Author Topic: Custom Pantones with WB and HSA  (Read 1727 times)

Offline ericheartsu

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Custom Pantones with WB and HSA
« on: June 01, 2015, 07:30:16 PM »
We have been getting so many orders with custom WB and HSA colors.

They are taking FOREVER to make.

We are using sericol for our WB inks, and Matsui pigments with Green Galaxy Opaque core for the HSA.

We have a little tester screen, but we keep getting color shifts. We match the pantone perfectly, but as soon as it's printed through the screen, and onto a base, it's a completely different shade.

Any tips on what we can do to hone this a little better?
Night Owls
Waterbased screen printing and promo products.
www.nightowlsprint.com 281.741.7285


Offline ZooCity

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Re: Custom Pantones with WB and HSA
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2015, 08:01:33 PM »
First off, eliminate custom mixes wherever you can.  Develop a set of standard colors and offer those.  Most will just go for what is available.

Next, charge more for WB and HSA mixes.  It's +$10 over regular "non-standard ink color" mixes here.  Still probably not enough, it can soak up hours of a week, even for those skilled in color mixing.  Charge whatever you think is fair and also use the charge as a deterrent so folks pick a standard color instead.

These inks will simply need adjustments from formula mixes.  Accept it and then do everything you can to make it easy to make those inevitable adjustment's- use the ink system's software interface thingy, have a template in your job sheet (you got one) that auto totals percentages as you add inks or put out a marker board to jot down mix numbers, whatever it is, every little thing helps. 

At some point your ink person will get some intuition as to what will shift which way and begin compensating for it on the first mix.  For instance, we instruct our ink girl to omit black and white pig and then add back in stages.  After some time she can guess how much of the white and black in the formula is actually going to hit the color.  TonyP always alludes to this and it's true- the mfg formulas are not accurate and often extrapolated, overusing white and black where they are not appropriate.  Also, you may hit a wall with certain systems and certain hues, be ready to accept that to and always warn your clients that you can't actually produce a match, just something that looks good and is close.

Hope that helps.

Offline brandon

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Re: Custom Pantones with WB and HSA
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2015, 09:18:55 PM »
Both Green Galaxy and Permaset offer RFU's ready to go. As Zoo said eliminate options and offer a core set of colors. GG might not have the sheer amount of colors that Permaset does but a little birdie told me they are on the way. I am not a chemist and I get a lot, a lot of different answers from all the ink company reps but from my understanding HSA inks are completely different from standard water so if using Matsui pigments with Green Galaxy Core Base (both good stuff) you might not get what you are looking for. Then again I have been at the hospital all day and am extremely tired and trying to get my mind off of things haha

Offline brandon

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Re: Custom Pantones with WB and HSA
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2015, 09:20:22 PM »
That means I probably don't know what I am talking about  :o

Offline tonypep

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Re: Custom Pantones with WB and HSA
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2015, 09:17:07 AM »
We have in house formulas for 120 colors, 80 which are active. Opaque, transparent, and semi-opaque for some. Totally different critters than plastisol but we rarely need to custom match. Just adjust an existing formula.