In shirt printing or screen printing, we have this term called “white under base”. And as the term says, it is a white print under all other color prints as under base.

When we screen print on t-shirts or screen print on hoodies and other garments, most especially on black and dark garments, there are multi-colored artworks that need white ink to be printed first before all other ink colors are laid. This white under base is flash-dried to the touch before laying the next color on top, and then the next color, and so on. Some artwork is a must to have a white under base. Other artwork not necessarily. Having white under base or none at all also depends on the customer. One of the advantages of having an under base white is that it makes artwork brighter on the garment. But, it also makes the overall print thicker as maybe a downside. The thickness of the print can be acceptable or not acceptable to clients. But that’s just the way it is in shirt printing.

In process CMYK screen printing and on dark garment, it’s important to have a white under base if the print needed to be bright and visible. Depending on the artwork in process printing, the white under base can be tint shade of white or half-toned to control the amount of white ink. This is just one of the few techniques.