How would you run this?

[Prosperi-Tees]

Just wondering how you guys would run this and on what mesh count. I usually do a 45lpi on a standard 230. Just wondering if I could run this on a 150 smesh static or a 225 smesh static and would a 55lpi make it look smoother?

[TCT]

Discharge or plastisol?

[Underbase37]

I think you should be good @ 55lpi & a 225*S* with a pfp, this should look smooth. If you think you can hold it ( 65lpi ) will look smoother, but if you can't hold it it will look choppy at the bottom of fade.

[Underbase37]

Damn it TCT your right, that should of been the first question.

[mimosatexas]

I would run discharge as one screen 225S with 55lpi, one stroke and done.

If you're running plastisol, i would still run 225S and 55lpi, but I would either run one screen with white and p/f/p and be very conscious of gain in your fade or ideally run two screens, a base of either light gray or a thinned out white, 2 strokes (the second to really get the base into the fabric, or if you have a roller squeegee I think that would work even better), then come back with the second screen of white as a highlight, single stroke.  When doing seps, bring back the highlight screen so you're only printing the lightest parts and fade out at around 50% on your base.  That will result in a super nice fade.

I did a job similar to this with a radial gradient from white to black and ran two screens with a thinned white like above and it came out FANTASTIC.

[Prosperi-Tees]

It is plastisol. I really need to take some time to improve our quality of printing. Right now we are slammed. We have had no quality complaints but my eye is not satisfied with what we are putting out.

[Dottonedan]

Light base gray and top white.  I would use 305 mesh on base gray and 230 on top white. 45 line screen is going to hold the smallest dots. (Something you need to consider on this job no matter what mesh you use.


225 S mesh should still use 45lpi.  (225 divided by 5=45lpi) A 55 will lose the small dots and cause some jaggies (even tho) it's got more open area. It's got more open area, but still has threads. Your smallest dot used should be larger (like at the least, 2 mesh threads) but most fine dot printers say to add one mesh opening) small. Thats whats needed to maintain the fullest, soft fade.  If it's not a big deal, then use 55.

[mimosatexas]

I know the math supports 45 vs 55 for the 225S, but I have been using 55 without any obvious issues.  I'm sure I'm missing dots here and there on the low end, but the prints just look so much better as 55 vs 45, especially on stuff like this.  I REALLY wish they made a 272/280S static because the 300S just doesnt work well with white for me and sometimes the 225 feels a little too easy to push it through manually.

[dirkdiggler]

White base 200, Grey 305.

[kingscreen]

White base 200, Grey 305.

[tonypep]

These fades are DC 55 line 230 mesh

[mimosatexas]

Out of curiosity, why would you base white and top gray?  What about the areas at the bright end of the fade?  I wouldn't accept a base white alone as bright enough personally.

[Gilligan]

These fades are DC 55 line 230 mesh

No offense Tony but... F You!!!!



*Damn that sh!t looks awesome!


*how bout that instead Dan

[tonypep]

Thanks Gil (I suppose!) Said it before but DC blends w/ no UB rule. Just can't do it as well with Plas. When the dots steam off they "melt" together just a bit, resulting in an almost seamless fade.

[Dottonedan]

Here's my thinking on this. The image looks like it should work best with a gray base down first. and one white on top using a mesh that will put down a little more ink for bright coverage. That should be a 230.


The base gray down first, on 305 mesh provides a light lay down...that will soak into the shirt more...helping the fade. The gray ink will be (just enough) to help support the top white to stay bright enough. You don't need a bright white down first (to support the top white). Since the art at the fade is gray, this makes for a very good choice.