Smoother blends

[ericheartsu]

We printed a 3 color discharge process print on Friday, and they came out good, but it got us thinking, what can we do to smooth out our halftones, so they don't looks so half-toney.

So, here are the pictures! Any tips would be awesome. Here is the job specs too:

Each color was printed through a 225s mesh screen, coated 1/1.

Files were printed and exposed with an I-Image STE II, through a 55LPI Rip, i believe a 22.5 dot, with Danny's curve settings.

Each screen was printed two times, using sericol and CCI Discharge inks.

Shirts were Tultex 0202s.

[Dottonedan]

The big dots come into play anytime you have art that contains the areas where the dots are largest. Such as, the mid range from 40% to 60% tones for example. While it's 55lpi, its the area where it's got the larger dots. A way to avoid this is in the art, is to add in another color (representing that area) of tone rather than to use the dots.

It's the same separation and printing theory to use less of the small (hard to achieve dots) in the highlights and shadows ranges. Add in another actual color versus trying to print those areas using dots. This is where people are able to use 80-100lpi on tee shirts (since they aren't actually printing those small dots), they are only printing the mid tone ranges (but the LPI is very high, so those areas you are referring to right now, (the 40-60) looks smaller.

[ericheartsu]

Thanks Dan!

[mimosatexas]

I do quite a few of these kinds of prints, and from the detail shot in your last image it looks like I sep/print them differently.  Two things I am noticing:

1. It looks like you have quite a bit of shirt peaking through because both colors are halftoned in a way where your print doesnt have 100% coverage across those areas of the print.  This is causing loss in vibrancy and the contrast between the dots of ink and the shirt color are making it looks more halftone-y than it would if there was complete coverage.
2. Your edges in those areas are jagged/halftoned in a way that makes them look blurry.

When I do multiple screen faux split fountain stuff I overlap the screens enough so there is 100% ink coverage in any areas that are supposed to be 100% covered by the print.  I am assuming that the blurry/halftoned edges are also a result of the lack of complete coverage, and if you overlapped them more the edges would clean up like the top/bottom of the print. Not sure how to explain it better than that honestly, so I'll try to take and upload some close ups.  Tony posts these a lot as well, and you'll notice the same thing, where he has 100% coverage and the dots are on top of another solid color, which fade out under the solid areas of the next color, etc.

edit: quick search for one of Tony's since reading about how he approaches this kind of stuff influenced how I have done it: http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,16312.0/nowap.html  He has posted a bunch about gradients/blends/fades/overprinting in relation to discharge