Screen Printing FAQ
How does pricing work? Can I get a quote?
When it comes to pricing your quote, there are five things we consider:
- Quantity
- Garment Style/Brand
- Decoration Type(s)
- Additional Services Required
Pro Tip: If you’re looking to save money, limiting your ink colors, increasing your order quantity, or selecting a different garment style may lower your cost pretty significantly.
If you need a quote, feel free to give us a call, or
Get a Quote.
Is my design affected by seams or zippers?
We don’t recommend printing over seams, or zippers.
We do our very best to produce the best looking prints anytime we print. However, printing on or over any seams, collars, pockets, zippers or otherwise is subject to distortion, print imperfections, and/or other small inconsistencies.
The closer a print is to a seam or zipper, the more prone to inconsistencies it will be. We typically recommend prints are placed no closer than .5" to a seam for best results.
What type of ink do you used for screen printing?
We specialize in screenprinting plastisol inks only. We do not offer water-based or dye-discharge inks at this time. Each ink type has its unique benefits and limitations.
Plastisol ink yields bright and opaque prints.
Waterbased and dye-discharge inks can achieve super soft prints, but typically not as bright or easier to work with for smaller runs.
While plastisol inks cannot achieve as soft of a print, we specialize in striking a balance between a bright detailed print, and a soft comfortable-to-wear print.
What is a "halftone"?
Screen printing is a ‘spot color’ process – this means that each color is printed using a mixed ink, and each color has its own screen to transfer the image onto the garment. Halftones are tiny dots used to recreate shades of an ink color on press.
This is where the halftone comes in. A halftone is an array of different size dots which allows screen printers to simulate tonal variation when printing with a single ink on press. What’s the benefit? A halftone allows to use one ink color in one screen, and approximates various shades of that ink color. The eye blends these tiny dots into smooth tones.
How does Pantone (PMS) matching work?
Inks can be mixed to closely simulate swatches from the Pantone Matching System. We keep a copy of both the Solid Coated and Solid Uncoated guides in our shop.
Once printed, the main type of inks we use are similar swatches from the Solid Coated book. The inks are slightly glossy and reflect a bit of light, so it’s not possible to simulate Solid Uncoated swatches with our current ink process.
Both the Solid Coated and Solid Uncoated books contain inks printed onto paper. Screen printed inks applied to textiles behave a little bit differently due to differences in the ink and the texture of the garment, so it’s important to note that it’s not possible to perfectly match a Pantone Swatch, only to closely simulate it with the different ink type. There are optical differences due to the variables between ink and garment.
PMS Inks are within 90% acceptable range, depending on the coverage of the ink, what you are printing, and on the shift in color when printing on an underbase. No perfect match is guaranteed. All Pantone colors are mixed with our industry-leading mixing system, which uses precise gram scales to ensure closest color match.
Ask your Account Rep for more details when exact color accuracy is a concern.
Do you offer Special Effects like 'Metallic', 'Glitter', or 'Clear' ink?"
We sure do! Options such as Puff, Metallic, Shimmer, Glitter, Clear Gel, Foil, Phantom, and Neon Colors. Ask your Account Representative for more details.
