Endless Possibilities With Screen Printing Effects

 

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 Want to add a little sparkle or shine to your clothing line? You’ve come to the right place. We offer a variety of effect inks so you can wow people with your awesome apparel.

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Screen Printing Ink Breakdown

 

Screen Printing Squeegee

A lot goes into apparel printing. Picking the right garment, print locations, color separation…the list goes on and on. Choosing the right apparel ink for the job is a crucial step in making the final product look exactly how you want it to. The pros here at Jakprints are here to break down your options so your apparel can look its best.

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Preserving and Conserving the CVNP

 

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Leaving the planet in better shape than we found it is a top priority at Jakprints, and we want to get everyone excited to take part in environmental initiatives. We’re always looking for new ways to increase our positive impact on the environment, and we have partnered with the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park to expand our tree planting initiative and collaborate with an awesome organization.

250 Trees For 100 Years Of Service

You might’ve heard that we plant a tree with every order placed, and we’re always looking to join in on other tree planting opportunities. When we heard the CVNP was planting 250 trees as part of their Founders’ Day centennial celebration on August 20th, we knew we had to get involved.

Founders’ Day gives the community an opportunity to give back to the park through trail work, tree planting and the removal of invasive plants. A group of our incredible employees volunteered their time to help plant 250 trees in the park. These trees will help fill the tree canopy and improve the habitat for the native wildlife. We’re thrilled to give back to the park and work with an organization that shares a passion for nature.

National Parks everywhere are going all out to observe this milestone. Find out how a National Park near you is celebrating a century of service and party in your park!

Screen Shot 2016-08-15 at 2.48.38 PMCollaborating With The Conservancy

It was a no brainer when the opportunity was presented to partner with the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Seeing the breathtaking images of the park roll off the press for their member magazine was a real pleasure, and reading about what the park does for the community made us want to be more involved. We’re giving back with monetary donations, volunteering our time for park service and brainstorming new and creative ways to use our resources to give back to the park.

Whether you have a National Park in your backyard or you have to travel to explore one, these parks are important to our environment. We have to work together to conserve them so generations to come can enjoy them in the same ways we do.

When you print with us, you are contributing to our green initiative efforts. When you print with us, you can feel good about it.

Plug Into Renewable Energy: We Did it And So Can YOU

If you have a relationship with us already, you’re most likely familiar with our history, culture and character. You know that one of our main values is leaving the Earth better than we found it by balancing our consumption through recycling and planting one tree with every order. We have taken those values to higher altitudes and are beyond ecstatic to announce that Jakprints is powered by 100% Wind Energy!

“Say Whaaat” and “How” you ask? Nowadays anyone can do it, even residential homes. We do it and we don’t even have a wind turbine on our grounds! It’s made possible through RECs, which stand for Renewable Energy Credits.  A renewable energy credit (REC) is created for each megawatt-hour (1 MWh, or 1000 kilowatt-hours) of renewable electricity generated and delivered to the power grid.

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Reduce, reuse, upcycle

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We strive to be good environmental stewards — leaving the environment better than we found it is important, and we believe a strong community has a crucial role in making that possible. That’s why we love our friends at Upcycle Parts Shop.

Upcycle Parts Shop is made up of a dream team that works to reduce waste, strengthen the community and get people inspired by turning one man’s trash into another man’s really cool art piece. We sat down with Michael Hudecek, Business Relations Manager at Upcycle Parts Shop and upcycle artist, to get the details.

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Eco-Friendly Promoting

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At Jakprints, we practice what we preach and work to leave the Earth better than we found it through sustainable printing. In addition to aggressive recycling programs, we have some of the most sustainable printing methods in the industry.

But, any company can toss around green buzzwords; that’s why we’ve partnered with Trees for the Future to plant one tree with every order. They work with local farmers in Latin America, Africa and Asia to rebuild communities and cultivate more diverse, productive and healthy land. Since 2012, we’ve already planted over 200,000 trees — that’s more than one square mile of new forest.  Enough about us, you’re here for you aren’t you?

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Glossary of Green Printing Terminology

All over the world, people are striving to be better to the environment. We’re driving less, creating less waste and cutting down on our energy usage.

As printers, we’re very aware of our potential impact on the environment. That’s why we pride ourselves on being good environmental stewards by practicing the most eco-friendly printing practices available to us, from our print stocks to our production floor.

Plant Baby

With the help of Trees for the Future, we plant one tree with every order placed with us. Find out more about them down below.

This glossary defines all of those green buzzwords that get thrown around when people talk about “going green”. At Jakprints, these are more than buzzwords, they’re the way we run our business. We hope this helps you better understand green printing and, if you have any more questions about green printing or what we do here at Jakprints, give us a call!

 

Terms

Biodegradable – This refers to a substance or object that can be decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms.

Carbon Neutral – Making no net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, meaning a zero carbon footprint. This is done either by having no carbon emissions or by offsetting your carbon emissions with carbon credits.

heidelberg speedmaster closeupOur Heidelberg Speedmaster Printer is completely Carbon Neutral

Chain of custody – The path that goods (raw materials, processed materials and products) take from the forest to the consumer, including all stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.

Responsibly Forested – This refers to paper that comes from well-managed forests located in North America or Europe and is certified by one of the three major organizations who follow the trees, pulp and paper through the entire chain of custody.

Post-Consumer Waste – This refers to products that are made with recycled waste but not always traditionally recycled materials.

Waterless Printing – Waterless printing is an offset lithographic printing process that uses no water unlike conventional printing. It uses silicone rubber coated printing plates and specially formulated inks. Typically a temperature-control system is integrated into waterless presses.

V.O.C – Volatile organic compounds organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary room temperature. They have harmful effects on humans, animals and the environment after prolonged exposure.

 

Inks & Paper Stocks

BIOflex – BIOflex is a custom material that when in landfill conditions (darkness, high heat, moisture and oxygen deprived) attracts microbes that break down the PVC within 3 to 5 years. BIOflex contains no toxic materials and is tear, fade and fungus resistant.

Carbon Credits – Sometimes referred to as Carbon Credit, is a financial incentive awarded to businesses for every tonne of Carbon Dioxide removed or reduced during the production of their products. They can be earned by planting trees, using renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Petroleum Inks – Petroleum-based inks are more expensive than soy-based inks and release a large amount of VOCs including toluene, benzene and xylene. These compounds can be very harmful to the environment, wildlife and people.

Vegetable Based Inks – Vegetable oil based inks are derived from renewable resources, most commonly soy. They are also easier to recycle than petroleum based inks. As opposed to traditional petroleum-based ink, soy-based ink is more environmentally friendly, it provides bright, vibrant colors.

Water Based Ink – These inks soak into the fabric instead of sitting on top like traditional inks. The provide a soft to the touch feel and a vintage, faded look. These are some of the most environmentally friendly inks available.

Waterbased ink example

Water based ink gives this tee a vintage feel

Environmental Advocacy Groups

FSC – This stands for Forest Stewardship Council. An FSC certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits.

PEFCProgram for the Endorsement of Forest Certification is the world’s largest and only entirely not-for-profit global forest certification system.

SFISustainable Forest Initiative Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization that is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the internationally recognized Sustainable Forestry Initiative® program.

Trees for the FutureTrees for the Future is a non-profit organization based in Maryland that helps rural communities  in Africa, Asia and Latin America replenish forests destroyed by floods, droughts and unsustainable farming practices. These efforts not only improve the environment but the quality of life for hundreds of communities.

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