Time to bring back one of our favorite series: Print This, Not That!

Today's printing lesson is all about the underbase. 

In screen printing, an underbase is a layer of ink (usually white) that is printed on dark garments to prevent the material's color from showing through the surface print. You might have also heard this base layer referred to as a flash. Flash is short for flash curing, which describes the process in which the underbase is spot heated, but not completely cured. A printer wants the underbase to feel dry to the touch before laying other inks on top, but the inks aren't entirely cured until the complete design is run through the drier at the end of the process.

Looking at the image above, you'll see why the underbase is an important step not to be missed. Without it, you'll end up with discolored artwork. A yellow ink printed on a blue shirt without an underbase will appear green, just as white ink printed on a red shirt without an underbase will appear pink.

Many printers will charge an additional fee for the underbase, so be sure your printing quote includes this important base layer.

What belongs to you alone, but is used more by others?

Your name!

Okay, you've probably heard that riddle before. Hopefully the rest of this post will tell you something you don't already know.

We've discussed full color, digital decoration a few times before on the blog, but we've never mentioned incorporating variable data. 

The next time you order promotional products for a targeted campaign- whether internal or external- consider personalizing each item with the recipient's name. It's a minor addition, but it increases the item's perceived value and adds a personal touch.

Personalizing certain items, like deep-etched drinkware or embroidered fleece jackets, will add a run charge to your promotion. But, if the item will be digitally printed, like the writing utensil caddy in the above picture, the addition of a name is FREE. Just send us an Excel spreadsheet with a list of names, and we'll do the rest.

Digital printing is an excellent solution for all kinds of copy changes, not just name drops. Need 100 journals for your ad agency? Why not order 10 for each of your 10 largest accounts, and decorate the cover with the client's brand? So long as you use the same item and hit the catalog minimum, you can change the printed logo as many times as you like. Pretty neat!

Multiple color imprints require additional run charges on promotional products like pad-printed portfolios or screen-printed apparel, but other items (think digital mouse pads, notepads, and sublimated drinkware) are priced to include a full color decoration by default. 

If you're already paying for full color decoration, make the most of it! 

In the example above, Seamless, a popular online food delivery service, increased the 'wow factor' of their screen cleaner promotion by printing a colorful image of take-out food behind their logo. Visually, the design is more appealing than a bland white background, and it helps explain Seamless' service to those not in the know.

In a perfect world, every project would be completed exactly as planned, on time and on budget. Alas, we don't live in a perfect world, and mistakes occasionally happen.



Although we are extremely careful about proofing and tracking orders, a typo might sneak past several sets of eyes, a screen print might feather on the press, or a nasty snowstorm might strike a UPS hub. When these situations arise, we do everything in our power to act quickly and provide an appropriate solution.

Shipping errors are definitely the hardest to fix. Once a shipment is in UPS' hands, it is extremely difficult (read- impossible) to intercept and redirect the package. Now, please don't misunderstand me, UPS does a wonderful job. UPS sorts and delivers tens of millions of packages every day, and the fact that only a handful of mistakes skate by is truly a credit to their service. Be it so, it's smart practice to err on the side of caution and allow a few extra days for shipping or even upgrade to expedited service.

Printing errors are a bit easier to remedy. If you have enough time before the items are needed, you can always reprint the order. If the event is, oh, TOMORROW, you have to get a little creative.


One solution that is both quick and inexpensive is a sticker. Similar to the gold star you craftily used to conceal the fat 'F' on a school report brought home to Mom, a custom printed sticker will hide anything you don't want seen. If you go about it correctly, the sticker might even look intentionally placed. In the example above, the collector's edition decal works double duty. It conceals the typo below and increases the perceived value of the piece.

We hate to admit that mistakes occur, but if and when they do, rest assured that we will correct them.

I will say, screen printing on a striped or patterned shirt is really not that common. BUT, if you do decide to go this route, make sure you think about how the lines of your imprint will look against the lines of the pattern.

Stripes aren't always perfectly level on a T-shirt, and an imprint with a straight edge will only highlight those inconsistencies. In the example above, the blue rectangle of the Old Bay logo is perfectly level, but it looks crooked because of the surrounding stripes. The easiest solution, of course, would just be to print on a solid color shirt. If the stripes have to stay, the next best option is to back the logo with a circular shape. This way, the misaligned stripes are less noticeable.