Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1488543
6 2 G R A P H I C S P R O • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M He adds that "maintaining your dryer's temperature is important to ensure your oven is doing its job correctly. Proper temperature is critical for curing inks as well as avoid- ing damaged garments." Screen printing Screen printing has been the king of the T-shirt printing industry for decades. It is achieved by squeezing ink through mesh screens, allowing color to pass through open areas to create a design. "Multi-colored designs are achieved using one screen for each color in the design," Davis says. "Different inks can cre- ate different effects and hand feel, and each ink has its own temperature requirements for curing, which means there is an option for all types of fabrics." Tees made from 100% cotton are probably the most pop- ular option to consider when screen printing because cot- ton can withstand higher curing temperatures, meaning less thought needs to be given to quality issues such as scorch- ing or dye migration, he adds. Screen printing can also be used with cotton blended tees, which are soft to the touch, or 100% polyester shirts that offer performance character- istics such as moisture wicking, breathability, and stretch. Special care must be given when screen printing on cot- ton blends or 100% polyester tees, he says, because synthetic fibers are heat sensitive and can easily cause quality problems such as dye migration, where printing inks absorb loose dyes from the shirt fibers, leading to color changes in the ink. "ere are printing inks designed for synthetic blends that cure at lower temperatures, as well as inks that help block the polyester dyes from migrating and bleeding into the printing ink," Davis says. "Some inks even have stretch and recovery characteristics that are perfect for those high-performance polyester garments." Direct-to-garment printing Direct-to-garment printing applies ink directly to a gar- ment using a specialized inkjet printer. "ese printers use CMYK and opaque white inks, which allow for highly detailed graphics that can have millions of different color options," Davis says. "e artwork is digital, so it is sent directly to the printer from a computer program. is allows you to print single garments or small production runs quickly without having to clean up any inks or screens between jobs." DTG was originally developed for natural fiber garments, such as 100% cotton shirts, and uses water-based inks, Walker says. "However, due to improvements in the inks, pretreatments, and now newer shirts designed for DTG, this has been expandable to other products such as blends and 100% polyesters." Davis believes DTG works best with 100% cotton tees. DTG doesn't require a lengthy setup time and works great Special care must be given when screen printing on cotton blends or 100% polyester tees because synthetic fibers are heat sensitive and can easily cause quality problems such as dye migration, where printing inks absorb loose dyes from the shirt fibers, leading to color changes in the ink. (Image courtesy HanesBrands) A P P A R E L D E C O R A T I N G Many printing challenges can be overcome with time and practice, including polyester heat sensitivity, dye migration and ghosting. (Image courtesy JERZEES)