# Screen Printing on Towels?



## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

Has anybody screen printed towels, the small ones like for golf or softball? I did a couple about a year ago and they came out terrible because of the terri-cloth texture ("hairy") on the towels. Is it possible to screen print them successfully? Or are their special towels for screen printing that have a smoother side to them?

Thanks!
Rusty


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

You need to use either Waterbased inks or Chino Plastisol. The inks has to really soak into the fibers. Waterbased is the best choice for towels. It leaves the softest hand.


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

Just bumping for any more ideas. I've never heard of Chino plastistols and never used water based. So would it help if I used a low mesh screen, like 80, and thin out the plastsol ink alot?


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

You can purchase towels from most t-shirt vendors that work well with printing. We do this quite a bit. We also use regular plasticol inks reduced/modified with Cureable reducer to get a nice soft hand to the print.

search the forums for towel printing as this has been discussed a bit in the past


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

Thanks Richard. I searched this forum for discussion on towel printing, but didn't find much of anything, other than just it being mentioned in passing. I'll give it a shot.


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

make sure you use cureable reducer not soft hand to modify the inks. We use as much as 50-75% reducer to the inks. Just remember it will lighten/make the ink more transparent yet will have a waterbased feel to the print.

Make sure you print on the smoother side of the towel for the best print. Reducing the inks will not work on dark towels, just white.


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## MANNYMARISCAL (Dec 5, 2006)

A customer asked me to print on some spirit towels. This is the first time that I print on towels, I am using the Anvil T101 but it is really rough on both sides do you guys have any recommendations regarding what towel to use?


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

yeah, the towels I had were Thousand Oaks, and they were also very rough on both sides, and looked terrible when I tried to print them. I don't have any suggestions.


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

Virginia T's carries a line. McArthur I believe it is. Something along those lines. Ill try to find the exact name tomorrow to verify


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## MANNYMARISCAL (Dec 5, 2006)

You can purchase the towels directly from McArthur, you have to purchase a 450 piece minimum.


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## JAF (Oct 12, 2008)

I know this thread is old. So I was hoping for some updated info. Maybe a new ink or a new technique.
I've been asked to quote 200 navy golf towels, tri fold with a white print. Customer is suppliing the towels.
I did try to print on a towel 2 yrs ago but it looked bad. Haven't tried it since.

Any new recommendations for printing on towels?


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

Yes, have someone else do it. LOL. If I remember I'll look in my Screen Printing book and get back to you.


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## JAF (Oct 12, 2008)

If you think about it Paul I would be interested in hearing if you find anything new on the subject. It won't make a difference on this job. I just emailed the customer and turned down the screen printing and pushed for embroidery.


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## catdog (Nov 26, 2010)

i have sprayed my towels with regular house starch and pressed them on the heat press, this gave me a nice smooth, flat surface


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## RespecttheCraft (Feb 19, 2010)

i would think waterbased inks would work best.. if you used a low mesh count and a thick stencil it would lay down plenty of ink.. and if you printed on dark towels you can use discharge.


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## garythebuilder (Mar 9, 2010)

I use white plastisol ink....then heat press! Make sure to go with the grain of the towel. A heat press will make u a hero.


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## garythebuilder (Mar 9, 2010)

I used white plastisol ink reduced curable ....then heat pressed. towels 100% cotton dark navy. HEAT PRESS is the trick. I just completed 400 towels. Yes more time involved but a very HAPPY customer.


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## Chip and Andy (May 7, 2012)

Water based ink, two passes with a low off contact worked for me. A heavy flood between passes helped, I think.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

Even if you don't cure with a heat press, you should use one to matte the fibers down before printing.


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## Dunelion (Jan 24, 2012)

Hi, I realize this post was ages ago, but hoping you can help.

We need to print 200 white rough terry towels with initials (1.5"X2.5") in black plastisol ink.

What time, temperature and pressure to use on the heat press to cure the ink?
Do we need to use the teflon or print perfect pad? 
Should we heat press the towel before screen printing?

Thank you!


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## jimcr (Feb 3, 2009)

I just did a small run of 15 towels , I used curable reducer and soft hand , printed on the side that had a shorter terry , I also did a plastisol transfer on a towel and it worked better than I thought it would. Water base would be the best way because it will soak into the fibers instead of laying on top. 
The color was a dark gray on white , put through a 200 mesh screen , I wanted to keep it as thin as possible while getting coverage. Had to hit it hard twice to drive in the ink but it did work. Could have used a lower mesh but that would have built up the ink too much IMO.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

Yes, if you use the Heat Press use a Teflon Sheet, Parchment Paper or Print Perfect Pad.


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## Danny vital (Jun 25, 2010)

You could also use a discharge ink on the darker towels.


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## Dunelion (Jan 24, 2012)

Yes, but we don't use discharge ink. Still researching if discharge is something we want to get into. Thanks for the help.


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## Danny vital (Jun 25, 2010)

Dunelion said:


> Yes, but we don't use discharge ink. Still researching if discharge is something we want to get into. Thanks for the help.


We just jumped into it and found it pretty awesome. The smell kind of sucks, but the results are awesome. We've been using CCI brand.


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## MEGO (Aug 26, 2014)

I have a dz terry velour navy towels that need to print with a translucent ink that will make it look as a ghost print. which ink do you recommend that will leave a soft feel to it


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## ~Hopi Girl~ (Nov 29, 2020)

catdog said:


> i have sprayed my towels with regular house starch and pressed them on the heat press, this gave me a nice smooth, flat surface


When washed, what happened to the print? Did it stay flat or did it fluff up. If it fluffed, what did the print look after?.


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## ~Hopi Girl~ (Nov 29, 2020)

garythebuilder said:


> I used white plastisol ink reduced curable ....then heat pressed. towels 100% cotton dark navy. HEAT PRESS is the trick. I just completed 400 towels. Yes more time involved but a very HAPPY customer.


Heat press? Can you use a regular iron if you don't have a press? Same effect?


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