Screen Printing - February/March 2018 - 17

Good things happen when you combine special effects creatively. Left, the cat's fur was printed with puff ink; the
eye was done with simulated process overprinted with a clear gloss. Above, a black base topped with multiple
distressed foil applications overprinted with an HD clear. All images courtesy of Graphic Elephants / Print This, Inc.

s many successful print shop
owners have learned, adding the hottest
special effects to your product offerings
allows you to add sizzle to your sales. We
all strive to set ourselves apart from
ordinary apparel decorators, and that's why
we reach into our bag of special-effect tricks.
Plus, screen printers have resources and tools
at their disposal that decorators using other
processes don't, enabling them to add that extra
something that can win the order.
Special effects also play nicely into fashion
trends, as they have for some time. Most of us
remember brands like Ocean Pacific (OP) from the
'80s. We weren't the only ones wearing surf shorts
and very cool corduroy shorts. Many of today's styles
are still rooted in surfing and skateboarding as fashion
has morphed into a hybrid drawn from many cultural
influences - extreme sports, urban landscape, music,
and ultimate fighting, among others. No matter where
you shop, special effects are everywhere, breaking all the
rules of design, printing, and applications.
This revolution in decorating techniques has steadily
increased the perceived value of the shirt and placed a
premium on dimensionality, with effects that literally
rise out of the traditional flat print. Today's printers have
tool boxes packed with multiple decoration processes
that can be combined to give garments unparalleled
visual and tactile appeal. Though it may seem at first
glance that the garment market has few truly new
special effects, the reality is that inks, fabrics, and
printing processes are constantly evolving in response
to consumer demand. The slow but steady trend toward
PVC-free inks and the popularity of performance fabrics
are just two examples that have driven innovation in our
processes that, in turn, give you the ability to continually
show customers embellishment choices that are truly
new and different.
These developments give screen printers a unique
opportunity to look beyond special effects and redefine

themselves as specialty printers. I frequently present
seminars and workshops at trade shows and other
industry events, as you may know, and over time my
topics have changed from special effects to specialty
printing. It may sound like semantics, but what
I've learned in my business is that it's the difference
between selling a process and creating value. Specialty
printing means turning an ordinary print into something special. Great art combined with effects creates
products your customers will be willing to pay for,
increasing your margins.
There has always been a certain air of mystery
in the industry about special effects. Much of what I
try to teach (or sell, as the case may be) is taking the
perceived complexity out of this work. The reality is
that printers with a reasonable grasp of the basics can
tackle many specialty printing applications. The fundamentals of screen printing are the foundation. Even
advanced techniques are all about doing the basics
really well. Sure, a number of techniques are difficult
and only the very best printers tackle them, but other
popular processes are fairly simple and can be printed
using basic materials.
Thirty years ago, most printers might have only been
able to offer puff, metallic, or basic water-based prints.
Today's equipment and materials are far superior, with
countless specialty inks, meshes, and stencil systems
that require only the mastery of basic techniques. But
it's your responsibility to push past what these products
were designed for, keeping in mind the qualities that
attract your customers - things like texture, dimension,
touch, and feel.

A World of Possibilities
Special-effect techniques are continually being reinvented
with a new spin to keep pace with fashion. Texture, for
example, goes in and out of style - or the lack of texture
in the case of discharge and burnout printing (in which
cotton is chemically removed in a post washing). Both
looks happen to be popular right now. Products like
february / march 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - February/March 2018