ImagesMagUK_March_2021

www.images-magazine.com MARCH 2021 images 35 KB TIPS & TECHNIQUES www.magic-buttons.com www.hndmerch.com Egor Sukhov of Magic Buttons explains how this clever ‘special effects’ print is actually an optical illusion – it uses no silver ink, nor is it a high-build... Anatomy of a print Saati meshes were used for printing: 90 (metric) for the white ink and 100 for the other colours. The colour separation using Magic Buttons resulted in five colours: monochrome shades of white, grey, black and blue, with yellow for shading in the reflection. With the monochrome colours, the transition between them was made as smooth as possible so that everything looks like a whole. The white was printed two times with an intermediate flash using an MHM infrared dryer; the rest of the colours were printed wet on wet. The tension of the screens was 30 newtons per metre. Emulsion QLT was used (1+1), and the screens had aluminium profile frames. The stencils were exposed on an LED exposure device using positives obtained on an Agfa SelectSet Avantra 25S. The resolution of the half-tone screen was 60 lines per inch, with a tilt angle of 82.5 degrees, and a dot-shaped circle. The design was printed on an MHM X-Type machine. The print order was white, grey, yellow, blue, black, using Rutland inks, with the grey and black having a 30% transparent base. T his tactile-looking print was created for Wolee, a streetwear brand. The main goal was to get the most realistic and tangible result possible while using a simulated process and conventional plastisol inks without special effects. The colour separation was achieved by Egor using Magic Buttons, a colour separation plug-in, and the design was printed on a cotton T-shirt by Hopes and Dreams Merch. The final drying was carried out in a Printex tunnel dryer for one and a half minutes at 165°C. The temperature of the printed pallets was 35°C. For printing the white ink, we used a single-layer rubber squeegee with a hardness of 70. For the remaining inks, we used a three-layer 70/90/70 squeegee.