# How to blend 1 color into another on print?



## [email protected] (Dec 29, 2008)

I would like to blend one color into another. Example: I have a flower print, with stems. I want to start with pink on the top and blend into green on the bottom. But if you squeegie from top to bottom and then bottom to top twice, won't it mess up all the ink? How do I do this the correct way?
Thanks.
Vickie


----------



## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Use more than one screen.


----------



## [email protected] (Dec 29, 2008)

Solmu said:


> Use more than one screen.


Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by doing that. Can you explain more?
Thanks.


----------



## revelry press (Sep 3, 2008)

You can do blends with one screen. The way I do it is to pull the squeegee horizontally, not vertically. Pink at the top, green on the bottom, the blend will occur in the middle. Also I don't go back and forth. That will muddy up the print . Pull the squeegee across and lift it up, taking care not to splatter the ink around. Then do another horizontal pass. 

Blends are not the most efficient way of printing, you'll have to clean the squeegee and screen after a few prints, but with practice they can turn out good.


----------



## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

You need halftoned prints and gradients to print blends consistently, although I have a very nice shirt done with six inks on the same screen.


----------



## [email protected] (Dec 29, 2008)

PositiveDave said:


> You need halftoned prints and gradients to print blends consistently, although I have a very nice shirt done with six inks on the same screen.


Oh, boy.... what does that mean??


----------



## Timofei (Feb 2, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> Oh, boy.... what does that mean??



I believe he intended to suggest that for small runs of shirts its ok to use one screen for the blend but for larger runs its easier to control color, and registration wise to use more screens for the blends.

Tim


----------



## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Before you can print, you need to learn *how* to print. This thread isn't going to accomplish that. I'd recommend watching some YouTube tutorial videos at the very least, preferably taking a class somewhere, maybe checking out some books (Fresener's book is often recommended).


----------



## jtannerc (Aug 20, 2008)

this vid shows a guy printing with one screen and using a light blue and a white...
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP2KmG7kUrM[/media]
this time its blue, white, yellow and red...
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkZgBnzWelI[/media]

you could place many more colors on and get a rainbow effect.

this one, pay attention to the colors on the screen...
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sipb0trVVX8[/media]

this should give you the idea of how to do it.


----------



## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

Timofei said:


> I believe he intended to suggest that for small runs of shirts its ok to use one screen for the blend but for larger runs its easier to control color, and registration wise to use more screens for the blends.
> 
> Tim


Like he said...


----------



## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

A split fountain / split flood can easily go wrong; it's not really the best place to start your printing journey in my opinion.


----------



## [email protected] (Dec 29, 2008)

Solmu said:


> Before you can print, you need to learn *how* to print. This thread isn't going to accomplish that. I'd recommend watching some YouTube tutorial videos at the very least, preferably taking a class somewhere, maybe checking out some books (Fresener's book is often recommended).


Thanks, I do know how to print. I can do 1 color per screen, just wanted that blended look.


----------



## [email protected] (Dec 29, 2008)

jtannerc said:


> this vid shows a guy printing with one screen and using a light blue and a white...
> [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP2KmG7kUrM[/media]
> this time its blue, white, yellow and red...
> [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkZgBnzWelI[/media]
> ...


Thanks for the videos! I'm a much better learner be seeing it done.


----------



## jtannerc (Aug 20, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> Thanks for the videos! I'm a much better learner be seeing it done.


me too. I thought that would help.


----------



## chuckh (Mar 22, 2008)

Vickie,
Although we don't have a call for this like we used to, you can do this successfully with patience and care. Use small amounts of ink in your screen, this will slow the muddy mix you will get using a large quantity of ink. You may also want to mix the two ink colors off screen and then add this on your screen between the two colors. This will give you a graduated blend quicker than using just two inks. The lighter ink color will be over taken by the darker ink, so keep this is mind as to how and where you place your ink in the screen. We also placed guides onto the screen to inhibit any side-to-side squeegee movement. No two prints will be the same. That is the beauty of this procedure. Also, if you do an extended run of shirts, you will have to clean your ink out and probably clean the screen as well since the eventual mixing will destroy the graduated blend effect that you are looking for. You will become more proficient at this after a few jobs. Good luck.


----------



## [email protected] (Dec 29, 2008)

chuckh said:


> Vickie,
> Although we don't have a call for this like we used to, you can do this successfully with patience and care. Use small amounts of ink in your screen, this will slow the muddy mix you will get using a large quantity of ink. You may also want to mix the two ink colors off screen and then add this on your screen between the two colors. This will give you a graduated blend quicker than using just two inks. The lighter ink color will be over taken by the darker ink, so keep this is mind as to how and where you place your ink in the screen. We also placed guides onto the screen to inhibit any side-to-side squeegee movement. No two prints will be the same. That is the beauty of this procedure. Also, if you do an extended run of shirts, you will have to clean your ink out and probably clean the screen as well since the eventual mixing will destroy the graduated blend effect that you are looking for. You will become more proficient at this after a few jobs. Good luck.


Thanks for the instructions. I can't wait to try it.... on a simple design. After watching the video though, I realize I need a larger squeegie.


----------



## chuckh (Mar 22, 2008)

The larger squeegee is used to help limit side to side movement. The problem with using a sgueegee whose length is very close to the inside width of your screen, if you have properly tension screens, is the difficulty in having the squegee force contact between the screen and substrate. It takes more effort than is necessary and can lead to distortion and smeared images.

Place two sticks, dowels, yardsticks, etc parallel to your squeegee stroke and about 1/4" wider than the width of your squeegee. Tape or clamp them to your screen and these now become your guides to restrict any or most of your side to side movement. Your squeegee covers the width of the design but is still in the "sweet spot" of your screen. Also, after watching the video, I do not recommend a flood coat, regardless of which direction you print. We would pull the squeegee towards ourselves and then once we clear the image, roll and gather the ink with the squeegee and place it in the ink well area for the next stroke. The flood coat causes premature and excessive mixing of the ink. Again, Good Luck!


----------

