# CMYK on black shirts?



## BeefGir (Aug 27, 2013)

I hit a serious brick wall. 
Friday we got a job for cmyk. We ran a sample on a white shirt. Looked amazing. But the shirts it will be going on are a dark grey. No problem. I will just throw a white under base under it, and it will be fine. that was my assumption. Come Monday I find out that’s not possible. All the colors become washed out. And now my back is against the wall. The job is due Wednesday, and I thought we had this figured out. What am I missing. This just needs a white under base, but its not working. Please help. I have attached picture of the design on white. then the design on an under base, and then a design on black with no under base.


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## jgabby (Mar 29, 2007)

On black garment, did you flash between each colors ? 
D


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## BeefGir (Aug 27, 2013)

no sir. i flashed the white underlay, but i was under the impression there is no flashing between colors.


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## BeefGir (Aug 27, 2013)

i called atlas, and they said i need a ripping program called tseps. i had nothing like this before. it looks like an amzing program. im just strugling to use the free trial now. this is dificult.


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## Printor (Apr 16, 2015)

4/color process is intended for wet on wet directly on light fabric. It is designed to soak into the fabric, more like a dye, than bond to the surface, like regular plastisols. On a underprint, the ink can't soak in and leave a rich deposit of ink. To come close, you need to flash between every color and will probably need to experiment with base. I usually base my inks out more for the wet on wet than I do for on top of a under print, in order to get similar colors on both. If I know I am only going to run dark shirts, I will avoid showing the client a light test print. add on.... your screens will mudd up fast as you go wet on wet over an underprint.


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## BeefGir (Aug 27, 2013)

that makes more sense. we talked to the customer and convinced them to switch to white shirts. but for the future, is cmyk just not a viable thing for any color shirt besides white? that seems a bit limited...


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## Printor (Apr 16, 2015)

For dark shirts, I would start learning about doing simulated process and index color seps. Once you get the hang of doing 4/color process on darks, you can do some really nice prints, it's just frustrating cuz it feals sooooo slow after you just knocked out a million white shirts in an hour.oh.. I do a lot of natural, ash and sand. depends on the design.


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## BeefGir (Aug 27, 2013)

Printor said:


> Once you get the hang of doing 4/color process on darks, you can do some really nice prints.


so you are saying it is possible, or are you saying using an index of plastisol 4 colors instead of the cmyk water based colors?


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## jgabby (Mar 29, 2007)

What you can do with CMYK on dark garment is just amazing, when I went to Virus ink booth their prints blow my mind, I thought it was DTG printing.


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## gardenhillemb (Oct 29, 2015)

We print cmyk on dark shirts a lot. Underbase with white ink and make sure it's opaque and flashed. Then print cmyk with flashes in between. It takes a long time but works well. Also, this is using plastisol inks. I don't think it will work well with waterbased inks.


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## Printor (Apr 16, 2015)

BeefGir said:


> so you are saying it is possible, or are you saying using an index of plastisol 4 colors instead of the cmyk water based colors?


Yes. You can do some nice work with 4/color process inks over a white under print. It takes practice and experiments, and different brands
change the tricks involved. It is very difficult to get a perfectly matching print on a white and dark shirt, but it is possible to get real close. Expect the darks to look a little grainier since you are flashing the dots. you won't be letting the dots Blend/bleed/mix like wet on wet. Over time, as you gain experience with simulated process and index separations, you will get good at looking a design and deciding which way to go. Some designs have a lot of straight up y m & c in the art,(perfect for 4/color process) some designs have mostly colors that are impossible or very difficult to achieve with 4/color process(That's where simulated process is awesome) Then as you really get good, Index seps with discharge, can achieve insane detail on dark shirts while printing wet on wet, no under print, fast as 4/color process on white shirts.


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## gardenhillemb (Oct 29, 2015)

Like everything else in our industry, it takes lots of practice and experimentation to find what works for you.
Good luck.


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## Ready2Rock (Jan 30, 2014)

Printor said:


> For dark shirts, I would start learning about doing simulated process and index color seps. Once you get the hang of doing 4/color process on darks, you can do some really nice prints, it's just frustrating cuz it feals sooooo slow after you just knocked out a million white shirts in an hour.oh.. I do a lot of natural, ash and sand. depends on the design.


Just starting to branch out from only spot color jobs and looking to invest in the best inks and curious why isn't a simulated/index process good for white or lighter shirts? Everything I read says use CMYK/process for whites and lights and sim for darks but why can't simulated process work for both and eliminate the need for CMYK printing?


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## Printor (Apr 16, 2015)

You can use simulated or index seps on white, But with cmyk you can achieve 100+ colors with only 4 screens.


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## mikenlfc (May 18, 2016)

Id like help on this. My black prints are awful. And everybody wants black t shirts. What does flash mean? Sorry to chirp in


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## Printor (Apr 16, 2015)

mikenlfc said:


> Id like help on this. My black prints are awful. And everybody wants black t shirts. What does flash mean? Sorry to chirp in
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Drying the ink enough for the next print to look the way you need it to.


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## Ready2Rock (Jan 30, 2014)

mikenlfc said:


> Id like help on this. My black prints are awful. And everybody wants black t shirts. What does flash mean? Sorry to chirp in
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Flash is when you apply heat to the ink just until it isn't wet anymore, NOT cured though. If you apply to much heat and cure the layer of ink the following layers won't fuse with that layer that was over flashed or cured.


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## mikenlfc (May 18, 2016)

Aaah so leave it a while before sending it in for the coulour. Is there a way of flashing numerous times? As my printer will do a white undercoat and then the next print is the colour


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/advanced-screen-printing-discussion/t216260.html#post1258716


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