High-Opacity Underbase Printing on Long Island
If you have ever seen a brightly colored design printed on a black or navy shirt, you have seen a high-opacity underbase in action.
Standard silkscreen inks are slightly translucent. If we were to print yellow ink directly onto a black shirt, the dark fabric would absorb the ink, turning the yellow into a muddy green. To solve this, our Northport, NY team uses a technique called underbasing. First, we lay down a foundational layer of high-opacity white ink in the exact shape of your design. We then quickly “flash-cure” (partially dry) this white layer on the press before printing your actual colors directly on top of it.
This process acts just like a primer when painting a dark wall. For Long Island businesses, bands, and brands wanting to use dark-colored garments, a high-opacity underbase is the absolute best way to guarantee that your final print is bright, bold, and color-accurate.
Our Underbase Gallery
See the difference a proper underbase makes. Here are some examples of incredibly vibrant, bright designs we’ve printed on dark and colored garments for our local clients:
Island Silkscreen
Custom Clothing Services for Every Project
Whether you are a local Northport business outfitting your staff, a Suffolk County school needing event apparel, or an apparel brand looking for a reliable Long Island custom t-shirt printer, we have the expertise to bring your vision to life.
Because no two designs are exactly alike, we specialize in several different printing methods to ensure you get the exact look, feel, and price point you need. Explore our additional printing techniques below: