Screen Printing Gets a RivalWritten by Paul Hood
Before anything else, let’s have a brief description of screen printing and heat transfer processes. Screen printing refers to forcing of inks through a stencil that is in a mesh material. Heat transfer, on other hand, is a method of applying an image in T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, hats, bags and more by releasing an ink, dye, toner, etc. from a special transfer paper via heat. Now, let’s move onwards…According to article “Screen Printing vs. Heat Transfer” by Bruce Roberts which was posted at www.bfprinting.com, author has mentioned some pros and cons in using screen printing and heat transfer methods to produce printed apparels. The article has stated that screen printing is advisable if you are planning to do mass production of T-shirts. He has added that digital heat transfer must be considered for printing short runs because it avoids expense and extra work of preparing screens and cleaning up ink and chemicals. With financial considerations, much money is needed in screen printing than in heat transfer if you want to set up a business. The screen printing process was also explained in Roberts’ article. Advantages and Limitations of Screen Printing Screen printing is suitable for most projects which will be exposed to outdoor elements because of its inks that can last outdoors up to seven years against fading. Its other advantages include larger or smaller design format, use of half tones and blends, versatility and adaptability, great design reproduction capabilities, being good with fine detail, being economical on larger orders, and being permanent when applied properly. So, if you need printing on ridged materials like wood, glass, plastics, etc., it is absolutely perfect choice for durability and value. However, it doesn’t work well on coarse textured substrates.
| | A Closer Look at Image ResolutionWritten by Nashville
Image resolution refers to size your image appears on a computer monitor rather than physical dimensions an image will print. The pixel dimensions of an image identify resolution. Many digital cameras let us change image resolution. So, before we take a picture, we must determine quality of an image first by using highest quality setting available on camera. Therefore, set your camera for best image quality if you want to obtain high quality photos.According to article “Image Quality – An Explanation” by Julian Foster which was posted at www3.teleplex.net, a truly high-resolution digital photo can be anywhere from 12MB (for a 4-by-5-inch image) to 70MB (for a two-page-spread photo). The CD ROM photo collections currently on market have files ranging in size from 500K-22MB. He added that image resolution, amount of information in a digital file, is measured in dots per inch. Screen frequency, density of lines of dots used to print a continuous-tone photograph, is measured in lines per inch. Newspapers typically use a coarse line screen of 85 lpi; in-house publications, 100 to 120 lpi; and glossy magazines & good quality offset lithography, 133 to 155 lpi. Proper resolution is truly important for good printing. And to achieve this, you must always remember some rules that include following: text must be 400dpi at final size in layout; images must be 300dpi at final size in layout; dimensions of resolution and size are inversely proportional to each other so, if you enlarge an image, you lower its resolution and if you reduce an image, you increase its resolution; how an image is originally acquired will determine its resolution and thus, size it can print at for clear and crisp printing; and low resolution images print with jagged edges and appear fuzzy.
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