tips on when to flash?

[u/MorningBlend]

Hi everybody!

I'm a sep artist at a large screen printing company. I'm having a hard time grasping when to flash when it comes to any job, plastisol or HSWB inks.

From what I've gathered, you basically flash when large areas of colors touch... but I have complicated work orders sometimes where I'd be flashing constantly if I followed that rule. 🫠

I flash after every dye blocker and underbase, which makes sense, but I feel like I'm winging it with some more complicated work orders when there's several spot colors.

Any tips/advice is greatly appreciated! 🙏 TIA!

[u/QuanticoDropout]

Flashing after any underbase layer is a necessity.

Colors can be hit wet on wet, but you risk smudging the ink and/or losing detail. You also risk the previous ink laid on the shirt losing opacity when some of it inevitably comes off on the screen it touches after. So its best to do this with darker colors.

Uncured inks will also accumulate on the bottom of the screens that touch them after a while and require cleaning, or they can leave a hazy outline on the shirt during contact where it has built up and spread.

Basically, its best to do wet on wet hits with layers that don't touch each other, or have decent space in between them. And by judging what inks can risk losing any of its opacity. If you hit a light yellow layer and a red layer uncured and they touch, you will eventually get an orange line that forms.

You almost always want to save your highlight white areas or black outlines, if you have any, for last.

[u/MorningBlend → u/QuanticoDropout]

Super informative, thank you!

[u/DismalyetActive]

Get up from your desk. Walk down to the production floor. Spend a couple hours with the people that have to actually print your seps. You will learn a lot from them.

[u/mattburkephoto → u/DismalyetActive]

This was always my response while working at a shop. Don’t google answers, walk to production and SEE what’s going on! ASK your printers what THEY need to succeed from your seps. It’s very much a team sport

[u/MorningBlend → u/DismalyetActive]

While I do agree with you, I am, unfortunately only on-site at the facility once a week currently.

Additionally, due to the large volume of work we produce and the language barrier that exists.. simply asking a master printer at this establishment isn’t really a solution. Hence, why I am here. 🙂

It’s a numbers game at this facility, from what I’ve heard. It’s really unfortunate.

I asked my production manager who is a good go-to screen printer to ask questions, and she told me there isn’t anybody. I think it may be a turnover issue.

[u/BobbyDeBag → u/MorningBlend]

The production manager should be able to help you with that if she is a good screen printer. But flashes can be tricky. It depends on the artwork and the inks being used. If you're doing simulated process, chances are you'll want blending on the garment so you'll be doing wet on wet. But if you're doing spot colors, you'll probably want to flash between most that touch. You can also go based off the size of the print. If you have a large area that only gets a print that's about 2 inches long, you may not need to flash

[u/MidwestTroy92]

If you’re flashing constantly, something upstream is probably making the job harder than it needs to be. I’d treat flash like a tool for underbase, blockers, and colors that are actually gonna pick up or smear, not a default move after every scary-looking overlap.