Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Plastisol

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: February 24, 2012

There are two types of ink being utilized in the screen printing industry: water-based ink and Plastisol. While water-based ink is used frequently for all-over and large format printing, Plastisol is most commonly used to print finished goods such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, and tote bags. Manufactured by a number of companies, Plastisol is a suspension of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) particles in a plasticizer, an additive that increases plasticity or fluidity.

Plastisols are especially useful when printing opaque graphics on dark fabrics. In addition, Plastisol heat transfers are often utilized on fabrics. The mastery of all the technical requirements of Plastisol is essential to providing top quality screen printing products. The main technical requirement is that Plastisol must be “cured” or dried with heat after printing. The temperature at which most Plastisol cures ranges from 300° to 330° F. Plastisol inks do not act like dye, which is deposited onto the surface of the fabric, but instead wrap around fibers, creating a mechanical bond with the fabric. Other notable features of Plastisol inks:

1. Not Water-Soluble
2. Excellent Washability
3. Will Adhere to Most Textiles, 100% Cotton is Best
4. Contains No Air-Polluting Solvents or Volatile Organic Compounds
5. Slight Flammability Rating of 1, Reactivity Rating of 0
6. Comes in Strengths from Transparent to Very Opaque
7. Cured Ink is Not Considered Hazardous Waste
8. High Quality Plastisol Provides Soft Hand and Good Opacity
9. Special Effects, such as Puff, Glitter, Metallic and So On

Do you have questions? Or, do you wish to place an order? Call us today at 954.922.2242 or click on Embroidery and Screen Printing Services

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Screen Printing Most Used Terms From Atlas Embroidery and Screen Printing

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: February 17, 2012

This week’s blog will address the N-Ps of typical screen printing terms. We will address the rest of the alphabet in future blogs.

Newton – the screen tension unit of measurement.
O.D. – outside screen frame dimensions.
Opacity – quality of ink meant to cover the underlying color of the substrate.
Outline – a line surrounding an inner “fill” of another color.
Overprinting – layering color on top of another color.
Paper Thermometer – paper strips that read temperature while the garment goes through a dryer or flash cure unit.
.pdf: An Adobe Acrobat file; stands for portable document format.
Phosphorescent Ink – ink that glows in the dark.
Photochromic ink – special effect Plastisol ink that displays a certain color when exposed to bright sunlight.
Photopolymer – type of emulsion that develops quickly.
Pigment – component of ink that provides color.
Pixilation – in computer graphics, an effect caused by displaying or printing a bitmap in a large size making individual pixels visible.
Plastisol – screen printing ink primarily for textile printing composed of VC (polyvinyl chloride) color pigments, and plasticizers.
Platen Adhesive – adhesive used to hold down garment on shirt board when printing.
Point – standard unit to measuring font size: 72 points = one inch.
Pre Shrinking – the process of flash curing the shirts on the pallets before printing in order to shrink the garment. This prevents registration problems due to garment shrinkage.
Print-Flash-Print (PFP) – screen printing technique that makes an opaque print result.
Process Colors – cyan, yellow, magenta and black (CMYK).
Proof – sample print; also known as a test print.
.psd – Photo Shop Document; an Adobe Photoshop file.
Puff Ink – special effect Plastisol ink that “raises up” or expands dimensionally during the curing process.

Do you have questions? Or, do you wish to place an order? Call us today at 954.922.2242 or click on Embroidery and Screen Printing Services

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Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing Offers Tips on How to Choose the Right “Blank Goods” Supplier

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: February 10, 2012

There is special terminology to know in the embroidery & screen printing industry that helps to understand the business. Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing is known as an “embellisher,” a company that applies embroidery and screen printed designs onto what are called “blank goods.”  Blank goods stands for the garments and other items, such as hats, bags, onto which these designs are applied.  Since Atlas Embroidery doesn’t supply the blank goods, this blog will address how new distributors might want to choose the “right” blank goods supplier for their needs.

There are suppliers that carry generic brands that can be purchased through virtually any supplier. There are also the specialized distributors that not only carry generics, but also manufacture their own lines of clothing and other blank goods. What’s important about that is these items are manufactured specially to receive embroidery and/or screen printing embellishment. Generally, this is by virtue of the type and quality of fabric being employed – usually high percentages of thicker cotton goods – to best receive the ink, for example, and preshrunk to maintain the integrity of the screen printed design.

But, it’s important to understand that picking the right supplier(s) of blank goods is a bit more complex than just finding the right type and quality. Naturally, for most distributors, who are working with demanding clients, after quality considerations are satisfied, price is of primary importance. This is where Atlas Embroidery can help.

Atlas has agreements in place to provide free in-bound freight with three well-known suppliers, which helps tremendously to reduce costs for its distributor clients.  This program is called the PSST program (Packed Separately Shipped Together). Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing will cover the inbound freight from San Mar, Virginia Tees, and TSF. Call Atlas for more details on the PSST program as well as the discounted outbound freight plan.

Once established, the more seasoned distributors are able to make more sophisticated financial arrangements that might include special rebates, or better pricing for large volumes of blank goods, or reductions in pricing based on the cotton futures market.

We at Atlas Embroidery are happy to help educate our new distributors because we want them to be with us for the long term, as their trusted supplier of the highest quality embellishment services at the most competitive prices in the marketplace today. We look forward to serving your most exacting requirements for a long time to come.

Do you have questions? Or, do you wish to place an order? Call us today at 954.922.2242 or click on Screen Printing Tips tocontact us

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Additional Screen Printing Most Used Terms

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: February 3, 2012

This week’s blog will address the J-Ms of typical screen printing terms. We will address the rest of the alphabet in future blogs.

Jaggy – the pixilation that appears in bitmap images.   Keyline – the main outline of a design.

Knit – the sewing utilized to make shirts and related garments. Knits vary in texture.

Knocked Out – portions of the artwork of a design that prevents colors from over-printing

Light Integrator – the electronic component in the screen exposure unit that detects and controls changes in the intensity of light.   Light Scattering – reflective light that is unwanted.

Light Table – also known as an Exposure Unit, it shines light on the emulsion-coated screen thereby curing the emulsion in a process known as exposing or burning the screen.

Line Art – refers to black and white artwork that has no halftones or colors.

Loupe – magnifying glass utilized in the business to examine artwork, a print or a screen mesh.

Magenta – a purplish red and one of the process print colors.

Mesh or Fabric – the polyester material that is stretched over a frame through which ink passes.

Mesh Count – the size of the openings between the filaments of thread in the mesh. Higher mesh sizes produce softer feel to the print.

Metallic Ink – a particular Plastisol ink base that contains metallic particles.

Monofilament – a screen fabric that is woven from single strand threads.

Multifilament – a screen fabric that is woven from multiple strand threads.

Do you have questions? Or, do you wish to place an order? Call us today at 954.922.2242 or click on Screen Printing Services to contact us

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Screen Printing Terms Used – Screen Printing Wholesale Contract

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: January 26, 2012

This week’s blog will address the G-Is of typical screen printing terms. We will address the rest of the alphabet in future blogs.

Ganging – inserting multiple images on one screen.
Gelling – partially curing Plastisol ink by raising the temperature to 175 – 240º F.
Gray Scale – a continuous (colorless) tone image of white to black shadings.
Halftone – an image converted into large and small dots.
Halftone Dot Shapes – the ideal dot shape for screen printing is elliptical; round, square and diamond shapes are also used.
Halftone Line Count – number of lines per inch; common halftone line counts for screen printing range from 35 LPI to 65 LPI.
Hand – the feel of a print, normally described as soft or rough.
Heat Transfer – reverse image on special paper transferred to the garment with a heat transfer press.
High Density – “lenticular” printing that provides special effect of depth.
Hot Split Transfer – used on light colored garments to provide soft hand by limiting ink transfer.
Halftone or Grayscale – like newsprint, artwork that reproduces tones by printing small dots in varying spaces and densities.
Image Area – area that contains the image on a screen.
Index Color Printing – method of image representation that limits the color palette and prints colors separately, and in specific order.
Infrared – heat producing wavelengths typically used in a flash cure unit or textile dryer. Ink – term for print-making substance; in textile printing, most commonly Plastisol.
Ink Additives – chemical agents added to improve printing properties.

For additional information or to contact us click on Screen Printing Wholesale Contract

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Most Used Screen Printing Terms – Screen Printing Wholesale Contracts

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: January 20, 2012

This week’s blog will address the DEFs of typical screen printing terms. We will address the rest of the alphabet in future blogs.

Digital Imaging – process by which computer images are created, displayed and printed.
Digital Transfer – both the process and the output onto special paper that is applied onto a garment with a heat transfer press.
DPI (Dots per inch) – measure of print resolution expressed by the number of dots in a one-inch square.
Drop Shadow – creates 3-dimensional effect.
Dryer – a belt driven device with chamber and heating elements (also: a textile dryer) utilized to cure a print.
DTG (Direct to Garment) – process of printing that utilizes a type of inkjet based printer and special inks.
Dye Migration – a problem avoided with bleed resistant inks, 100% cotton garments and various special precautions during printing, curing and handling.
Emulsion – photosensitive chemical applied to screen to make a stencil.
Epoxy – solvent-based ink utilized when heavy-duty, abrasion-proof print is required.
Extender Base – ink additive utilized to extend ink coverage.
Film Positive – media used for exposing a screen; commonly ink jet film and vellum paper.
Flash Additives – catalyst added to reduce flash cure time. 
Flash Cure Unit– An infrared heating element used to partially or completely “cure” or dry a print.
Flocking – raised decoration applied to the surface of a fabric utilizing dusting, airbrushing, or electrostatic charges.
Fluorescent Ink – “neon” pigment inks Four-Color Process – technique used to print full-color images that utilizes three primary colors (cyan, magenta, yellow) and black.
Fusion – the point at which Plastisol ink reaches full cure.

Happy New Year to everyone from Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing!

For additional information or to contact us click on Embroidery and Screen Printing Wholesale Contracts

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The ABCs of Screen Printing from Atlas Embroidery and Screen Printing

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: January 13, 2012

This week’s blog will address the ABCs of typical screen printing terms. We will address the rest of the alphabet in future blogs.

Artwork – term for image or text used for printing. Also referred to as “screen art” that is set up for screen printing. It is crucial to set up your artwork correctly to optimize the results.
Belt Oven – equipment used to cure screen-printed fabric that heats the ink to about 330 degrees.
Bitmap – Electronic image composed of individual pixels.
Bleed – occurs when dye migrates from the fabric into the imprinted ink that commonly occurs in 100% polyester or 50/50 blend garments. Bleed resistant inks and certain precautions can help avoid this problem.
Burn – the process of exposing an emulsion-coated screen to a light source that creates a stencil.
Camera-Ready Art – art that doesn’t require alterations to make it ready for output. Also referred to as production-ready art.
Catalyst – an additive that improves adhesion properties.
Color Composite – a rendition of your design in full color, as it will appear on the garment.
Coverage – also called opacity, is the amount of ink laid down onto a garment when printed through the screen.
Cured Ink – is a term that refers to the ink that has been through a 330-degree oven on a garment. Curing is the actual process of ink drying and bonding to the fabric.
Choke – reducing the thickness of an image’s outer edge that prevents subsequent colors from overlapping.
Clip Art – art that is ready to use, typically in vector format and copyright-free.
Colorfast – refers to fabric that holds its colors after repeated launderings.
Color Separation – separate images of each color of a design.
Contract Printing – screen printing services done on a per job basis with garments supplied by the customer.
Contrast – the difference between the light and the dark tones in an image.
Cool Down – allowing a flashed print to cool before further printing.

Happy New Year to everyone from Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing!

For additional questions or to contact us for your next order click on Screen Printing Services

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Providing Cutting Edge in Embroidery Embellishment Services

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: January 6, 2012

When seeking a wholesale contract embellishment company to handle their embroidery services, increasing numbers of promotional products providers, ad agencies and pr agencies are turning to Atlas Embroidery and Screen Printing, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida company that is approaching its tenth year of operations

According to Mitchell Lombard, President of Atlas, South Florida is the epicenter of talented embroidery professionals. Years ago, he made it one of his main business goals to assemble the best embroidery team in the industry. Having accomplished that goal, Mitchell is very proud of the efficient manner in which the Atlas embroidery department functions to provide the best embroidery embellishment services in the business.

Atlas Embroidery offers a truly amazing array of embroidery services, including:

1.100 heads of embroidery
2.6000 distinct colors of thread
3.9 color embroidery at a time
4.2 crews working day and night
5.Delivery in 7-10 business days
6.Advanced technology and expertise
7.Complex embellishment with cutting-edge computerized machines
8.Custom logo design and digitizing services
9.An extensive PANTONE® color chart
10.Special effects threads
11.Comprehensive color charts

Happy Holidays to everyone from Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing!

For additional questions or to contact us for your next order click on Embroidery Embelishment Services

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The Contract Wholesale Embellishment Company of Choice for Volume Orders – Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: December 23, 2011

When seeking a reputable, experienced volume contractor for screen printing and embroidery embellishment services, advertising, public relations and promotions specialists are increasingly choosing Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida company. Having started off with only four employees, Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing now has 75 employees and an enormous production and shipping facility near the epicenter of Broward County.

Approaching its 10-year anniversary, Atlas Embroidery’s market share continues to increase by leaps and bounds, despite the challenging economic climate. Screen printing and embroidery embellishment services continue to be in high demand. In fact, while marketing costs in general are skyrocketing, t-shirts and embroidered items like hats and golf shirts and many similar items are still extremely affordable “walking advertisements” that are worth their weight in gold.

Increasingly, we live in a t-shirt wearing society. Everywhere you go, t-shirts are ubiquitous. Discharge printed, jumbo, all-over screen printed t-shirts are showing up as part of the well-dressed fashionista’s favorite personal style, even in the office setting.

The informality of clothing styles throughout the world means that t-shirts are embraced virtually everywhere and as screen-printing methodology becomes more sophisticated, t-shirts are increasingly becoming fashion statements. In a world where funky informal wear includes designer jeans made to look old and worn out, even holes in several strategic places, it’s the t-shirt that completes the look.

Happy Holidays to everyone from Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing!

Do you have questions? Or, do you wish to place an order? Call us today at 954.922.2242 or visit www.atlasembroidery.com.

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What You Can Count on When Dealing with Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing

By Atlas Embroidery | Published: December 16, 2011

When dealing with Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing for all their wholesale contract embroidery and screen printing needs, customers have come to expect the highest levels of consistency in everything we do.

Atlas Embroidery provides consistently simple processes for ordering. From submittal of the purchase order, the artwork, the credit card authorization all the way to the shipping request form, we walk you through each step. The processes are virtually the same for embroidery and screen printing, except for the artwork submittal requirements.

Atlas Embroidery is well known for its consistently high quality production services, which not only ensure the best quality embellishment services, but also deliver all products properly folded and packaged.

Atlas Embroidery has invested in the latest in cutting-edge technology to consistently provide all the latest embroidery and screen printing formats, special effects and colors.

At Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing, we pride ourselves for our consistently impeccable customer service, a company culture that is one of the most important hallmarks of our business.

Finally, by virtue of its size and strength, Atlas Embroidery consistently provides economies of scale that other companies simply cannot, which enables us to produce large orders quickly and at fair and competitive pricing.

Happy Holidays to everyone from Atlas Embroidery & Screen Printing!

Do you have questions? Or, do you wish to place an order? Call us today at 954.922.2242 or visit www.atlasembroidery.com.

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