This “expectation vs. reality” example shows that this “simple” and “clever” concept is actually not so simple to achieve (and maybe not that clever?) We get a ton of requests to print black ink on a black shirt. To achieve the effect, the following considerations must be taken into account: First, and most importantly, what…
From our pal Brett Bowden at Printed Threads in Texas comes this tale of woe. It doesn’t seem right to publish a story about a “bedeviled” Christian shirt on Christmas (this coming Monday) so we put this out today, a Friday. The joys of printing on Triblends (cotton, polyester, rayon) that are 100% black… Our…
Somebody showed me a shirt and asked what caused all sorts of problems with the print. What we see: Filled in negative space Registration problems including white underprint showing where it should not Blurry image “Bumpy” print, not smooth White ink turned pink What is causing all these problems? So what are the…
BELLA+CANVAS has started a youtube channel and just released videos on three of their garments being printed with specialty inks: triblend printed with adhesive and then foil applied, slub being printed with metallic ink, and black heather being printed with reflective ink. They are simple and to the point and worth checking out. Look for them…
Comfort Colors just sent out an email blast promoting their decorating tips. You can read about many different ways to make your comfort colors shirts look better. This seems to be part of a wave of garment companies looking to help their customers proactively with tips on decoration, rather than waiting for decorators to run…
I woke up to a Business Insider article about the decline of retail stores. They report that a third of malls are in danger of closing, and that visits to malls decreased 50% from 2010 to 2013. Noted at our industry shows, American Apparel will be closing their 110 retail locations and Abercrombie closing…
I got a request last week to help someone figure out why their ink cracked. They thought it was the shirts. I have never seen a shirt that would cause the ink to crack all by itself. There is always an ink solution for cracking. WHAT CAUSES INK TO CRACK? Primarily the cause of the ink cracking…
I was asked to look at some shirts today that supposedly had “ghosting” issues. Ghosting we have covered before (see a prior ink kitchen.com article), it basically is a bleaching process when certain inks give off a gas when they are hot and stacked and a lighter “ghost” image appears on the shirt placed on top…
Hirsch is now distributing Brother DTG machines, coast to coast. They already sell Kornit DTG machines, so they become the go-to place for high end fast pace DTG printing. There is no press release yet and the details will be coming in the coming weeks including if you stop by the HIrsch booth at Long…
Yesterday I posted about a technique called Japanese woodblock printing. Here is a video that shows more on how the printing was done. It will make you appreciate how easy it is to screenprint. Here is a video about the printing with the woodblocks. And here is a video on how the carving of the…
