How Base Colors Affect Hydrographics
Selecting an accurate base coat color is essential in hydro graphics. There are regular base coat colors like white or tan for films, and then there are more versatile choices. Your base coat can change the final look of a dip to make it better or worse.
There are different things to look at when choosing the right base color to put underneath different films. Below are some of the commonly used films with the preferred base coats to be used.
Custom Films
With custom films, white base coats are the most preferred type of base coats. That’s why it’s rare to find a white hydrographic film. The white base shows the design printed in its original color and design. For example, when hydro dipping, blue ink remains blue, and red ink remains red. The color is retained because the ink has a certain degree of opaqueness and the color of the base coat impacts the actual color after dipping.
If you want your design to look as it appears on product pages where you buy your films, use a white base coat for a popping look unless the customer or vendor specifies another color.
Camo Films
When it comes to using camo film designs, using a white base coat makes the camo prints brighter. However, if you don’t want your camo design to be very bright, you can use a tan or a beige color as a base coat. Using such base colors can omit some of the design’s bright color but still keep the design the same as its original look.
A tan or beige base coat gives the camo design an earth-toned appearance. You can also experiment with other bright colors like red, depending on the customer’s specifications. However, some camo patterns won’t look good with bright colors. Therefore, put the camo print over colored material and see how it looks first before doing your hydro dip.
Black and Clear Carbon Fiber
You can see through this type of carbon fiber and you can use the base color to change the carbon fiber’s appearance. You can get creative with this film and use any color for your base coat or even several colors together.
However, a black base coat for this film won’t impact the final look because it matches the film’s color. You can use spray out cards or any colored materials you have to show your customer what the colors look like underneath the black and clear carbon fiber.
Ensure you pick the right base coat color to make sure the finished product looks as you expected. You can do this by doing a test dip on an object while you try something new. Testing allows you and the customer to know what the finished product will look like and how different base colors affect different films in future dips.
