Am I alone on this?

[mooseman]

we offer the  Henry Ford full model T color pallet...any color you want as long as it is black
mooseman

[GraphicDisorder]

Rarely have to mix ink here, we may have 2-3 jobs a year call out a pantone. Love it.

[Doug S]

We went 10 years just doing stock colors.  I think I ordered 1 gallon of a Pantone in that 10 but in the last 3 years we've had more and more come in needing color specific prints so we went ahead and ordered the wilflex equalizer system.  It's nice to know that in a pinch that you can throw together a mix without having to wait.   That being said I would hate to have to mix everyday because of time and our lack of space.

[jvanick]

we mix anywhere between 4 to 8 quarts of pantone colors per week.

that being said, we push customers towards colors we already have mixed, but many times, when printing contract or for corporate apparel, that just doesn't work out well.

I think we have around 150-200 mixed quarts on the shelves right now, and we're adding more every day.

[XG Print]

Rarely do any PMS matching here.  We have a standard color chart and I do a lot of the art so I make sure to try and keep it to those colors.  We charge $25 on a match unless it is a good customer.  I know this is probably not feasible in a larger shop but it works for us.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

We don't have much call for pantone mixes, and we don't promote it. We do way more "eyeball mixes" than actual pantones.

That's plastisol.

With discharge and waterbase, its all mixed into bases except white, black, and Flo colors.

Storage and/or disposal of custom mixes is a major problem in our cramped shop.

[mimosatexas]

I mix 5-10 a week (mix of actual pantones and eye matched tweaked stock colors).  Stock colors are great, but people want what they want.  I charge for it and it pays for itself.  For a lot of mixes I end up just adding them into a generic blend after the job if there is a good chance I won't use it again, and then I use that ink for random less particular jobs that I know won't be repeated like event shirts.  Basically I have a gallon of "blue", "yellow", "red" etc.

[Wildcard]

Zanegun: I'm Interested to know what your color coded labels are representing?

I'm not a sim process printer but I imagine you guys will probably have multiple versions of some colors at different opacities?

[Admiral]

We have 325 quarts of Pantones right now.  We charge for using them (ones on hand are often waived though) so it is worth having the additional versatility with them.  We do stick to stock inks for most custom stuff though, makes it easier all around, less cleanup since we do keep several sets of squeegees/floods to stock inks. 

Having all of these color options is necessary to hit artwork as best as possible.  Artists do try to use Pantones we already have mixed when they are needed to make artwork work as well.

We weren't like this 4 years ago though - then we probably had our stock inks + 10 Pantones total maybe.  So I wouldn't say you are alone.  It is easier to have stock inks only, just limits artwork...so depends on what you print!

[zanegun08]

Zanegun: I'm Interested to know what your color coded labels are representing?

Different colors, are different series of ink.  Pink is Old Phthalate Rutland, Blue is Phthalates Free, Green is Waterbase / Discharge, Orange is EKO / PVC Free, and then within those inks there are HO, MI, ect. for different opacities, and then we have custom colors as well for different jobs / companies.

But I would recommend nobody to do this, mix to order, and push for a standard color card.  Now with new pantone colors (7000's) we are mixing "new shades" of super similar colors because they get called out.

How do other companies manage charging for colors when the Reps don't even know how to open a file, or see what color they have in their files?  I don't like quoting people and then having a bunch of additional hidden fees, so it is one thing I can't quite wrap my head around if the customer service doesn't know how to find colors to begin with?  We have a job in the pipeline before it goes to art, may have to work backwards to get colors first.

[Colin]

Zane:

Can you get Chris to start charging for Pantones?

Here, I always go through the files if there are questions about colors. Our sales team is well informed and knows when to ask me and the customer (which ends up being 90% of the time).  But we are certainly a touch smaller than you guys

[Sbrem]

Gee, I don't feel so bad now, we only have 500 - 600 or so. Yes, doing corporate work will have you make a lot of colors. Thank God they're plastisol and will outlive us...

Steve

[Wildcard]

That's a cool system. Thanks for sharing.