Need help printing "vintage" look

[im_mcguire]

So I have a client that wants 700 pieces printed on tri blend shirts. I can't run discharge due to ventilation issues, so I am curious how you would run this. Our clients always want a bright print with ubdervase, so this is a new style for us to print. We currently use Rutland M3 for ink. Could that work without, or would a straight water base ink be ok?

Any help would be awesome. Thanks!

[im_mcguire]

I want to note, they want a dulled look and not a distress texture to the ink.

[Frog]

Base it down, and go through a finer mesh than usual. You are actually shooting for poor coverage.

[Maff]

What color shirt?
What color print?
Depending on that... Waterbase ink could definitely work

[Dottonedan]

Two things.

1, If you are printing on TRI-Blends, then won't a thin layer of ink, high mesh, (no poly blocker) create bleed and random color shifts with the change of garment colors?  That could be what you are looking for,...but may get textures of heather coming through the base.

2, To get a dulled look, seems to be a color choice. Choosing more duller inks than the brighter. Kind of "in the art".
Without textures adding to the vintage look, your basically just looking at color choices as mentioned above. Solid spot colors I take it.

Then, you have the factor of the garment. Tri Blend. I assume this already has a heather look?   With thin mesh and solid spot colors, that alone, on a regular base, (no poly blocker) could give you a distressed affect without any texture pattern.  That tho, doesn't really give me the idea of "vintage". More of a textured affect...with the possibility of a color/tint shift if changing colors of the garment.

So the Vintage look, must come from the art alone (I'm thinking). It's the style of the art you are relying on, not the print so much ??

[im_mcguire]

I'm sorry if the photo is small. There are 4different color inks on 5 colored shirts. District DM130.

[whitewater]

for me i would use a 230 screen - 1 or 2 strokes and thats it. no p/f/p

[RICK STEFANICK]

we would do the same and run the higher mesh for the hand but also base the inks down with chino base

[Frog]

Just to make sure that we are all on the same page, "vintage" generally conveys a look of age, with its ensuing fading through laundering and general wear.
Often (though specifically not this time) goes hand-in-hand with "distress", usually produced with an overlay, simulating wear and tear, with actual cracks and holes in the print.

[Sbrem]

I'm with Andy, "vintage" is a bit ambiguous, to me that's wooden frames with stapled mesh...

Steve

[Frog]

Just for kicks, check this out.
A client attached this picture to a recent inquiry about new shirts. It shows the fading and wear of ten years.
(The Champion cross grain shirt itself still looked great)
If someone wanted to duplicate this look, it would also need to be in the art. He, however wanted the new shirts to look like new.

[AAMike]

To me a dull look would be in the ink color selection. Like a rust color instead of red. I would achieve this by picking a muted color palette and basing back the ink with fashion soft or chino base and running it directly on the garment through a 230 mesh. If you want to hold the fibers down maybe under base with fashion base and flash and roll with a smash plate before the color.

[im_mcguire]

So I guess the "vintage" is not what I am looking for, maybe a muted color then... attached is a picture of what he is trying to convey with the ink, granted it will be a 1 color ink.

[Frog]

To me, that look is still one of a little translucency, which on anything other than white, makes the color muted or duller.
This was the look popular a few years back when the WB thingie started really taking off. To keep the hand soft, the coverage wasn't there, and voila! the vintage look was born.

[Colin]

Internally we call that Vintage Ink.

No Underbase (or very very little - maybe all light halftones) and a Different base (or base combination) (so many variables) mixed into your pigments/color boosters/equalizers/etc...  Here we use UltraSoft Primer Clear from Rutland.  Chino base would also work.  Fashion Soft from Wilflex etc...