[afmtdr]

I am looking into having shirts printed for me at this point.

The discharge process removes the black dye and leaves the natural color of the shirt, I believe is correct.

Since I only need 1 color (white) for the design, just discharging and not printing the white and just leaving the natural would look fine for this particular retro design.

Has anyone done this or thoughts on doing this?

 

[macmiller]

It's done all the time. Depending how bright the cotton was to begin with will affect the color of the discharged print.

 

[afmtdr]

Doing research as I go, this process is called natural discharge.



My thought is that this may be a good way to get started in printing since I do not have the experience.

It seems there still is curing involved with heat. Is the curing process for discharging still has precise as with colored inks?

 

[macmiller]

It depends on the effect you want. For an even discharge, you'll need a way to heat them evenly, i.e. flash (slow), conveyor dryer, (need one that will keep the shirt in there for 90 sec.) or a heat press (slow but works pretty good.) a heat gun would probably be kind of inconsistent.

It's not hard, but might be more difficult for a beginner. You need a well exposed screen that has emulsion that is water resistant and you have to work quick as it will dry in the screen.

here's a good article from this month's printwear. It's for heat pressing, but the tricks can be used by any screenprinter. I want to try them soon.

 

[afmtdr]

Seeing that the ink is mixed with the discharge if you want color.

Thanks for the link to the article and good luck with the heat press curing. Those tunnel dryers are expensive.

 

[Spot_Worker]

see this..... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlUg-P_8xhw&feature=related[/media]