NY D.O.T. was in need of a new t shirt design. They were “beefing” with the east coast crew so they wanted something that could stand out against them!
They sent me a picture of their plow and gave me instructions that it must say “Snow Fighters” and We do it Best at the west. No problemo. I immediately chopped out the background of the photograph they sent in and went to work.
This shirt came out as a 3 color full front print utilizing stock pantone colors. To achieve the gradients in screen printing we have to rip to a halftone software such as SoftRip. Here I used wasatch.
Now these screens were burned on 230 mesh and printed on a 10 station automatic screen printing press. You really have to be able to hone in on the micro adjustments to line up the screens.
But more importantly you really have to be able to adjust the pressure so that the ink doesn’t smash out and smush the image.
A screen printer once told me he is only as good as his artist. Well I’ve learned to realize that my art is only as good as the person printing it!!
Checkout the film positive. What you’re looking at there is what’s called the “underbase”. It’s the very first white ink layer that you have to put down onto the garment. This is the most crucial first step in printing and contrary to popular belief; If you don’t have detail in your underbase, you won’t have detail in the final print!
Here’s the close up on the print!
Here is the final design. They loved the gear and so did I.