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Ways to Decorate Face Coverings

By Rick Roth

In our on-going series on masks, i.e. face coverings, we cover decoration.

The varieties of ways to decorate masks and other face coverings, some of which then have different methods associated with them.

  • transfers of a variety of types
  • sublimation (also a form of transfer)
  • embroidery
  • pad print
  • direct screenprint (with a variety of inks)
  • Direct-to-Garment (DTG)

Then there are a variety of face coverings

  • bandanas
  • gaiters (“buffs”)
  • single ply masks
  • double or triple ply masks
  • masks with pleats or conical, that basically don’t sit flat

These all may be made of cotton, polyester, or a blend of the two.

In the coming week or so we will cover each of the decoration techniques and all of the types of masks in more depth, but here are a few examples:

22″ x 22″ bandana with 18″ xc 18″ design. This was printed with plastisol, slightly thinned. Bandanas can be cotton, poly or a blend. You can print them with water-based or plastisol. You always want to avoid a heavy hand, particularly now when they are often used as face coverings.
Gaiters (Buffs) are mostly polyester and the means of decoration is sublimation, usually before they are sewn.

Face masks can be cotton, poly or blends and here are a few decorations techniques:

This three ply cotton mask by Hanes was decorated with a plastisol transfer.
This two ply polyester mask by Donray was decorated after being manufactured with a Sublimation transfer.
This 3 ply cotton mask by Hanes was decorated with a direct screenprint using a mask hold-down by Action Engineering.
Embroidery on a two ply polycotton mask.

 

We’ll cover these and more decoration techniques in more detail in future posts.

 

 

 

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