# Screen-printing on 100% Polyester?



## Kingsmen (Apr 23, 2008)

Can you screen print onto 100% polyester? How to? What type of ink do you use?


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## Kingsmen (Apr 23, 2008)

The color of the garment is grey. They want to use the color blue for the artwork. Do I need to use a white base first?


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## n.signia (Nov 21, 2007)

is it a dark or light grey? is the blue royal, navy, light blue?

it depends. If its a standard grey and with a royal blue ink I would not underbase. you can use normal plastisol ink for this job. you can also cure as normal. just dont let your dryer get TO hot.


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## darwinchristian (Aug 24, 2007)

I've been extremely scared of printing 100% polyester. 50/50 cotton/poly blends are difficult enough with my poor dryer thanks to dye migration issues and lack of a consistent temp.

I believe special inks are required for this application that cure at a lower temperature, so that the polyester doesn't shrink. (causing registration issues on multi-colored jobs or actually deforming the garment.)

but i've never tried it.


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## Kingsmen (Apr 23, 2008)

Medium Grey w/ navy blue


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## n.signia (Nov 21, 2007)

you should be able to print as normal (no underbase) with medium grey and a navy blue.

otherwise all you would need is a low bleed white ink as an underbase if you were printing say, yellow on a navy shirt, and you shouldnt have any migration problems. Other than the low bleed white, no special inks are needed, cure as usual at 320.


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## Kingsmen (Apr 23, 2008)

Hey you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the help


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## txjake (Dec 2, 2008)

Yep... rule of thumb, if the ink is darker than the shirt, just do things the way you normally would (unless the polyester garment has a sublimated pattern on it... different rules apply to those.) If you need to print white on a darker color, use a low-bleed ink.


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