Tips for Screen Printing Custom Artwork: Tip 4 – Detail Guidelines

Many questions arise when it comes to custom artwork for screen printed transfers and the amount of detail that is able to be printed.

Line Thickness
Line thickness varies depending on which type of ink you would like your transfers printed with:

• Our recommended line thickness for Hot Split, Goof Proof®, and Elasti Prints® is .012″ thick for printed areas.
• Our recommended line thickness for Reflective is 0.25″ thick for printed areas.

To test the line thickness in your artwork files, try doing the following:
1. Create a line in your file and make it a different color than your artwork.
2. Set the thickness of the line to .012″.
3. Now move the line around, setting it over top of any artwork that may have thin areas of color. All of your artwork should be at least as thick as that line whether it be text, outlines or objects.
4. Delete the line when you have finished checking your file.

Any portion of artwork that is less than the recommended thickness is not guaranteed to be printed.

Make sure your line thickness meets the minimum requirements for the ink formula you choose.

Show-thru Thickness
Show-thru areas are any area in your design that has no ink but is surrounded by ink. These areas need to be as thick as the following guidelines:

• Our recommended show-thru thickness for all screen printed ink formulas (except Puff) is .04″ thick for show-thru areas.
• Our recommended show-thru thickness for Puff ink is .10″ thick for show-thru areas.

To test the show-thru thickness in your artwork files, try doing the following:
1. Create a line in your file and make it a different color than your artwork.
2. Set the thickness of the line to .04″ (.10″ for Puff).
3. Now move the line around, setting it over top of any small non-printing areas. All non-printing areas need to be open at least as wide as that line.
4. Delete the line when you have finished checking your file.

Show-thru thickness is important so the artwork will not close up once it is printed and applied to the garment. This applies to any non-printing area including the open spaces within text.

Make sure your show-thru thickness meets the minimum requirements for the ink formula you choose.

Following these guidelines will help you with the amount of detail you can have in your screen printed designs.