Hey guys I'm Summer with BELLA+CANVAS
and we're kicking off a six-part series
on innovation with the team from ocean
textile these guys have pioneered some
of the most innovative design and
printing techniques in the industry our
motto at Bella canvas is to be different
so this series will cover tons of
unexpected ways to do just that whether
you're creating tees for an event or
your company or creating your own
clothing brand we're about to give you
some major info on how to set your
garments apart in this first video we're
going to show you two ways to add
dimension to a print by incorporating
inks like puff or crackle into your
design you'll create eye-catching
graphics that will have people actually
reaching out to touch and feel your tees
the heirloom cotton design is what we're
gonna be working with it started out as
just a simple one color we actually took
portion of the design and we used what's
called the soft plastisol inks so that's
gonna sit back into the garment and then
we enhance the puff effect with the drop
shadow and some texture on top of the
puff print so we took this one color
design and we actually broke it out into
five different screens to create
different textures within what I like
about puff is that it's actually a very
subtle technique it's got a nice texture
to it but it's not overpowering it's not
like a high density print where it draws
attention it's just a nice accent you
can incorporate puffs into any portion
of a design with the Airlume cotton
design that we did here today you can
actually see that we just took the text
elements of the design and turn it into
a puff print on the artwork side the
most common mistake that we see is
applying the puff printing technique to
too large of an image area on the print
side what we see too often is not enough
loft in the puff effect so you do need
to create the texture that's the whole
point of the technique or overdoing it
and putting too much down to where it's
just obnoxious so achieving the right
amount of loft is obviously done through
a proper ink deposit we start in the
screen department by actually creating
screens that have a high UM
100 microns or so and then on press we
actually stack two layers of the puff
ink you want to make sure that squeegee
settings are correct we're using a
softer squeegee at a sufficient angle
again just kind of building up that ink
deposit and then when the print actually
runs through the dryer that's where you
achieve the loft that's another area
where you have to be very very careful
if you under cure over cure either going
to not get enough loft or the loft will
actually kind of break down in the dryer
we test every single tough print so
every print we approach like it's a new
design so crackling is the plastics all
based ink printed like a traditional
pasta selling heavy ink deposit once
it's secured through the dryer and
cooled it will actually start to break
apart in your hands so you can stretch
the ink you can crack it literally in
your hands after it's printed so with
the print that we're gonna show today we
actually started with script font logo
and we applied a little bit of
distressing in the art department so we
started out with the print that looks
somewhat distress and then as after it's
printed and the crack effect takes hold
it actually kind of enhances the design
so if you're working with more retail
inspired designs vintage prints it's a
really really great technique to aid the
design so it's something that can be
added on to kind of finalize the design
I think it works really well on just
simple one color prints again it kind of
gives that vintage effect so we started
with a lower mesh count we actually
worked with an 86 mesh we did three
layers stack three layers of the ink on
top print flash print flash print and
then we cure at a higher temperature we
cure a little over 350 degrees and the
ink has to completely cool and then you
can actually manipulate the surface and
you'll start to see the crack effect
take place let us know what you thought
of this video in the comments below and
definitely keep these specialty inks in
mind as a way to add dimension to a
simple one or two color prints don't
forget to hit that thumbs up button and
make sure you subscribe to catch the
whole series on innovation see you next
week