Specialty Screen Printing

This is a broad term used to describe inks such as glitter, shimmer, glow in the dark, foil, reflective, puff etc. and will all have some type of up-charge. These inks usually work best as plastisol options although there are water based specialty inks as well.

Glitter comes in many different color options and can be printed on almost any garment type. The glitter is suspended in a clear plastisol ink and we find that laying down a layer of similarly colored ink first and then drying it and applying the glitter on top it creates a very vibrant and wash fast print. There should be little to no loss of glitter with this method.

Shimmer comes in many different color options much like glitter but the difference is a more subtle, metallic look. The ink is tinted and has very fine flakes compared to the larger, visible flakes in glitter. We sometimes recommend using an under base of ink to give the shimmer better coverage.

Glow in the dark ink adds an awesome highlight to any shirt! This ink can be used on many different garment types but it is recommended to use an underbase color such as white or a lightly tinted white, especially on darker garments. The natural color of the ink is a very light green and once charged with natural or UV light will then produce a bright green glowing effect in the dark.

Puff ink is a special additive that expands when heated to create a “3-D” look. This can be used on almost any garment type. Colors typically lighten up once printed so color matching may not be exact.

Fluorescent Inks or “neon” colors are very vibrant however they are not very opaque. These typically work best on light garments and some medium colors (like grey). Darker garments will require an underbase color to really capture the vibrancy of the inks.