Ghost Logotype
Tutorial: How to prepare a file in Photoshop for White Toner underprinting

Tutorial: How to prepare a file in Photoshop for White Toner underprinting

Learn how to prepare your files for white underprinting with Ghost. This makes it easier and more precise to create dark T-Shirts with colored prints.

Some designs need full color, black and white to look great on a dark T-Shirt. Just like Tony in the picture (below). To get the best results when making such a transfer we recommend to print colors and blacks first with the CMYK-Toner installed.
After this you will run a second print on the same sheet with the White Toner inside your printer. For this print you need to create a black mask of your design and shrink it to align well with your first print.

Today tutorial is going to show you how to create such a mask in Adobe Photoshop CC.

Open your file

Open your design in Photoshop. You can use any design or file formate compatible with Photoshop. Of course there are other editing programs available such as GIMP, Paint.com and more, which offer similar tools to achieve the same result.

Go to File -> Save as… and choose “Photoshop PDF” to create a PDF File.  Also save a working copy of your file before you start.

Save a working copy

Go to File -> Save as… and choose “Photoshop PDF” to create a PDF File.  Also save a working copy of your file before you start. We will call this working copy latest-mask.pdf in our example.

Now select the “Magic Wand Tool”.

Select & Invert

With the Magic Wand I click on the white background to select this area. By holding the Shift-Key I can add areas to my selection which I also want to be selected.

The I go to Seletct -> Inverse in the menue to invert my selection. Now only the outline of Toni is selected marked by a dotted line.

Shrink selection

To get a good alginment of the mask with the print you need to shrink the selection. Therefore go to Select -> Modify -> Contract…

Enter a value between 3-5 pixels depending on you design to contract the selection. To get a good impression on screen we recommend that you zoom in by 200% of your picture.

Delete background

Now you can zoom back out. To delet the backgroung or creating a black mask you need to make a new layer by clicking “Layer -> New -> Layer”. Make the bottom layer invisible by clicking on the “Eye-Symbol” in the “Layer-Panel”.

Use the Fill Tool

Choose the “Fill Tool” and select black as your color. Now fill the selection by clicking into it with the Fill Tool. Merge the layers by clicking “Layer -> Flatten Image”

The result is a perfectly aligning black mask layer for White Underprinting with Ghost.

Watch the follow along video tutorial online!

As many of you requested we finally filmed a screencast tutorial on how to use Photoshop to create a white underlayer or baselayer in Photoshop.

You might also be interested in this
A very individual birthday greeting, a small thank you for a big favor or an invitation: No matter what message you want to say to your favorite people - when you print your own greeting cards, you're definitely leaving a…
read more read less
Ghost White Toner gives you the ability to print with brilliant white on paper. A super great thing to design and print different things with at home. For example, birthday cards, elegant invitations for a wedding or beautiful homemade labels…
read more read less
Mugs and other items made of solid material are very popular. Whether it's a bottle, a camping mug or simply a black mug. Printing and personalizing mugs by yourself is super cool and makes great gifts for birthdays or anniversaries.…
read more read less
Have you ever thought about printing t-shirts at home? For example, because t-shirts in stores don't match your preferences and you really want to have fashionable t-shirts with your own design. Maybe you want to organize a bachelor party or…
read more read less
A wedding is a very special occasion for which everything is prepared down to the smallest detail.  The dress, the venue, the flowers, and so on. Every bride and groom have their own wishes and ideas. Of course, beautiful wedding…
read more read less
The idea of starting and growing an own at-home business sounds very cool. It is a great way of making some extra money, being your own boss with the comfort of doing it all from home. But where to start?…
read more read less

We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to offer features for social media and to analyze the access to our website. We also share information about your use of our website with our social media, weaving and analytics partners. Our partners may combine this information with other information that you have provided to them or that they have collected as part of your use of the Services. You accept our cookies when you click "Allow cookies" and continue to use this website.

Allow cookies Reject cookies Privacy Policy
Language / Shipping