CMYK and gradients - how to ?

[makige]

Hi . this is my first post in the forum so if you don't know me dont be suprised. Me and my family bought a screenprinting machine and started working in about a month ago. so far all we have done is simple jobs and most of the jobs are for us actualy ,as we also create our clothes and designs. But the thing is that all of the designs ,so far were done using vectors and spot colours -,which correct me if i am wrong ,menas that all of them were flat and had like 6 colours maximum ( atleast on my machine ) and without any gradients .
So i am really eager to do a job that has gradients or is raster and not vector ( dont have currently any design in particular as i don know the limitations of the process).
I understand that raster pictures must be color separated in the standart CMYK color separation and also that i would need a ( well i dont know the word in english) layer under all of the CMYK colours and that special ink must be used - i have a supplier so the ink is not a problem. And this is where my understanding of the matter ends ( oh i also know that all gradients must be done in black and white - not much but still.... I KNOW IT)
The things that i dont understend is what to tell the studio that makes the films i use for exposure- i dont print the negatives myself because i dont have a laser printer - i go to a print studio where they have the equipment needed and tell them how to print the usual suff - but it is not really much to tel when all i must tell them is "its vector with spot colurs and is for screen printing" so i dont know the settings like pixels per inch or lpi or something thet i shoudl know but dont know.
I'll be really glad if anyone can refer me to a topic or a website or have the time to explain how this kind of separation is done ( lets say for a simple photo that has no work done - just taken with the camera and colour separated) or for a simple black and white gradient. i looked around for a while in the forum before posting but couldnt find a topic that that really maces things clear for me. all help will be apritiated. SORRY for the long explaination - just wanting to make suer everything is clear,

[skooshink]

Hello,
You can seperate color phototype images in a program called fast films and it does a pretty good job of giving you a fairly accurate repro of your image.
You can also make gradients in illustrator using spot colors (any spot colors, not just black and white). Just make sure that the gradients are not created with the gradient mesh tool but the straight forward gradient tool.
If you would like to see a sample of a spot color gradient I would be happy to send you one.

[ROADSIDE]

I suggest reading some of the posts.
Use the search feature of the site.

Good Luck