I am currently screen-printing my shirts (cotton and cotton/polyester blends), but
I am now looking for another option that prints:
1/ a flatter finish... You've seen how the professional apparel companies do it, and it is as though the print part of the fabric. Currently w/ screening, I find too much ink sits on top of the material, so to speak.
2/multiple colors w/out the multiple screen set-ups. It's too costly and inconvenient when I want to do creative designs with several colors and gradients...
From my understanding, you can create the above effect using a "heat transfer process or "dye sublimation (for polyester material).. What other options do I have? How can I get that "professional print?
ty. i will look into this option... but isn't "direct to garment only available on light coloured apparel? i do a lot of printing on darks... there must be some other way the pros do it, no?
ty. i will look into this option... but isn't "direct to garment only available on light coloured apparel? i do a lot of printing on darks... there must be some other way the pros do it, no?
Hi, what you are looking for is indeed dye sublimation.
Most of the garments or shirts you see in the department stores are printed using wide format printers in order to be able to have a print that is wide enough to cover the whole shirt (the dark beackground is printed on the white or lightly colored shirt along with the rest of the graphics); you also need a heat press larger than the shirt to use this teqnique.
If your graphics are small you can try using gray, tan, olive green with a darker colored image with a tranparent background.
Hi, what you are looking for is indeed dye sublimation.
Most of the garments or shirts you see in the department stores are printed using wide format printers in order to be able to have a print that is wide enough to cover the whole shirt (the dark beackground is printed on the white or lightly colored shirt along with the rest of the graphics); you also need a heat press larger than the shirt to use this teqnique.
If your graphics are small you can try using gray, tan, olive green with a darker colored image with a tranparent background.
I hope this helps.
USSUB
But isn't dye sublimation only for light colored garments. The post was mentioning printing on darks as well.
I think the type of effect he might be looking for could be water based ink screen printing or even discharge printing.
But isn't dye sublimation only for light colored garments. The post was mentioning printing on darks as well.
I think the type of effect he might be looking for could be water based ink screen printing or even discharge printing.
The dark color is sublimated on the shirt. Basically you are printing the background color on the whole shirt along with the graphics.
If this is done on a finished shirt you will notice wrinkle lines around the arm pits, otherwise the garment is printed before it is sewn together.
If the image you are applying is dark enough (a black skull for example) you can apply it to a light/medium colored shirt.
i am willing to spend more money if i can get that professional look i want of 1/flat finish and 2/multiple-colors... i just want to find out what that process is called so i can consider it now, or long-term...
so i need a little clarification if u don't mind... w/ dye sublimation - r u saying print black over the entire shirt to get my dark color (front/black/sleeves, inside/out), while printing my white logo at the same time? that seems silly. OR that i can print white on black using dye sublimation and a transparent background?
the other problem w/ dye sublimation is i don't use 100% polyester material. at best, it's 50/50 but for most of my long-sleeves im using 10oz 100% cotton.
Fluid suggested direct to garment printers - but I heard this only prints well on light colors...
looking for more feedback if you have any please... thank you. i appreciate the help. i need to figure this out!
traditional screen printing is probably your best bet. The soft or no hand feel to the print can be achieved with waterbased inks, Discharge inks or regular plasticols (to an extent/depends on many factors)
Main issue with screen printing is the more colors the more money it costs. Small runs will wear a hole in your wallet. I believe Dye sub is mainy whites (possibly lights yet not too sure)
DTG's will print on darks yet I personally do not think they are 100% or even close as of yet. Still too new to the market to jump in at the price of the machines.
The dark color is sublimated on the shirt. Basically you are printing the background color on the whole shirt along with the graphics.
If this is done on a finished shirt you will notice wrinkle lines around the arm pits, otherwise the garment is printed before it is sewn together.
If the image you are applying is dark enough (a black skull for example) you can apply it to a light/medium colored shirt.
Mike
But you still can't do dye sublimation on a black garment with white ink though, right?
I think that aspect of dye sub may cause problems with many designs.
Fluid suggested direct to garment printers - but I heard this only prints well on light colors...
Yes, DTG works best on light colors, the printing on dark garments is still being perfected.
Quote:
i am willing to spend more money if i can get that professional look i want of 1/flat finish and 2/multiple-colors... i just want to find out what that process is called so i can consider it now, or long-term..
Those shirts in the stores you mentioned were most likely printed using screen printing.
There are LOTS of different ways to screen print a t-shirt. There's thicker layers of ink, thinner layers of ink, water based ink with no hand, dishcharge and fashion based ink that doesn't leave heavy ink layers.
Screen printing is more than just the thick single colors that you may be thinking of.
Screen printing can do gradients, photographs, fades, etc.
i am willing to spend more money if i can get that professional look i want of 1/flat finish and 2/multiple-colors... i just want to find out what that process is called so i can consider it now, or long-term...
so i need a little clarification if u don't mind... w/ dye sublimation - r u saying print black over the entire shirt to get my dark color (front/black/sleeves, inside/out), while printing my white logo at the same time? that seems silly. OR that i can print white on black using dye sublimation and a transparent background?
the other problem w/ dye sublimation is i don't use 100% polyester material. at best, it's 50/50 but for most of my long-sleeves im using 10oz 100% cotton.
Fluid suggested direct to garment printers - but I heard this only prints well on light colors...
looking for more feedback if you have any please... thank you. i appreciate the help. i need to figure this out!
Some Direct to garment printers will print on darks as they have a white ink feature that allows to print an outline in white and then print colors over it. Unfortunally the white ink is still in it's infancy and tends to clog heads.
In your original quote you say that you are looking for a specific look and feel that is currently available in department stores. Direct to garment printers are not cost effective so I sincerely doubt that they are used for that kind of production, furthermore Direct to garment are not totally soft tot he touch... you can still feel the ink on the surface. Some of the t-shirts you see at those stores (especially some of the private lables) are printed by some of my customers using Dye Sublimation (look for ones that have a full front coverage and a different color on the back. You will also notice that the ones that have a dark background will have either a different color on one of the two sides or a dark line at the seems (on the sides); otherwise most of the ones that have smaller graphics (chest, shoulder, etc.) are on light colored shirts. You start with a 65/35 t-shirt that is white, gray, green... basically any color as long as it is not too dark (remember that the color of the shirt becomes your White Point so if you have white in your image you need to start with a white shirt). If you wish to change the color of the shirt (let's say from gray to black) you would create your graphic file with a black background that is large enough to cover the whole shirt top to bottom side to side. Your graphics need to be positioned properly within the background image.
Print the file on dye sub paper and transfer.
Since the shirt can't be completely wrinkle free using this method you will get "discolored" wrinkles on the fabric, these are the areas where the fabric folded and the color didn't transfer. To avoid this you either stretch the shirts with an insert (you can never get all of the wrinkles out with this method) or you sublimate on an unfisnished garment and then sow it together.
Here is an example Macy*s - Men's - INC International Concepts® Graffiti Tee & Creation Tee
Professional Prints, Flat finish 
