Split fountain printing is a time honored technique to create colorful prints with minimal cost. It has been used since the late 1800’s, becoming especially prominent in the 1960’s when poster designers like Gilbert Shelton use the technique to create bright colorful concert posters.
How it's done:
To create the colorful image, multiple colors of ink are placed on the screen at the same time.
This is simpler (and cheaper) than traditional multicolor printing, where colors are separated and printed using a separate screen for each.
Pulling the squeegee over the image blends the colors to create beautiful gradient blends.
The resulting image carries the blending colors, resulting in bright unique prints!
This particular print was done using discharge ink, so the print and color are set deep into the shirt which creates a super soft and durable image.
Here you can see the discharge print after a wash - the shirt has been dyed rather than having a layer of ink on top of the fabric, which creates a super soft and durable print that is deeply integrated into the fabric.
Design by Cory @poisonedwizard, printed by Brick City Printing
