As a regular reader of excellent digitizing blog, you might recall our last week’s blog about the popular screen printing technique. If you are an apparel decorator, t-shirt printer and marketer, you can’t afford to miss that one.

In that post, we discussed in length about screen printing process, equipment required and elaborated simple ways to complete a basic screen printing job.

If you haven’t had a chance to go through that blog, I would highly recommend you to check that out here first because we are diving in deep sea of details of screen printing now.

Ok. So, we are done with the basics.

Time for some advanced details about the printing process. Let us now discuss common screen printing issues and their possible solutions. The later part of this blog will cover Pros and Cons of this technique.

As a prelude, a plethora of problems that can arise while you execute the printing process. The number problems really depend on competence of person doing the jobs as well as the quality and quantity of products and equipment used in the process.

All right, so without any further do, let’s get the ball rolling.

1.    Image Bleeding

Image Bleeding refers to the extra amount of ink that bleeds through the screen while you rub it with a squeegee. Possible reasons can be traced back to the angle of squeegee. As a general rule, 45-degree angle is required with a gentle amount of pressure.

You might have also make a mistake in making the ink. So do a quality check of ink for its viscosity. Your previous experience will answer you about what is the right ink mixture.

Also, sometimes, due to the excess ink, the squeegee supplies extra amount of ink to the substrate. This problem can be avoided easily. Use the small amount of ink and apply squeegee multiple times with very soft hands to get your desired output.

Experts say that if you don’t control the image bleeding, even a highly professional logo digitizing work, for example, will be destroyed in seconds.

If nothing works, you have to create a new screen from the scratch. Apologies, there is no way out of this.

2.    White Ink Problem

Most people face problems with white inks (both Textprint Mono and Plastisol ) on dark fabrics.  They are very pasty, after having mixed well they seem even more dense and difficult to apply on the screen.

The effect obtained after 3/4 squeegee passes is a fairly definite and covering as well as rough. Impression with an uneven crust in ink, while Plastisol ink is softer but less supported and drools more.

There is no formula for the proportions of dilution: it is necessary to verify by tests that the ink is applied correctly under the action of the doctor blade. As white inks on a dark support, it is impossible to obtain a perfect coverage with a single passage of doctor blade.

For a white ink on a dark support, it is impossible to obtain a perfect coverage with a single passage of doctor blade. It is necessary to run the squeegee two or three times, lift the screen, partially dry the ink with a heat gun or an intermediate flasher, then iron with the squeegee.

The underlying ink layer will prevent the second layer of ink from penetrating the fabric and you will get good coverage. So, next time you digitize logo and print it on a white ink, you know what to do.

3.    Abandoned Ink

This problem occurs when the screen printing inks are stored in rooms with extreme temperatures that are too hot or too cold: optimal storage conditions allow for storage in cool, low humidity and far from any light source of direct heat.

A temperature of 24 degrees does not compromise the stability and integrity of the product, even if it is an ink with water, provided that the pot is perfectly closed.

The water products are formulated with a percentage of additive preventing the formation of algae, bacteria and therefore mold: even if the temperature has created the conditions necessary for the formation of a small amount of mold, for example simply mix the contents of the pot thoroughly to restore the ideal conditions of the product.

Even if, at the opening of the jar, there is a light film above the ink, do not worry: just mix the product well before using it without any worries.

4.    Improper Use of Squeegee

If you want your screen printing job to standout, you need to be highly skilled in using squeegee. Especially if you run a manual press, squeegee needs to be handled with care. A lot of printing professional’s is advice is to properly flood the screen before each print. This flooding process sort of create an ink surface that make the rest of the job a lot easier.

If flooding is not applied before printing, you have to make an effort with squeegee for the right print stroke to force the ink to the fabric. This is highly not recommended to save cost and time.

To deposit more ink on a print, a softer squeegee is required. Similarly, for a less deposit of ink, a harder squeegee does the work.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF SCREEN PRINTING?

• Screen printing offers long-lasting motifs and high washing resistance of the textiles, which remain unchanged in their textile properties. In addition, screen printing is cheap in large quantities.
• Screen-finished textiles have a high level of wash resistance with neutral color brilliance, as the textile properties of the screen printing process remain unchanged. They are durable and durable.
• In the screen-printing process, almost all motifs can be realized and almost every color is available. The colors are full and very well opaque.
• The screen printing process is also favorable for large runs.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF SCREEN PRINTING?

• The price increases with the number of colors, because each ink needs an extra sieve.
• The more colors that are included in the screen printing process, the more expensive the print becomes, as each ink has to be applied with an extra screen. This is especially expensive for small editions with very colorful motifs.

This concludes the screen printing manual. Next time you are faced with a screen printing task, do refer to this manual for great results. If done right, screen printing can create jaw-dropping print results on fabrics.

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