Silk Screen Seps

S
Posted By
Stephen
Sep 12, 2006
Views
1291
Replies
7
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Closed
OK I’m the first to admit I know nothing about screen printing prepress. I’ve just been given a job, where I’m to convert a .jpg bitmap into colour separations for silk-screen printing. I’m planning on using PhotoshopCS for this.

Any suggestions, URLs to read in how to do this? I’m familiar with doing litho/offset prepress, but don’t know the specs or what’s required for screen printing. I guess I basically need a Step X Step guide.

I’ve Googled, but most of the hits that I got, were for suppliers of silk screen printing equipment. 🙁
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J
j
Sep 12, 2006
Stephen wrote:

Any suggestions, URLs to read in how to do this?

GOOGLE photoshop silk screen for 900,000 hits.
Right at the top

http://www.ehow.com/how_10251_computer-generated-art.html

better…. disregard the Mac orientation because it makes no difference

http://finearts.uvic.ca/sim/help_docs/scan_print_formats/sil kscreen_printMAC.html

I leave it to the reader to go further
L
Larsonist84
Sep 12, 2006
I do silk screening Stephen, as you know you just need to have 1 image file for every color used. each color is its own layer.

Those links mentioned in the previous reply should help you, if not shoot me an email and i’ll be glad to offer help.

Stephen wrote:
OK I’m the first to admit I know nothing about screen printing prepress. I’ve just been given a job, where I’m to convert a .jpg bitmap into colour separations for silk-screen printing. I’m planning on using PhotoshopCS for this.

Any suggestions, URLs to read in how to do this? I’m familiar with doing litho/offset prepress, but don’t know the specs or what’s required for screen printing. I guess I basically need a Step X Step guide.
I’ve Googled, but most of the hits that I got, were for suppliers of silk screen printing equipment. 🙁
S
Stephen
Sep 12, 2006
On Tue, 12 Sep 2006 11:35:35 -0500, j in
comp.graphics.apps.photoshop wrote:

Stephen wrote:

Any suggestions, URLs to read in how to do this?

GOOGLE photoshop silk screen for 900,000 hits.
Right at the top

Yeah I got similar prior.

http://www.ehow.com/how_10251_computer-generated-art.html

better…. disregard the Mac orientation because it makes no difference

http://finearts.uvic.ca/sim/help_docs/scan_print_formats/sil kscreen_printMAC.html

I leave it to the reader to go further

J:

Thanks, I know how to print/output — What I need to know is the tech specs and step x step, on creating the separations from a bitmap for a screen printer workflow. Sorry, I guess my question wasn’t as clear as it could have been. I’m dealing with a client that don’t know themselves — and they basically want to outsource the prepress/design, to me. So, at this point I’m simply consulting with some good will.

FWIU they print to positive where white doesn’t print, and black does. Is this correct ?

If it helps any, here is the URL to what the client wants me to work with. It’s not pretty; <http://sda.awardspace.com/>

Any additional suggestions, welcome.
J
j
Sep 12, 2006
Stephen wrote:

Thanks, I know how to print/output — What I need to know is the tech specs and step x step, on creating the separations from a bitmap for a screen printer workflow.

I am at home now so I cannot point to the specific menu, but there is the option to export each color channel as an image with one-click. You might surf around Help with things like Export, Channel… dunno, Sir.
MA
Mohamed Al-Dabbagh
Sep 13, 2006
Hi!

First of all, and because you don’t have a good idea about silk screen printing (as you say), refer to this excellent introduction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_screen

There are some rules to be followed for feasible and excellent results:

1- Use no more than 3 colors in 100% tints..

2- If you use no more than 3 colors, use vector software such as Adobe Illustrator. Use spot colors only, such that you can see design in color final form, and be able to separate without the need of process colors CMYK.

3- Many people would use the ordinary laser printer. However, you may expect better results if you hired a service bureau to have separations. The reason behind that is the dense (Black) you can get on lithographic film compared to using laser ink. Dense black will lead to a very satisfactory stenciling.

4- In silkscreen process, it’s a great idea to consider trapping the edges. The overlapping of adjacent colors may cause gaps if you don’t take trapping into consideration.

5- In case of deciding use more than 4 colors (for the necessity of creating many colors) the color separation using process inks should be separated such that line frequency should never exceed (53 LPI). The reason is to create larger dots that can be easily stenciled.

Mohamed Al-Dabbagh
Senior Graphic Designer

Stephen wrote:
OK I’m the first to admit I know nothing about screen printing prepress. I’ve just been given a job, where I’m to convert a .jpg bitmap into colour separations for silk-screen printing. I’m planning on using PhotoshopCS for this.

Any suggestions, URLs to read in how to do this? I’m familiar with doing litho/offset prepress, but don’t know the specs or what’s required for screen printing. I guess I basically need a Step X Step guide.
I’ve Googled, but most of the hits that I got, were for suppliers of silk screen printing equipment. 🙁
S
Stephen
Sep 13, 2006
On Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:11:50 -0500, j in comp.graphics.apps.photoshop wrote:

Stephen wrote:

Thanks, I know how to print/output — What I need to know is the tech specs and step x step, on creating the separations from a bitmap for a screen printer workflow.

I am at home now so I cannot point to the specific menu, but there is the option to export each color channel as an image with one-click. You might surf around Help with things like Export, Channel… dunno, Sir.

j, thanks for the response.

I guess I’m not explaining myself well, (not at all unusual). I know how to use Photoshop/Illustrator, heck I’ve used both since the early days.

I know how to create separations for Offset printing, manually, as I understand offset litho.

What I don’t know, is the technical requirements of doing what I need to do for screen-printing CEPS/Prepress, and perhaps some advice on using the ‘LiveTrace’ function in Illustrator (I realize that this is the wrong list for the latter, so will save that ?, for the appropriate list).

I really don’t want to have to manually trace this image, unless I absolutely have to. So I guess I"m asking for advice from separators that have experience in the Screen printing prepress genre.
S
Stephen
Sep 13, 2006
On 13 Sep 2006 05:37:17 -0700, Mohamed Al-Dabbagh in
comp.graphics.apps.photoshop wrote:

Hi!

First of all, and because you don’t have a good idea about silk screen printing (as you say), refer to this excellent introduction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_screen

There are some rules to be followed for feasible and excellent results:

[…]

Mohamed:

Great Stuff ! Thank-you so much. I can’t believe that I didn’t even consider Wikipedia for this, as I tend to use it for other queries.

The technical information <ie> LPI is quite helpful. I can’t believe that my client doesn’t even know such basic information themselves.

Again thanks for taking the time to answer my question. May the force be with you. 😉

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