CMYK Halftone Magic- A majority of screen print work is printed using inks mixed for a specific color. Qualities such as color and transparency are controlled on a per-batch method. The color in the bucket is what will print on the page. This is "spot color" Another prevalent color methodology is CMYK process color. CMYK is printed using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. (Black is noted as "Key" in CMYK.) The combination of these four colors along with the variable dot size of halftone, can replicate a wide color gamut. Interestingly, if only solid color inks are overprinted CMYK only yields seven colors. It's the halftone that provides the color range. Rather than being mixed in the bucket, the colors are mixed in your eye! From color laser printer pages to vehicle wraps, CMYK halftone printing is everywhere! Printmakers can lever CMYK technologies to get full color prints with minimum stock of ink colors. Nothing comes for free thoug...
My first CMYK print. A combination of hand drawing and scanned images prepared for four color process printing. Of all the printing tricks and techniques CMYK prints are the most fun.
There are times where defects show up in the finished screen. In some recent screens I've noticed some pinholes in critical areas of the screen. This probably comes from not enough effort degreasing my screens after reclamation. While that's good to keep in mind for a future screen, I want to get going with today's printing! Fortunately, the fix for pinholes is easy. Use some unexposed emulsion and a paintbrush and paint the pinholes over. Then put the screen back in the exposure unit (without artwork) and re-expose the screen to harden the painted in areas. Pre-existing emulsion areas can benefit from post-hardening and the filled in areas will be repaired. The screen will be ready to print in five minutes or so. Good for minor repair and better than starting over!
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