mm (about a 3pt line):

http://www.unionink.com/articles/transfer.html

Any differing opinions on this?

Also, what about negative space? If my design is made using 3pt lines, but the space between is less than 3pt, will it still print correctly?

I am attaching an example of what I am talking about. The lines are 3pt. This screen shot is at 8x magnification (800%) so you can see it more clearly. It would be for a 1-color print.

 

[T-BOT]

... i think one problem with screen printing spot-color fine line artwork on jersey, rib knits etc. is that these fabrics are not flat and hard like paper. So you will lose some detail there due to the fabric textures.

Also, if you are printing light ink colors on darks this will involve some type of white base, thicker ink, or even stretch adhesive. This may also change the end look/detail.

There is a difference between t-shirt graphic designing and post card designing. .... an alternative may SuB-Type printing.

 

[Fluid]

3pt lines should be fine. Negative space all depends on the variables T-BOT mentioned. Fomt what you posted if the print is black you should be fine if it is a color going on top of a white underbase you will have some slight filling in but should still hold much if not all the detail if printed properly.

 

[Twinge]

I think having less negative space is probably okay. From my (admittedly limited) direct experience with this restriction, the problem is in the ink itself being thick enough to actually transfer to the shirt when pressed.

This hasn't been a big problem, but on one of our designs the plastisol transfers didn't do very well. Even though we did expand the thickness of the lines a bit for the plastisol version, it never quite transfered fully to the shirt when we pressed it - it lost a few bits of the thinnest lines and details. Still looked fairly good (for the design in question, it's hard to tell if the missing area is intentional or not), but it might impact other designs more significantly.

I don't have a good sized version of the image in question (I'm posting here away from my home computer), but here's a small version: Thin Lines Example

 

[T-BOT]

good sample Twinge.

one way to improve the high detail graphic idea to print on knits, is to engarge the artwork. For example, a 6x8 fine art graphic enlarged to a 12x18 printed on a shirt looks good i find. That is just my personal preference . The detail is more visable (more fashion forward like) and the durability will be better too.

I like big size high detail graphics on shirts.

 

[Jasonda]

one way to improve the high detail graphic idea to print on knits, is to engarge the artwork. For example, a 6x8 fine art graphic enlarged to a 12x18 printed on a shirt looks good i find. That is just my personal preference . The detail is more visable (more fashion forward like) and the durability will be better too.

I forgot to mention that for this design, the finished print size would be very small, around 6x8 inches. Since the design isn't finished yet, I wanted to check about the negative space issue before I put more detail into it. It's never fun having to change a design later on.

Anyway, it looks like it will work out fine. Thanks for your helpful answers everyone.

 

[T-BOT]

above art size about 9" wide.
---copyright


below, art size about 2" wide - Note the thin black-shadow line along the trademark text name/logo and also the copyright symbol was CLEAR/space, very small printing. Both graphics were printed on white t-shirts "aa" and used superstretch plastisol transfers. copyright red stripe.

hope this gives you a better idea what can be done.

 

[Jasonda]

Thanks Lucy. Does using "superstretch" transfers (I am assuming these are the ones with adhesive added) help retain the details?

 

[T-BOT]

Thanks Lucy. Does using "superstretch" transfers (I am assuming these are the ones with adhesive added) help retain the details?

yes. Superstretch holds it together.

But i would consider the over all design look of the garment/graphic, and incorporate a tight fine jersey knit fabric shirt in the mix (with zero stretch) if possible when going the spot-color plastisol root.

Fine detail will crack when printed on 200% stretch knits like "aa" rib knits etc. nothing can stop that.

Even 50/50 shirts stretch a little too much for fine detail.

But it all depends on various factors, and no 2 jobs are the same.

It can be printed, the hard part is making it look and feel how the client wants it without cracking after a few washes. Thats why i thing there is more to designing t-shirts than designing business cards.

When peeps come to get transfers made, the first thing we do is ask our selfs, how well are these transfer designs going to hold up in the wash according to the clients shirt/fabric selection ?

You the designer, need to be aware of the factors involved with screen printing before creating the designs. Keeping an over all look of the finished garment in mind to accomodate its durability factor is the most important thing to consider.

 

[Jasonda]

You the designer, need to be aware of the factors involved with screen printing before creating the designs. Keeping an over all look of the finished garment in mind to accomodate its durability factor is the most important thing to consider.

That's what I'm trying to do, in order to keep the quality as good as possible when it gets printed. Thanks for the input!