Screen Preparation and Reclamation for Apparel Decorators
Screen making is vital to good apparel decorating, since the quality of a screen-print design will be very influenced by, if not dictated by the quality of the screen.
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Screen Printing: Process + Techniques
Perfecting Printing on Poly/Cotton T-Shirts
Follow these screen printing and curing tips to execute top-notch designs on today’s popular blended fabrics.
Historically, a majority of the textile screen printers in our industry have strived to print primarily on 100% cotton apparel. Cotton offers fewer challenges, as fabrics containing polyester pose a problem controlling the potential for bleeding that polyester dyes present.
But apparel manufacturers have strived to bring excellent cotton/poly-blended fabrications to the marketplace that — when combined with specific instructions on how to print on blends — result in eye- catching graphics. As the drive for additional styles and fabrics have flooded our industry, the need to perfect the printing on 50/50 blends has become a necessity for every screen printer.
In this Tech Tips Newsletter, we will review the processes needed to print on 50/50 blends. For this demonstration, we will be using American Apparel’s style BB401, a poly/ cotton blend that is made from combed cotton that gives it an ultra-soft, worn-in feel and fashionable drape. The shirts are offered in solids, heathers and neons, which all are ideal for direct screen printing.
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Ensuring High-quality Screen Printing
Quality control is an essential part of growing any manufacturing business and maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Screen printing has its challenges, but that’s what separates the good from the excellent.
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Manual Screen-Printing Success Part 2: Coverage to Squeegees
In Part 1 of this series, step-by-step techniques were listed for everything from press setup to preparing pallets and applying pallet adhesive. In Part 2, we'll start with emulsion practices and sufficient coverage on screens.
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