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A friend just called me. His underprint

white is peeking out around the spot color

over it.

In screenprinting one chokes the under printed white ink, meaning that you cut it back slightly from the color

that goes over it.

Nobody can print in absolute perfect registration is one reason you do this, and you don’t want white showing, just color.

You only want a hairline of a choke, because if you choke the white too much, then the second ink falls on just shirt not on top of the underwhite and will look dull and funky.

He says it is the art.

It isn’t the art, the same art works in our shop. If it isn’t the art, what is it?

When it isn’t the art, here are the things to consider why the underprint doesn’t work right:

- bad vacuum so the film has poor contact in the exposure unit
-

poor screen tension.

It does not have to be incredibly high, but can’ t be flopping in

the breeze.
- poor exposure due to bad light, bad light meter, or bad employee
- too much pressure or too much ink going down

on the underprint.

Pressure does not necessarily mean more ink, with the right/wrong squeegee you can spread the ink and drive it into

the shirt without laying more ink down.
- Off contact too low or too high.

It can be either and will cause problems depending on off contact
- Using too low of a mesh count on the underprint
- Press not having level flat pallets or screens.

A dip in the middle of the pallet could actually cause registration problems on both sides of a print.

I have seen all these problems and I’m probably forgetting a few as well.

Screenprinting sure is fun and easy.