GLOSSARY

The following Glossary contains words and phrases that are commonly used in the garment
printing industry. Some words have two meanings, depending on what area of the process is being discussed. In the case of double meanings, the process that the definition pertains to is in parenthesis.

A
Abrasion Resistant The ability of a surface to resist destruction or deterioration through continued friction.

Acetate A synthetic plastic material that serves as the base for most films and can be used to make film positives.

Acetone A solvent that is often an ingredient of lacquer thinner and can be used to remove knife cut lacquer-adhered stencils or lacquer blockouts.

Actinic Light Light energy in the ultraviolet through blue regions where photostencils are sensitive.

Additive An ingredient that is purposely added to an ink to produce a specific result.

Airbrush A tool used to spray liquids or inks by means of compressed air.

Ambient Temperature The air temperature of the immediate area.

Angle of Attack The angle formed between the squeegee blade and screen fabric before pressure is applied.

B
Baking The heating of an ink or coating to hasten drying.

Base The base of an ink without pigment.

Blend More than one color of ink on the same screen that gives a gradation or blending of one color to another.

Bonding Agent An ink additive that improves adhesion characteristics. Generally used to help an ink adhere better to nylon jackets.

Blockout A liquid that is used to block the areas around the edges of a screen to keep ink from leaking from the screen.

Body A term that characterizes the viscosity and flow of an ink.

Build-up (Printing) The sticking of ink to the bottom of screens when printing wet-on-wet.

Build-up (Screen Making) A board that is slightly smaller than the inside dimension of the screen frame used to hold indirect or direct stencils in place during adhering.

Burn To expose a screen.

Butt Cutt See “Perfect Cut.”

C
Camera-Ready An older term that is now considered “scanner ready.” Artwork that needs no more work or conversion before a final camera shot or scan is made.

Capillary Direct Films Photosensitive films that adhere to wet fabric through capillary action.

Carcinogen A substance that has been found to cause cancer over a period of time.

Carousel A common term applied to a manual multicolor T-shirt printing press where the screens can move or spin horizontally rather than remain in a fixed position.

Catalyst An ink additive that generally enhances the inks adhesion to the substrate.

Centipoise A unit of measure of a liquid’s viscosity.

CFM Cubic feet per minute.

Chalking A condition that exists when the ink is not properly bound to the substrate and can be easily rubbed off.

Chase A common term for a metal self-tensioning frame used to hold screen fabric.

Chlorinated Solvents Solvents made up of carbon, hydrogen and chlorine or carbon and chlorine with a high solvent strength for oils and fats.

Choke The reduction of image edges without changing the proportion of the image. Generally done with a camera process or with computer graphics.

Clip Art Artwork that is copyright free and royalty free for use in a design.

Clogging The drying of ink in the screen.

Coater A special trough for holding emulsion and coating it on screens.

Cold-Peel Transfer A plastisol heat transfer that is peeled after the paper has cooled. Cold-peel transfers generally have a rubbery feel.

Color Separations Film sets that consists of one film positive for each color of ink to be printed.

Color Sequence The printing order of each screen in a multicolor job.

Colorfast The ability of a print to withstand repeated laundering and cleaning.

Composite (Film) The combining of two or more film positives to make one complete film
stack for screen exposure.

Conduction The transfer of heat by heating one object and then transferring that heat to another object that the first object comes in contact with.

Continuous Tone (Photography) Tone variations ranging from whites, through gray, all the way to solid blacks.

Contrast The separation of tones in photographs or artwork. The more gradual the separation, the lower the contrast. The sharper the separation, the higher the contrast.

Convection The transfer of heat by heating the surrounding air and then transferring that heat to an object the air comes in contact with.

Copy Artwork, copy or other items that are to be used for a computer scan.

Copyright The right to prohibit others from copying works of art, books or designs.

Courses The horizontal lines of thread in knitted material.

Crocking The wearing off of a print when rubbed.

Crosslinking The joining together of long chains of molecules causing an ink or substance
to solidify.

Curing A reaction – usually chemical – within an ink that promotes polymerization.

Curved Screen Special screens that are used to print on baseball caps or other curved objects.

Cyan A specific blue color that is one of the three subtractive primary pigment colors.

D
Darkroom A light-tight room that can be used for screen coating and drying.

Decoating The removal of stencils or emulsions from screen fabric. The same as reclaiming.

Degrease The removal of dirt and oil from the screen fabric prior to applying a stencil.

Density The degree of blackness or light stopping of image area on a film, vellum or acetate.

Diazo Emulsion A light-sensitive emulsion that uses a diazo sensitizer rather than a bichromate sensitizer.

Die-Cuts Numbers or letters that have been die-cut from heat-transfer type material. Generally used for lettering and numbering.

Dimensionally Stable The ability to resist length, width and thickness changes.

Direct-To-Garment Also known as DTG. A method of inkjet printing directly onto fabric.

Dot The individual components of a halftone.

Dot Gain The spreading or gaining in size of dots during or after they are printed.

DPI Dots-per-inch. Used to denote the resolution of output devices like imagesetters, laser printers and inkjet printers. Also used to denote the number of pixels per inch for a scanned image.

Drop Shadow The effect of making a letter or piece of artwork appear three dimensional by giving it a shadow.

Drying Changing a wet material such as ink or emulsion into a solid by removing or setting the liquid.

Drying In The effect of ink that dries in the screen thus causing a loss of detail.

DTG See “Direct-to-Garment.”

Durometer The measure of hardness of rubber as in squeegee blades. When applied to screen printing, the durometer is measured on the Shore A scale.

Dual-Cure (Emulsion) A combination diazo and photopolymer emulsion.

Dwell Time 1. The time between cycles of automatic printing equipment. 2. The amount of time that heat is applied to heat transfers during the application process.

Dye The colorant used in inks. Dyes are generally soluble in the ink vehicle.

E
Electrostatic Flocking The use of an electrostatic charge to drive flock fibers into an adhesive that has been printed on a substrate.

Elliptical Dots Halftone dots that are oval shaped.

Emulsion A photosensitive coating that is used as the stencil material for screens.

Emulsion Side (Film) The side of the film that has the emulsion on it.

Enlargement The increase in size of artwork.

Epoxy A very generic term for thermosetting resins that have strong adhesive power.

Exposure (Photography) The act of allowing light to reach the light-sensitive film . (Screen Making) The act of allowing light to reach the light-sensitive photostencil (with a film positive or vellum in place).

Exposure Calculator A device used to determine the correct exposure time of stencils.

Exposure Time The amount of time the light is allowed to expose the film or photostencil on the screen.

Exposure Unit A self-contained system that has a light source and a method of securing the screen.

Extender Base The base of an ink (without pigment). Usually used to increase the volume of an ink. Also called “Extender,” “Transparent Base” and “Halftone Base.”

F
Flash Curing Curing (or semi-curing) a print quickly using a special Flash Curing unit over the print.

Frequency The number of halftone dots per linear inch. Also known as the LPI.

G
Ganging Combining multiple art pieces in the art file or when exposing a screen combining
multiple designs/images on one screen.

Ghosting A double image in a print.

Gray Scale A tool or guide with various tonal ranges that is used to check the reproduction
accuracy of a a film output device or scanner.

 

H

Halation (Screen Making) The reflection of light from the back of the emulsion or from the
fabric causing unwanted exposure in design areas.

Halftoning The conversion of a continuous tone piece of art or photograph into various sized dots.

Halftone Line Count The number of rows of dots per inch. A measure of coarseness or fineness in halftone dots. Also known as the frequency and LPI.

Halftone Screen Tints Uniform dot patterns that can be used on artwork to create tints of colors.

Hand The way a print feels when touched.

Heat Curing The curing of textile inks through heat.

Heat Transfer 1. A design screen printed onto transfer paper. 2. Heat Transfer application: The process of transferring a heat transfer from the paper to a substrate through heat and pressure (usually a heat transfer press is used). Also known
as Heat Printing or Heat Applied Graphics.

Heat Transfer Paper Special paper that has release characteristics when printed with heat transfer inks.

High Density Plastisol ink that when printed through a thick stencil has extreme height to the print with excellent edge detail.

Highlight The lightest portion of a picture.

Highlight Dot (Film) The smallest dot in a positive halftone.

Hot-Peel Transfer A plastisol heat transfer that is peeled immediately after application while the paper is still hot leaving part of the ink on the paper and part of the ink on the garment.

Hot-Split Transfer See Hot-Peel Transfer.

Hygroscopic The quality of materials to absorb atmospheric moisture or have an affinity for water.

I

Imprinting Making a print on a substrate that is blank. Also printing a second print on a substrate that has already been printed.

Image Area The area of the positive, negative or screen that has the reproduced artwork.

Index (Printing) The movement of the platens or shirtboards from one printing station to the next.

Index (Color Separations) The reduction of an image from millions of colors to a limited number of colors. Generally done in Adobe Photoshop. Produces a square dot.

Infrared Specific wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum that heat any object they
strike.

Ink A general term applied to almost any liquid that can be used to make a print.

K
Keyline The portion of artwork that shows the main outline or design.

Knitting Material that is made by interlooping yarn.

L
Lacquer Thinner A blended solvent made up of a mixture of toluene, alcohol, ester, glycol ether and other solvents.

Light Integrator A device that measures units of light and can control exposure times in screen exposure and film exposure based on light units only.

Line Art A piece of artwork that has no continuous-tones and is comprised of light and dark areas only with no grays in between. Also called “Line Copy” or “Line Drawing.”

Linen Tester A magnifier used to count the courses and wales of knitted cloth.

Logo Also called “Logotype.” – A special symbol, lettering style or graphic that is used in advertising and as a trademark to establish immediate recognition by the customer.

Luminescent A quality of certain inks to emit light, creating glowing-in-the-dark effects.

M

Magenta A blue-red color that is one of the three primary pigment colors.

Mask or Masking In computer graphics, a method covering any outside “canvas” areas away from the design with black.

Masstone The color of an ink as it is viewed full strength.

Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) Data sheets that are supplied by manufacturers detailing the safe use and handling of specific products and their physical and reactive properties.

Mechanical A page or design layout that is ready for the scanner.

Mercury-Vapor Lamp A screen exposure lamp that is made of mercury enclosed in a quartz tube.

Mesh Screen fabric.

Mesh Count A numbering system to denote the number of threads per inch of mesh.

Mesh Determiner A tool used to determine the mesh count.

Metal-Halide Lamp A screen exposure lamp that is made of mercury and metal-halide additives in a quartz tube.

Mezzotint A randomly-textured special-effects pattern.

Micro Adjustment The fine-tuning adjustments on a press that allow for precise movements in all directions.

Midtone The middle areas of gray in a continuous-tone photograph, halftone photograph or other type of artwork. Midtones are halfway between the lightest highlights and the darkest shadows.

Migration The movement of ink into another ink, coating or substrate causing unwanted muddying of colors.

Mill Defect A flaw or defect in a shirt that came from the mill.

Mineral Spirits An aliphatic solvent that has a mild odor and is commonly used to clean plastisol ink from screens. Also called “Paint Thinner.”

Misprint A print that is not up to quality standards. Also called a “Reject.”

Moire (Pronounced “moray”) An optical pattern created when two sets of lines, patterns, screens or halftones overlap.

Monofilament Screen mesh that is woven from a single strand of thread.

Multifilament Screen mesh that is woven from twisted strands of thread.

N
Name Drop Imprinting a special name on an already printed shirt in order to make it appear to be more customized for a specific location or city.

Negative A photographic image where the dark areas of the original are light and the light areas of the original are dark.

Newtons Per Centimeter (N/CM) The measure of the amount of deflection of a weighted object placed on a tensioned screen fabric.

O
Off-Contact Printing The process of printing with the screen sitting slightly above the substrate so that the only time it touches the substrate is as the print stroke is made.

On-Contact Printing The process of printing with the screen sitting flat on the substrate.

Opacity The hiding power of an ink.

Opaque Light proof.

Overexposure The exposing of a screen longer than recommended.

Overprinting The printing a color directly on another color, whether the under color is wet or dry.

Oxidation (Inks) The drying of inks by absorbing oxygen.

 

P
Paper Thermometers Heat-sensitive paper that indicates achieved temperature on substrates. Available in various temperature ranges.

Pasteup Artwork that consists of various components of art, type and design that has been pasted together (usually on a master carrier sheet) to create a “whole” design.

Phosphorescent Ink Ink that will glow in the dark.

Photopolymer Emulsions that have a higher solids content and shorter exposure times than most general emulsions.

Photostencil Any stencil system that is light sensitive and reproduces the artwork through
exposure.

Picking The pulling of an order prior to printing or shipping to check it for the proper quantity of size and color.

Pigment The particles in ink that give it color.

Pigment Emulsion Inks Inks that contain a pigment mixed with an emulsified vehicle. This includes water-in-oil inks, oil-in-water inks and some water-based inks.

Pinholes 1. (Film) Small imperfections in film.

Pinholes 2. (Screen Making) Openings in the non-design areas of the mesh where the stencil has not bridged across the weave allowing unwanted ink to pass through during printing.

Plastisol A printing ink most commonly used on garments that contains a plasticizer and resin, also will not air dry or air cure.

Plugging The “Clogging” of screens.

Plate A common offset-printing term that has come to be known as the positive or printing
screen in the screen printing industry. Also a common term for one color of a color separation.

Platen 1. (Printing) The item that holds the substrate or garment during printing. Also called a “Shirtboard” or a “pallet.”

Platen 2. (Heat Transfer) The base or heating element of a heat transfer press.
Plugging

Point (Artwork) A unit of measure used to denote the height of type. There are 72 points per inch.

Point Light Source A light source that has a single point or filament.

Polymerization (Ink) The joining of small molecules to form larger molecules of the same substance. These long chains of molecules then join with other chains in what is called cross-linking.

Positive A term given to almost any media that is used to to allow the graphic image to block the light in the design areas during screen exposure.

Post Hardening The re-exposing of a screen after it has been developed to aid in further hardening of the emulsion.

Posterization A special effect done to a piece of art that compresses all of the tonal values into a smaller range of tones.

Powdered Adhesive A thermoplastic material that is used on the back of plastisol transfers and patches to help them adhere better.

Preregistration The registering of screens and artwork together before exposure.

Prestretched Screens Screens that are purchased with fabric already stretched on them.

Pretreatment (Screen Making) The preparing of the screen fabric for the stencil system by
degreasing, roughening or coating with an adhering fluid. (DTG) The pretreatment of garments prior to printing white DTG inkjet ink.

Primary Colors The primary colors of light are red, green and blue. Primary pigment colors are yellow, magenta and cyan. (Black & white often included.)

Printability The ability of a substrate to accept printing ink and produce an accurate reproduction of the image.

Printing Screen The carrier or holder for the screen fabric.

Process Colors The process ink colors for four color process printing of black, yellow, magenta and cyan. Commonly called CMYK.

Progressive Proof A successive print of each individual color in a multicolor design followed by printing other colors on top, one at a time. Used to compare what happens when each new color is introduced.

Proof A sample print or paper print with a full color image or sample of how the job will look.

Proportional Scale A scale for determining the percentage of enlargement or reduction of artwork.

PSI Pounds per square inch The measurement of pressure exerted.

Puff Ink An ink that expands when heated and gives an embossed or three-dimensional effect.

Puff Additive A puffing agent that can be added to ink to make it puff up when heated.

Pyrometer A heat-measuring device.

Q

Quartz-Iodine Lamps An improved tungsten bulb that has a tungsten filament surrounded by a quartz envelope. Also called “Quartz-Halogen.”

R
Ream A standard count for paper. Usually 500 sheets.

Rear Clamps Screen clamps that hold the screen from the rear only.

Reclaiming The removing of the stencil from the screen fabric.

Reclaiming Solution A liquid or powder that is used to dissolve the stencil system from the printing screen.

Reducer An additive that will reduce the viscosity of ink – making it thinner.

Reflective Artwork Artwork that is opaque and is reproduced by reflecting light from it.

Reflective Ink An ink that has tiny glass beads that reflect light back to its source.

Register The accurate alignment of colors on a multicolor design.

Registration Targets Small crosshairs that are used on artwork (trap color – usually first film positive) and overlays to keep them in register.

Reject See “Misprint.”Repeatability The ability to repeat a job or process over and over with the same consistent results.

Resolution (Screen Making) The ability to resolve or reproduce fine lines or detail in a
design.

Resolution (Computer Graphics) The number of pixels per inch of a scan. The number of dots-per-inch (see DPI) of an imagesetter, laser printer or inkjet.

Resolving Power The ability of a lens or photographic emulsion to accurately reproduce fine detail.

Retarder An additive that slows the drying time of ink.

Retensionable Frames Screen frames that can be retensioned between jobs in order to stretch the fabric at high tension.

Reverse The production of artwork that reverses the dark and light areas of a design (same as negative).

Rheology The properties and relationship of ink viscosity and flow.

Right-Reading Used in relation to the mechanical film positives of the image that have the toner or inkjet ink side of the film facing you with the image reading correctly.

 

S
Safelight A light that will not expose photographic films or emulsions. Safelight colors vary
depending on the light sensitivity of the material being used.

Sawtooth The jagged edge (sawtooth edge) created when the photographic stencil does not bridge across the weave of the mesh. The sawtooth edge is actually mesh marks.

Scoop Coater See “Coater.”

Screen The common name given to the complete frame with mesh.

Screen Angles The angles at which halftones are output on the films to minimize the moire effect between the halftone angle and the screen mesh.

Screen Clamps Screen holding devices.

Screen Cutting (Screen burning) The common term for exposing a stencil on a screen.

Screen Opener A solvent used to open up clogged screens.

Scumming The blockage of the image area by unexposed emulsion or an emulsion and water mixture, usually caused by improper or lack-of blotting the screen after washout.

Secondary Colors Colors created by overprinting primary colors.

Sensitizer A chemical used to sensitize emulsion.

Shadow Dot The halftone dot in the shadow (darkest) portion of a halftone.

Shirtboard The common term used for the item that holds the shirt in place while printing. See “Platen.”

Side Clamps Screen clamps that hold the screen or printing machine during the print stroke.

Simulated Process Color An image that looks like four-color process but is made up of standard spot colors that have been halftoned. Generally used on dark shirts to get a “process” look. Also known as “Fake” process color.

Snap-off The ease at which the mesh snaps off the substrate as the print stroke is made when printing off contact.

Soft-Hand (Direct Printing) A soft feel to the print. (Transfers) A special heat transfer that does not have the traditional rubbery feel.

Soft-Hand Additive An extender base designed to be added to plastisol to make it print and flow better and give a softer hand (feel) to the print.

Solvent A substance used to dissolve, thin or reduce another substance.

Special-Effects Screens Texture or halftone screens that can be used to give continuous-tone or line artwork a different look.

Split Fountain See “Blend.”

Spot-Curing The process of either a fully curing or partially curing ink between colors or after the final print is made.

Spot Color Solid or halftone printing where specific colors of ink are used rather than the four color process inks of cyan, magenta and yellow.

Spread The expanding of the size of the image edge so colors overlap slightly to help mask misregistraion. Generally done in computer graphics.

Square Dots Halftone dots that are square like a checkerboard. Typically used in Index printing. Often called stochastic or diffusion dither.

Squeegee The tool used to push the ink through the screen.

Staging Area A designated area that is used to hold orders that are ready to be printed.

Stencil The medium used to create an image on the printing screen.

Step Test A multiple exposure test to determine correct exposure time for screens.

Stretching The stretching of the fabric on the screen frame.

Strike A sample print or test print. Also called a “Strike Off.”

Stroke A single pull of the squeegee across the screen while pulling ink in front of it and applying downward pressure.

Sublimation Transfer A heat transfer printed with special sublimation dyes that form a molecular bond with synthetic substrates such as nylon and polyester when heat is applied.

Substrate The item or surface being printed. A common term for the blank product. Used more in non-textile printing.

Subtractive Color Theory The pigment color theory that states the subtractive primary colors of magenta, cyan and yellow are produced by subtracting one or more additive primary colors.

T
Tack The stickiness or adhesive nature of certain inks.

Temperature Tapes See “Paper Thermometers.”

Tension The tightness of screen fabric when stretched.

Tension Meter An instrument used to measure the tautness of screen fabric in Newtons per Centimeter (N/CM.)

Thermoplastic A plastic that is solid or fairly rigid at room temperature that has the ability to become liquid again under heat.

Thermosetting The process of becoming permanently solid with the application of heat.

Thixotropic The ability of a liquid to thin down when shaken or stirred and set-up slightly when standing still.

Tint A variation of a color by adding white to it or printing it as halftone dots.

Tonal Range The difference between the lightest tone and the darkest tone in a design.

Toxicity The hazard rating given to substance in threshold limit value in parts per million (TLVPPM).

Translucent The ability to allow light to pass through without the ability to be seen through.

Transparent The ability to allow light to pass through and to be seen through.

Trap Often referred to as the outline around other areas of artwork. Also, the spreading of fill colors so the outline overprints the fill color slightly to allow for mis-registration.

U
Ultraviolet The section of the electromagnetic spectrum in the 200–400 nanometer region that is used to expose screens and cure certain types of inks.

Underbase A solid or halftoned area of ink (generally white) that is printed and cured on a dark shirt and acts as a base for colors printed on top of it.

Undercolor Removal The removing of colors from underneath other colors. Generally done if the undercolor is not necessary to the design or if the process will help produce cleaner prints. Helps reduce buildup. Usually done under black.

Undercutting The overexposure of photostencils causing light to expose around the film and under the image edges.

Underlay See Underbase.

Undertone The appearance of a thin or transparent ink film when viewed on a white background.

V

Vacuum Blanket The rubber used on vacuum frame to create a tight seal around the screen frame or stencil before and during exposure.

Vacuum Frame The equipment that holds the screen and film positive in almost perfect contact by means of a vacuum.

Vacuum Table A flat table with tiny holes in the top that hold the substrate in place during
printing by use of a vacuum.

Vehicle (Ink) The base used in ink to make it printable.

Vellum Paper 1. (Art Preparation) Special transparent drawing paper that has a smooth surface and drawing ink will not bleed into it. 2. (Screen Making ) Transparent paper that is run through a laser printer or copier and can be used to expose a screen.

Vignette An area of artwork or dot pattern that gradually shades off into the background.

Viscosity The flow or fluidity of inks.

 

W
Wales The vertical rows of loops on knitted material.

Warp The threads that run the length of the screen fabric.

Washout The developing of the photostencil.

Washup The process of cleaning the ink from the screen. Also a common term that denotes the solvent used to wash-up a screen.

Water-Based Ink An ink whose vehicle’s binder is soluble in water.

Water-in-Oils Inks A textile ink that is made of water, pigments, solvents and a vehicle that is usually oil.

Weaving The fabric-making process of interlacing yarn at right angles.

Weft The threads that run the width of the screen fabric.

Well The non-print area of the screen frame between the design and the inside of the frame where the ink and squeegee sit.

Wet Film Thickness (Screen Making) The thickness of direct emulsion measured in mils
immediately after application.

Wet-on-Dry The process of printing one color of ink and drying it first before printing a second color.

Wet-on-Wet Printing successive colors of ink without curing or drying in between.

Wet Sample A sample of wet ink that is saved in a small jar or container for future reference.

Wicking (Printing) The bleeding of inks or ink additives into the surrounding garment fibers. Wick (Garments) The nature of a fiber to draw moisture away from the body.

Work Hardening Using a screen and retensioning a number of times between jobs until the fabric has achieved the highest tension possible.

Working Head of Ink The ink pushed in front of the squeegee.

Y
Yield Value The term used to describe the flow characteristics of printing ink.

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