Although a digital show, direct digital printing has not stopped other forms of decoration, nor stopped innovation in other forms. Transfers were one form going strong, here we see new forms or improvements for transfers that resist dye migration or can stretch with the new fabrics, apply to odd shaped substrates (shoes!) or machines that enable quick…
A few notes while passing through the Amsterdam airport and looking at shirts. I don’t know about the rest of you in the business but before I can even think of how clever (or not) a shirt might be, my eyes automatically scan it for being out of register, dye migration, off the mark right…
In Heidelberg it was interesting to see folks (Volk) selling shirts. Most of them in this case were using plotters and heat transfer machines. Also typically they were paranoid about us photographing their designs, like I Heart Heidelberg was f’n original or something. There was an emphasis on Fair Trade (Fair Wear) and organic cotton…
The FESPA digital show in Munich was not only a great exposition on what is going on in printing, but it also shows the potential for trade shows themselves to be so much more than what we typically see in the US of A. This is not exactly what we see when we go for…
A few notes from FESPA Digital in Munich, Germany: Progressive companies in the USA are now part of a global system, they are here in Munich seeing what is going on. Environmentalism is not dead, the rest of the world is passing the USA by. Not so many heads in the sand here (or is…
Sometimes printing on polyester is a wonderful thing. We used a Rutland Barrier Base and Super Polywhite on this red 100% polyester hockey jersey. Red poly turning white ink to pink is the worst, so we took care on this one. Besides using the right inks we were careful not to overflash and we turned…
Any experienced printer will have at some time used the wrong ink, or printed on a fabric that perhaps caught one by surprise. It is a sickening feeling to see your beautiful bright white print slowly turning pink with nothing to be done about it. Dye migration is a terrible thing. Today’s Misprint Monday print…
Parte 1 Ok , usted tiene una camisa que es en parte o totalmente de poliéster , ¿qué hace? Veo demasiadas impresoras “P&P”, lo que yo llamo ” print and pray” (imprime y reza) y no importa de si se es religioso o no, yo rezaría durante el proceso de impresión. Necesitas un poco de ciencia y aquí está . Puede…
Here are some tests on a range of maroon colored polyester shirts. This is the test explained earlier, a drop of plasticizer and then a white fabric heated to 320 degrees F for 30 seconds. The nine shirts are a spectrum of results. Even shirts that don’t have much of a dye migration problem do…
As outlined in the earlier posts, you can heat up the polyester garment in question with a heat press and a drop of plasticizer will cause some dye to transfer to a piece of white jersey. Pretty much all fabric will transfer some of the dye, but it is a matter of degree. The more testing…
