ImagesMagUK_October_2021

Colourmanagement for machine embroidery Erich Campbell address the common concerns that embroiderers face when using colours A lthough the term ‘colour management’ is more frequently heard in the context of print and graphic design, machine embroidery has unique concerns that consistently pop up for commercial decorators. You might not be discussing the gamut of your colour spaces, but you shouldn’t take colour and the understanding of it for granted simply because you are largely limited to the colours in which your thread is created. Machine embroiderers can ensure they avoid common missteps by examining how colour is discussed, knowing more about how colour appears in context, and considering how the nature of thread changes the way in which colour is perceived. Counselling clientele With any commercial embroidery, avoiding unfavourable outcomes hangs on clear communication with customers. Colour is highly subjective and most customers will not be entering any discussion of colour with technical language or precise colour specifications. While everyone would love their customers to enter their shop carrying art marked with colour numbers for the thread brand the shop carries, the greatest likelihood is that you’ll be forced to match colours or guide the customer’s colour selection. In the best scenario, you’ll have the customer engage in the process in-person. Match-making Customers often imagine that providing art in a physical format, or digital art with colours that can be sampled, or even Pantone colours will make matching simple. Although matching from a colour system or clear art is preferable than having a colour described to you, embroiderers of any experience – and digitisers particularly – understand that the way in which light hits thread at different angles and/or the texture of the stitches as digitised can have an effect as to the way colour is perceived in a finished embroidered element. Although matching thread to customer- supplied prints or a colour-system’s chip, or using manufacturer-described matches to colour values is a good start, having customers verify colours ‘in the thread’ is the best chance you have These three patches look to have a very different yellow thread for their text and border, but all three are set with an identical thread colour. The context can vastly alter our perception of colour, with the cool light grey patch giving the thread a darker, flatter cast, while the medium, warmer grey gives the yellow a brighter look, though not as sunny and lemony looking as the same yellow against a cool black KB TIPS & TECHNIQUES www.images-magazine.com 82 images OCTOBER 2021