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Dye Migration, the Screenprinter’s Nemesis. Part 6. Poly White as a Partial Solution

Another tool in fighting dye migration is “Poly white.” We use Rutland’s “Super Poly White” but other companies have similar formulations. In some ways the game has been upped. Once you could sometimes use cotton white on 50/50’s and a white for 50/50’s would always work. Now sometimes we can’t even count on the dye…

Dye Migration, the Screenprinter’s Nemesis. Part 4. Barrier Grey as a Partial Solution

So you have a bad bleeding shirt on your hands, now what? Yesterday I went over silicone inks as a possible solution and the pluses and the minuses of that approach. Most often in our shops we reach for Barrier Grey Ink. We use the Rutland version but I believe there are similar products out…

Dye Migration, the Screenprinter’s Nemesis. Part 3. Silicone as a Partial Solution

The previous two posts were about how to test for dye migration, the scourge of screenprinters everywhere. There is a quick test using a heat press and some plasticizer, and then a medium length test of putting a printed shirt on your dryer, and then there is the real world test of letting the shirt…

Sawgrass Sold

Industry sublimation company Sawgrass Industrial was just bought by the JK Group. That makes them the biggest digital sublimation group in the world. According to the JK prez, that puts JK ,”…into a global leadership position in the digital sublimation sector and at the forefront of the textile pigment inks market development.” It sounds like…

Misprint Monday – Scorching Heat, Scorching Shirts

This time of year in the US of A it gets scorching hot. One of the hottest places in the country yesterday was South Carolina, a scorching 100 degrees in Columbia. Though that is mild compared to the world high of 118 F. in Kuwait yesterday. It was a low is the lower 48 US…

Mis-print Monday. Out Damn Spot. Sorry, not.

A garment dyed shirt is a wonderful thing, comfortable and they come in beautiful colors. However, there are a few limitations that go along with these shirts and one is that you cannot remove the ink if you make a mistake. Best practices for garment dyed shirts: 1. Use a good emulsion 2. Get a thorough…

Andy Anderson: Nashville Renaissance Man

I feel very fortunate to get to spend some time with Andy Anderson at his studio in Nashville recently. Besides being one of the best screenprinters in the world for over thirty years he also is a master at creating motorcycles that are works of art, and then as if that isn’t enough, ranging far…

Bootleggin’ – Whack-a-Mole Law Enforcement

The Chicago Tribune wrote last week about $180K worth of phony Blackhawks hockey being seized by law enforcement under an effort with the oh so tricky “codename” Operation Team Player. This pales when one considers that the NHL’s big crackdown “Operation Red Zone” in 2013 netted $13.6 million in fake jerseys. Bootlegging is big business and…

What is a Good Shirt to Print On?

We often get requests to analyze shirts for manufacturers. I can tell you that some folks like Hanes and SanMar actually do care about you printers out there and try to make sure their products can be decorated. They don’t always fully succeed but they are definitely trying hard and often with great results. Other…

Computerized T-Shirts, Coming Soon?

That shirt was made a few years ago by Georgia Tech. It is called the smart shirt, and is for use on the battlefield to diagnose where a wound occurred. It was the start of what will be coming to the marketplace sooner than we could have imagined, computerized clothing. Google is ramping up their…

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