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Just What Does T-Shirt Printing Entail?
By Busy Door Guest Blogger | April 27, 2009
For merchandise and fashion there are mainly 3 particular methods of screen printing employed. ‘Spot Color’ printing is the method most often used for a large variety of graphics. It is also the best suited method for such a task. The most suitable method used for the printing of graphics that are not photographic in nature is Spot colour printing.
A graphic designer usually chooses the ink colours used to reproduce the graphic images, and they are all Pantone specified. Pantone coated or noncoated color types are selected to clarify the ink hues of the pattern. The Pantone system is a global standard for colour matching where every colour is assigned a unique designation.
When colour identity and uniformity is an issue, for example in branded promotional garments or a large selection of products, this method of spot color printing works very well.
Another method of t-shirt screen printing used is called ‘4 Colour Process’. This method of printing is used mainly for photographic images and illustrations that consist of a wide range of colours, tones and graduations. Book and magazine images are also printed by the same 4 colour process.
The transparent inks blend with one another on a plain white backdrop to recreate each of the colours and shades present in the original. This is certainly a much harder procedure to do on material than it is to do on paper. The methods are pretty similar. This type of printing will of course only work on white garments and will not be suitable for coloured fabrics.
The cost for the print set up is going to be a lot higher than that of simple spot colour designs and is only good for the bigger print runs of 100+. When the garment screen printers make full coloured images and put them on coloured fabrics this is called ‘Simulated process’. The artwork is divided into different hues and tones utilising a process that resembles spot colour printing in order to obtain the overall appearance and style of the original picture..
Most t-shirt printers use this method, and it is especially popular when used to copy fantasy and heavy metal album artwork onto shirts to be sold by the band. Colour separations and the number of colors necessary make this the most expensive t-shirt printing option, and the higher set-up costs mean it is usually reserved for larger runs.
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