Seps with Transparent Colors.

[surrender]

lets say i have a three color design, we'll say- red, blue, and black.

on the red plate there will be some areas that i would like to be transparent over the blue. do i need to break red into two plates (one transparent red and one full opaque red?)

if not very familiar with the process of printing colors transparently aside from knowing it requires some kind of additive(?) If the red is just one plate how do i set up my seperation- make it all 100% and just point out and notate to the priner where i want it to show through?

[steve w]

can you post the design?
without seeing it, I'd guess you'd be fine with one red plate.
What color are you trying to achieve with the overlay?

[surrender]

i dont have a design in particular...

this is mostly for my own reference for the future. id like to start trying to work with it instead of using overlaid halftones all the time

[adamturman]

Yeah, post it. But one plate should be fine.

Well, I use Floetreol (paint conditioner) and extender base in my mix to make a nice transparent.

You have to watch out for making the paint/ink too thin cause you can get "orange peel."

Thing is that you to make a really transparent color, you don't need that much pigment. It depends on how transparent you want your color to be.

You color should stay pretty true to the color you mixed on top of white paper. So like if you mix a really transparent red, then you should get more red over your white paper (maybe a little lighter/pinkish red) and a nice 3rd color over another screen.

It's all about trial and error.

[steve w]

the answer is "Maybe"

[bradbane]

Thing is that you to make a really transparent color, you don't need that much pigment. It depends on how transparent you want your color to be.

i learned this last night. i needed a really, really transparent gray and wasted a bunch of ink because i mistakenly thought to make it transparent i should just add like 50/50 ink and extender base.

i ended up needing 8oz of extender base and like a teaspoon of ink to get what i needed.

i didn't have any problems with orange peel though, i was printing a pretty big open area.

[jayryan]

you realize, of course, chris, that ALL of your "red" will be transparent. if it's just on top of paper, it won't matter. if you have to have it opaque in some places and trans in others, your three color print is now a four color print.

[henri-pierre]

something i learned from my grand master of screenprinting (aka san miguel)

if you want to print black on black paper, you can print like this :
transparent bas + a spoon of white instead of print black.
cheaper than using all your black ink.

i learned this last night. i needed a really, really transparent gray and wasted a bunch of ink because i mistakenly thought to make it transparent i should just add like 50/50 ink and extender base.

i ended up needing 8oz of extender base and like a teaspoon of ink to get what i needed.

i didn't have any problems with orange peel though, i was printing a pretty big open area.

[surrender]

you realize, of course, chris, that ALL of your "red" will be transparent. if it's just on top of paper, it won't matter. if you have to have it opaque in some places and trans in others, your three color print is now a four color print.

thats what im asking...

so if i knockout the red in places i dont want it trabsparent, itll show up nice and opaque?

[dennyschmickle]

yep