[4taylormadetees]

100% v/s 50/50 t-shirts for screen printing ?
main concern is plastisol, but interested in all inks
i printed a few 100% cotton shirts and they were white ink on black shirts with a flash and the print was rough like sand paper,as i printed i switched to 50/50 and they seemed smoother,not sure if my stroke got better or if it was the shirt.wondering what people like the most or any advise ,,,thanks Tim

 

[losttrail]

The 100% cotton is the easier of the two to screen print on. If you use 50/50 stay away from red fabrics...

 

[Hegemone]

I am guessing your ink was creamier and your stroke got better. White on black print flash print yeilds same results on a 50/50 and a ultra cotton for me. I am using water base however.

 

[4taylormadetees]

i wanted to add i was using triangle phoenix white ink.i plan on switching to the ryonet white.i want to try a lower mesh count too. i was using 160 cause they were coated and ready.i think i used a little more pressure and more of a angle with my squeegee with the good prints.

 

[4taylormadetees]

i printed one red and it was smooth but maybe a little red shines through.is that what you mean.

 

[Hegemone]

I printed white on a maroon shirt and the white ink sucks up some red from the shirt dye and turned pinkish. Depends on the shirt and manufacturer but red is well know to do that. Mk sure to use low bleed ink on red poly blends.

 

[ScreenFoo]

Taking a 100% cotton and 50/50 cotton/poly blend of the same quality, the 50/50 is going to be smoother, and you will have less random fibers to mat down--you'll also notice this going from a 'jet spun' to a 'ring spun' cotton garment.

You may want to note as well, that a 50/50 will usually take less heat to cure than the 100% cotton--if you have a run of red shirts that's some of each, and you temp the cotton properly, you're probably over curing the blend--same goes for fleece, but even more so with the insulation...