Fall is the time of year when dazzling color can be seen all over the northeastern U.S.! Wouldn’t it be fabulous if there was a printing process which could replicate these rich, saturate colors seen in nature? As you might imagine, the reds, yellows, and oranges might present the biggest challenges. The human eye can distinguish about 300,000 colors. Funneling colors through any color reproduction process can greatly alter that color gamut. The word gamut, adopted from the field of music, means “the set of pitches of which musical melodies are composed.”* In the world of color reproduction, it means the portion of the color space which can be represented. Color gamut is the span of colors which a printer can print. Color palette is the number of achievable colors that can be printed within the gamut.

Color reproduction became a possibility when the dazzling color of Technicolor and Kodachrome became available. Kodachrome is Kodak’s film positive, usually referred to as transparency film. Kodachrome was the first of its kind to capture true dazzling color. A fond childhood memory is  seeing my parents’s wedding photos dating back to 1954, seen through a stereoscope viewer for Kodachrome slides. Dazzling color by far, in comparison to the b&w tv screens I had been viewing. The reds in the dresses are awesome! America embraced Kodachrome so much that we even have a song about it, written by singer/songwriter Paul Simon. He belted out the catchy lyrics, “Mama, please don’t take my Kodachrome away.” This transparency film captured those  vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows. In the early eighties, we were able to make vibrant prints from this transparency film with Ilford’s Cibachrome prints. This print process enabled the industry to make a positive image directly from a positive image (Kodachrome slide) with colors rich and punchy, having great color range and contrast for its time.

The printing devices in today’s digital world can take advantage of the additional data with digital imaging and even make adjustments “in-camera” (with a BetterLight scanning back) before the final shot is made. When making large color reproductions, as in the world of large format graphics, the printing device of choice has been laser imagesetters. These printing devices provides true photographic prints (continuous tone) exposed onto real photographic paper with lasers. The two manufacturers of the laser imagesetters were Cymbolic Science’s “Lightjet” and Durst’s “Lambda.” This was, and still is great solution to printing dynamic color, that is until  dye sublimation transfer printing came along.
All kinds of fabric graphics for all sorts of purposes can be accomplished with dye sublimation transfer printing.  The inks used are no VOC, aqueous-based; which offer the added benefit of being eco-friendly. The fabric choices involved are usually a polyester blend, which allows the fibers to open up to the gaseous transfer of the dyes into the fibers of the fabric. There are plenty of options for using recycled fabrics.

The most noteworthy feature of dye sublimation transfer printed fabric graphics (a mouthful, I know), is the inks used have a special property of dye concentration which increases the usable color palette. This will give you superior color results, where reds are truly red and yellows are vibrant, very saturate, dazzling color!

So, when it comes to acquiring dazzling color for your in-store Fall advertising campaigns, your corporate lobby hallways, your museum exhibits, your tradeshow exhibits, or for professional interior decorating; seek out dye sublimation transfer printing under the heading of “fabric graphics.” You will then be able to reproduce some of the dazzling color of the season!

 

 

(*according to Wikipedia)