Pune-based Image Solutions recently purchased a semiautomatic flatbed screen press from Grafica Flextronica for its t-shirt printing plant. Rushil Jadhav, owner of Image Solutions, says, “Our organization provides finishing services to publishing and packaging companies in the Pune region through a screen printing press. Screen printing is more versatile than any conventional printing technique. The surface does not have to be printed under pressure, unlike etching or lithography and it does not have to be planar. A variety of inks can be used to work with textiles, paper, glass, metal and many other materials.”
The Grafica Flextronica silk screen press enables the transfer of plastisolbased inks on paper. These inks are then transferred on to garments by using fusing machines that are heated to between 180 to 200 degrees Centigrade for 10 to 20 seconds. Image Solutions has also installed a single bed pneumatic heat transfer press from Chola Industries that transfers and fuses the images on fabric surfaces such as t-shirts.
Speaking about some of the complexities of textile printing, Jadhav says, “This has been a growing trend in the past few years with innumerable incredible designs being created on t-shirts. But when it comes to recreating the artwork from a computer screen and expecting the same colors on a t-shirt, it becomes very tricky depending on the technicality of the overall design and the various elements being used. Having t-shirt fabric as a medium has an inherent set of constraints because of the porousness of the surface, its elasticity, the print process and the inks used. Knowing these constraints is just half the battle that needs to be overcome with the right ingredients and balance of possible solutions.”
Since paper isn’t as absorbent as fabric, the inks dry faster with minimal color mixing and more importantly, they dry quickly on the surface. Paper acts as a better print medium for recreating the artwork from a computer screen. However, fabric is absorbent and allows the inks to saturate deeper than paper and that makes the fabric good for permanent print. Printed t-shirts are worn both indoors and outdoors, in dry and wet conditions, and go through repeated and intensive cleaning in household washers and dryers. The heavy usage of a printed t-shirt over time requires the ink to permanently adhere to the fabric and maintain its quality.
The way colors appear on garments is also an issue, especially while processing light-colored inks on dark colored t-shirts. A white print design on a black t-shirt will can have a weak or different look if black color of the t-shirt fabric dominates and shows through the white ink. The solution to this common problem is running the white ink twice with flashing (curing ink temporarily with a heat lamp before printing it again with the same screen). Running the same screen twice with flashing allows the ink to become of double strength and stops the shirt color from pushing through.
Another very common technique for printing inks on dark colored fabric is to use a white base. The process involves printing a base for the entire design with white ink in order to create a blank canvas underneath the actual color design. “Understanding the product and printing process can drastically improve printed products ensuring the best results from a computer screen on to fabric. We are looking for more business opportunities to enhance our production and output,” concluded Jadhav.
