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We use a variety of different printing methods to achieve the exact look and quality you are looking for. If you have questions about any of the processes and how they differ, we'd love to tell you about them. Just give us a call!

Plastisol (Ink)

 

Plastisol is the standard, economical ink to use for screenprinting.

 

Advantages of Plastisol

 

  • Inexpensive

  • Great opacity, can be used on dark garments

  • Long-Lasting

  • Bright, fluroescent colors can be printed

 

Disadvantages of Plastisol

 

  • Thicker hand

  • Less breathable

  • Can bunch around seams

 

This is the most common type of ink used for most t-shirt orders (relay for life, organizations, fundraisers, clubs, fraternities, sororities, promotions, company swag, giveaways).

Water-Based / Discharge (Ink)

 

Water-based and/or Discharge is a specialty ink for direct to garment printing. It is a mixture of water with dye or pigment to acheive the desired color. The garment itself is actually dyed to a different color at the areas the design sits. With this technique, you preserve the quality of the garment and the ink cannot be felt when touched. The ink sinks into the fibers of the shirt, becoming part of the fabric.

 

Advantages of Water-Based Inks

 

  • Better for the environment

  • Softer hand (ie print is thinner)

  • More breathable

  • Inks becomes part of the shirt instead of sitting on top

  • Good for creating a "vintage" look 

 

Disadvantages of Water-Based Inks

 

  • Influenced by the color of the shirt, making prints on dark garments problematic

  • More time-consuming to work with

  • Can dry in screens and clog them

  • More expensive

 

This process is normally quite costly, but CaliPrints allows you to upgrade to water-based ink for only $1.00 more per garment. We offer the lowest price in the screen-printing industry on water-based ink printed garments. Give us a call if you would like to learn more about water-based/discharge printing.

SCREEN PRINTING

4-Color CMYK Process

 

If you are trying to print a full-color photograph or image onto a garment, this is the best technique out there in our opinion. DTG or Direct-To-Garment printers offer full-color prints at decent prices on low quantities (1-12), however when doing higher quantities - 4-Color Process is the way to go! Submit a price quote inquiry or shoot us an e-mail with your picture to be printed attached, and see how low of a price we offer. 

 

Four color process printing is a system where a color image is separated into 4 different color values (called a color separation) by the use of filters and screens. This used to be done with photographic film on a graphic arts camera, but is usually done digitally with software now. The result is a color separation of 4 images that when transferred to printing plates and sequentially printed on a printing press with the colored inks cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black (the k in cmyk), reproduces the original color image. Most of the entire spectrum or gamut of colors are reproduced with just the four process ink colors. The four color printing process is universally used in the graphic arts and commercial printing industry for the reproduction of color images and text. 
 

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