ImagesMagUK_October_2021

to allow the customer to accurately judge if a thread colour captures their expected result. Being able to show a customer physical thread samples, particularly on a cone or in a stitched form where shadows and highlights can be easily demonstrated, shows them the potential variations a colour may undergo and help them best see the potential difference between embroidered and printed renditions of the same colour. Looking at light Whether guiding a customer through on-site matching or making your own matches to provided materials, you should consider the kind of light under which you view your samples. Though the simplest way to get full-spectrum lighting is to match in natural daylight, in recent years, lighting with the ability to render colours accurately has become more affordable. If you have an in-house art room or area in which you regularly meet with clients to review colour, consider fitting the space with lighting that more accurately represents colour. Lights that have a high CRI (colour rendering index) can provide a consistent environment for matching. The ‘temperature’ of the white light they produce may also affect how colour is perceived; for a cool white that more accurately represents sunlight, 6,500k lights are recommended and usually held up as the standard, though some artists prefer the warmer, more neutral 5,000k light if they expect their work to be viewed mainly in warmer, residential lighting. Discerning from a distance Whether dealing with customers who can’t be present to select colours in person or simply when sending any digital preview from your digitising software or sample photo, always make sure you use a colour disclaimer in your preview message: “Colours shown in this digital preview are not 100% accurate to selected threads. Thread colours will be matched as accurately as possible to art assets provided unless selected by the customer.” It’s also sensible to remind customers that digital previews, even photographic ones, can shift colour dramatically depending on the qualities and set-up of the monitor or device on which they are viewed, let alone the lighting that surrounds it. Sending samples For the most discerning clients, you may decide it’s best to send physical samples. If you have a digitised logo finished, sending cut-swatch sample cards featuring stitch-outs stitched on a similar colour to the final sample is a costly but surefire method to show your customer accurate colours. Less costly on the scale of physical samples is a custom-wrapped thread card. A small slip of cardboard wrapped with colour selections in a manner similar to that offered by your suppliers can be a relatively simple way to allow a customer to see thread variation and test their thread colours in the intended environment and/or against existing garments/backgrounds. Colour considerations In interpreting your customers’ art or in recommending colours for personalisation, you have to take a holistic view of your work, thinking through the interaction between the digitising style, the garment selection, thread choices, and design type. The following considerations can help you provide solutions to common issues. Context The most critical kind of ‘context’ to consider in this case is the colour of the garment being decorated. While you may be tempted to stick with set brand colours, it’s plainly visible that thread colours can look very different depending on the background. Even small In this example rendered for an Albuquerque, New Mexico football club (they do exist!), the classic red dragon was executed in black thread to set it off from the red sport shirts used in the order. Although this customer didn’t mind, this alteration made the original black outlines less than favourable; however, the switch to white thread resulted in a more broken, pebbled, and ‘stitchy’ appearance to the outline. Although the look may pass for some, the shadows and highlights seen on white or light straight stitch outlines may not be what all customers want Even with a colour system number to match, thread matching can be difficult due to the sheen and reflectivity of thread. In this example, the middle tone seen just to the left of the central highlight was the target matched on this wound spool; even so, the vertical bands of colour variation are easily seen. Seeing this image should also give you pause; when colour system books become old and worn like this one, their accuracy could be in question. Pantone, the maker of this system, recommends replacing swatch books every 12-18 months As rough and low-tech as it may seem, a hand- wrapped thread sample like this can be a simple way to send provisional colours to a customer for comparison to printed materials and/or viewing them against garment samples. Care should be taken to wrap carefully, but even a rough example like this beats digital previews for accuracy www.images-magazine.com OCTOBER 2021 images 83 KB TIPS & TECHNIQUES