How to "mix" colors on a shirt? (how to print this basically)

[Gilligan]

It's already has a lot of detail that I got to try and hold together... what mesh do I run on the black to get that detail on the rabbit but still get good coverage on the solids?  Not practical?

My main question though is can I take the yellow and blue and mix them to get green with regular union soft HS ink?  I'm guessing no, I need process inks?

This is only 36 pcs so I'm not looking to go crazy here but if I can learn something at the same time then it wouldn't be bad... I'm making money so not too worried about how much trouble.

Also, these are going on Next Level tri-blend vintage whites.

*edit* Woops!

[Frog]

Is there an attachment missing?

[Dottonedan]

Yea, same question.

[Dottonedan]

Without seeing the image, a 230 mesh at 45lpi does hold a decent amount of detail and a 230 in black will provide enough coverage.

Any inks in halftone can create a green. The question to ask, will be, "is this green good enough for the customer? inks don't need to be "process inks" to blend. You can take any regular "thick spot color ink and thin it out  enough to go through higher mesh to get it to blend. Small Dora and thin inks are what is needed to blend colors. Well, you also need the right combination in the seps also.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Small Dora? Is this some Sep secret?

[Gilligan]

Fixed it!

He never said anything about the green... I only noticed it when looking at how I was possibly gonna out put the films.

He called this job a 3 color because that is what he used to make the AI file.  So, I'm not too sure how critical the color tone is, as you can probably tell from the pic now... it's rather abstract.

BTW, that is just a section of the shirt front... there are a couple other spots further up with just yellow and blue but I felt this sample gave the best resolution and got the point across without being ridiculous.

[Dottonedan]

Dora was supposed to be Dots.

Yes. You can make that green. I would print the yellow over the blue. The % is hard to tell.
You shouldn't need much. Maybe 30% blue under 20% yellow, on white.

The art looks to me like I would use a 305 on the black and not worry about coverage.

[Gilligan]

Let me add the entire image to just make sure things are clear in my mind.

FYI, don't forget, I'm printing manually.

[Colin]

Everything Dan said.

305 mesh for the black to hold detail that small in the rabbit, now that we know the scale.  The print should still be blenty dark enough on tri-blend shirts.

230 mesh for the yellow and blue spot colors.

wet-on-wet and good to go.

[tonypep]

As an FYI, with waterbase or discharge you would not have to halftone. 100% solid overlay and crush together with the black screen.
Assuming there is some give and take with the green color.

[Dottonedan]

Tony,

Since we are on that subject, I would like ot ask about that theory of overlapping (100%) of anything.  Now, I know you know your stuff and in this area, much more than I. I will admit that i am very very new to waterbase inks and how they react,  thus my questions.

How is it that any 100% of any color does not dominate another?  I understand blending to a degree. Lets take Yellow and Blue to make a green.
100% of yellow over or under a 100% of blue seems like it should be overpowered by the blue. Now, that is a general statement. I realize that taking a biddle to light color of blue can end up in the middle of the road when adding yellow. Darker blues, in the art (lets say a pms 280 that needs to be in the art) does not seem like you would use 100% of it to make a decent green. I am thinking my old way, as in (thinking in terms of using plastisol) and/or/ mixings paints or any kind of ink, paint or colors in general, Darker blues make darker greens but put in the wrong sequense or in too much percentages, can overpower the green abd become blue green quickly. Is this not the same in waterbase inks? Again, Not doubting you. I have not been present on press in a wasterbase shop to know what goes on.

Thanks for any feedback.
D

[tonypep]

Its true that contamination can occur. Which is why lighter colors need to print under darker ones. But remember the wb inks saturate the fabric much more than conventional plastisols which minimizes this. The technique has it's limits and if you're pantone specific you may run into trouble.
If anyone remembers the New Balance City Scape shirt this is a good example of the process. We created secondary oranges, greens, and purples without using those screens and colors.

[Frog]

I broke into the screen printing scene forty years ago with water based inks on yardage, and we just learned what to expect from our particular inks, and got what we got mixing solids on the cloth. Matches were fortunately never an issue.
Hell, back then, I had never heard of Pantone and PMS was what we dreaded a few days each month from our wives and girlfriends!

I did carry this over to my early plastisol attempts, with either dots, crosshatches, translucent overprints, and/or wet on wet mixing on the shirt. Still do, but never as a specific color, just a rough idea with a fairly wide latitude.

[Gilligan]

PMS was what we dreaded a few days each month from our wives and girlfriends!

Maybe that was your problem... trying to have both.

I'd like to do this waterbase and my client would probably prefer it that way also... he is dropping the coin for these fashion tees.  But I have ZERO clue on how to do waterbase stuff.  Hell, I barely have a clue on how to do this plastisol stuff. 

[Frog]

PMS was what we dreaded a few days each month from our wives and girlfriends!

Maybe that was your problem... trying to have both.

I'd like to do this waterbase and my client would probably prefer it that way also... he is dropping the coin for these fashion tees.  But I have ZERO clue on how to do waterbase stuff.  Hell, I barely have a clue on how to do this plastisol stuff. 

In that era, it wasn't necessarily the same problem as today, at least not by the standards of some! 

My dad is 90, presently with the third woman ever in his life, and he does not want to hear that that was just a regular weekend for me in 1971!