I had a very bad experience (in my opinion) where I sat in for a color separator one day here locally.
The owner was a numbers guy and didn't kn ow anything about screen printinting and relied on the Production Mgr for all things production.
The Production Mgr. was a previous owner with a partner and they both split. So now, this Prod. Mrg works for the numbers guy. He's grumpy, and requires all things done HIS WAY only. YOU don't get to have a say. Now with that said, know that (for the most part), he's right. He's a pretty knowledgeable printer (in his own world). Meaning, he does well with what he does. That doesn't mean that he knows all. So they do well with 90-95% of all things that come through there. THIS DAY, however, he happened to get a job that was beyond him...and he wasn't listening to what this new guy had to say, cuz I was only here for one day and so far, I'm messing his order up. LOL.
The artist was out on vacation and the shop has me sit in for him. I wasn't being considered for a sep position. I was there speaking with the owner more about a "creative" art position. They currently didn't offer creative services and were considering it. So while there, the owner said, Hey our separator is going to be out of town and it would be helpful if you could fill in. That way, my Prod. Mgr could get a read on you and you two could see if the both of you could work.
I knew that, and the owner knew that, but the Prod. Mgr didn't seem to be fully in the loop. While there, I told people in production as I didn't want to have them get any ideas and didn't want this one color separator to get nervous. So he left for wherever, knowing I would be coming in on Monday to fill in...but he came back that Monday, and sat in (on his vacation day) to "be a round".
So first thing in the am, Mrg says all the jobs I am working on will need to be produced over the next few days so it's unlikely that I will see the printed result while here today.
I started out trying to help take on some of their more tougher separations jobs. (I asked for it). So I had done 2-3 other files before getting to this one job (that turned out to be changed to a RUSH jobs). It had been done before, same art style, garment etc. but with some info changes in the art. So it should look like that last one, (but they stressed they wanted it to look more like the original. Ok, here we go. trouble already. The previous print looked nothing like the original art sent it. (They couldn't do it) so they went with whatever they had gotten last time. I didn't know that.
The separation part wasn't the tough part, but getting it to look right (on the shirt) was. It was one of those things that (if the inks and printing technique) wasn't done right with experience, it could look bad or wrong.
It was a Tri-Blend, heathered medium purple garment and the art was a vintage distressed look, and the art itself, was a purplish reddish pink watercolor aged distressed vintage look with textures muted blends of similar colors from color to color etc.
First know, that they were using a DTS with no halftone cure adjustment. THIS for me, tosses me into an issue right off the bat, since I could not be aware of how much dot gain to cut back on (having never done any seps for this Co) before. So anything I start out with is only a best guess. The full time separator, would adjust each job manually based on his prior knowledge. THAT, give him the upper hand to have all of his stuff look much better from the start.
Fist attempt: Underbase, Pink, Medium purple and dark purple. The dark is a reference and was not actually very dark.
The result looks way too bright, too solid, too filled in on the halftones. Production Mgr. says, "We got too much in the underbase". Ok, So I go with whatever they say they need. So knowing they are using DTS with no ddot gain compensation, I cut back on the underbase, opening up areas far more to allow more ink to go to the shirt and also opened up on the colors intended to give more halftone detail.
2nd attempt. Mrg says this doesn't look right. We still have too much underbase. take out the underbase all together. We will use more opaque inks. Ok, No unerbase. I also try to differentiate between the light purple and the dark purple (that don't seem to show any color difference.
3rd attempt. Mgr says, This isn't gonna work. It's 1:15 and we need to have this order out the door by 2:30-3:00. Now, by this time, I am let in on that it wasn't done as the original the (last time) because they could not get it right. The Prod. Mgr didn't seem to remember this part, this issue with the last job) but still didn't seem to take ownership of the issues.
He was blaming this new guy. He said, "Well, our separator is here, so if you can't handle this, maybe we should just let him take over cus I need to get this right and out the door. as if maybe to threaten me, I don't know. So I said, by all means, the job needs done, I don't mind who does it. As long as it gets to looking right is what we are looking for. (even though, it will make me look bad if his comes our perfect firs ttime). LOL. So here I am, the new fill in temp) that claims to be a separator that can't get this design to look right on press the fist time I'm there.
So, they actually closed shop that day, at 2:30. So I didn't get to see this other separator do what he does and didn't get to find out if the job actually printed as it was supposed to. Not that they were hiring a separator, but I never heard back from them. I can only imagine that the Mrg didn't give a good reprot back to the owner/numbers guy who was considering me for creative work. Who knows, maybe down the road, as they were not really ready too soon.
Some times, you are the bug, and some times you are the windshield.
