# Screen printing with bleach.....



## mtmob (Apr 21, 2007)

Has anybody ever screen printed with bleach? im looking at a pair of shorts last years gunit collection and the jean shorts have gunit on the pant leg it looks like it was bleached.

has anyone ever done something like this and if so how did you do it?


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## jlee199 (Mar 21, 2006)

I was at an earthday celebration and I talked to a woman who decorated some shirts using bleach. It was pretty interesting. I did a search on google and found plenty of information on the process. Most of the techniques involved using a Clorox bleach pen. 

John


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## hiGH (Jan 25, 2007)

here are some videos that might help you. 

YouTube - Vutube #7: Making T-Shirt Design with Bleach=
YouTube - how to make a t-shirt #2=
YouTube - Thread Heads Quickie - How to Stencil a T-Shirt=


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## mothertongues (Aug 8, 2005)

jlee199 said:


> I was at an earthday celebration and I talked to a woman who decorated some shirts using bleach. It was pretty interesting. I did a search on google and found plenty of information on the process. Most of the techniques involved using a Clorox bleach pen.
> 
> John


That is so weird - anyone into Earthday should not be using bleach at all...


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## mtmob (Apr 21, 2007)

I actually did some extensive research and found this product called bleach thickner, and when mixed with bleach can be used in the fashion as plastisol then once the bleach has been air dried for a while and the fabric has gotten to the color you want you dip the fabric in a bucket of another product called bleach stopper, then your product is done. i havent done it yet but when i do ill post the outcome of the experiment so that if others want to do it they know wsup. im gonna also see if i can film it and post it on you tube so that it can be viewed as well.



Wish me luck


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## aust1025 (Mar 1, 2007)

Im very interested in this.

I was wondering what would happen if you mixed a diluted bleach mixture right into plastisol.


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## mtmob (Apr 21, 2007)

aust1025 said:


> Im very interested in this.
> 
> I was wondering what would happen if you mixed a diluted bleach mixture right into plastisol.


 
wow i never thought of that im curious as well....lol


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

My concern would be with weakening the fabric.. as bleach can eat at the fibers.


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## aries (Mar 18, 2007)

I know one thing if you use bleach be in a ventilated area..Try using the new bleach sticks..


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## CypherNinja (May 5, 2007)

mothertongues said:


> That is so weird - anyone into Earthday should not be using bleach at all...


You don't actually have to be a member of your target market.


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## Moonie (Nov 17, 2006)

About 20 years ago I experimented using bleach on shirts. I took a kelly green 100% cotton shirt and with a spray bottle filled with a 50/50 water bleach solution and setting the spray nozzle at a fine stream, squirted line patterns all over it. The areas where the bleach touched the green fabric turned a strange yellow color within 15 seconds. I then put it into a bucket of water to stop the bleaching process. I washed and dryed it as normal and had the coolest looking shirt I ever saw. It had kinda like a tye dye look with the green and yellow offsetting each other. I then tried one with a red shirt and got a red/orange effect from it. The shirts began to disintegrate after a few months where the bleach discolored the fabric. I don't know if the solution was too strong or I left it on too long. I never tried doing it again but have been thinking about giving it another shot someday. I think a have a picture of them somewhere. I'll try to post it.


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## RichardGreaves (Nov 7, 2006)

aust1025 said:


> I was wondering what would happen if you mixed a diluted bleach mixture right into plastisol.


Low bleed white ink. Bleach that kills migrating or sublimating dyes from polyester released by heat.

Snifff....... Smell that hydrogen peroxide smell when you print the white ink. 

Mmmm. Bleach.

Soft hand curable base, a little laundry bleach. Do experiments with concentration. Don't worry too much, hydrogen peroxide is used to clean open wounds and the mouth.

Rinse in a 'base' solution to counteract the acid action of the peroxide. Baking soda would work fine. That's the mix I use on my corroded battery terminals.

Go get'em.


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## martinwoods (Jul 20, 2006)

Is there a possibility that is a discharge, like the mimaki printer uses?


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## RichardGreaves (Nov 7, 2006)

martinwoods said:


> Is there a possibility that is a discharge, like the mimaki printer uses?


Yes and no.

Yes,the ZSF additive destroys dyes in cloth.

No, the ink requires heat to activate the chemical reaction. Bleach does not.

In general, bleach attacks the dye and the fabric, and the skin, and the eyes. ZSF usually only attacks the dye of a cloth.


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## Moth Clap (Jan 10, 2008)

RichardGreaves said:


> Low bleed white ink. Bleach that kills migrating or sublimating dyes from polyester released by heat.
> 
> Snifff....... Smell that hydrogen peroxide smell when you print the white ink.
> 
> ...


Hey,

Mind if I ask you a couple of questions?

*> What kind of bleach do you use?

> Does it damage the emulsion at all?

> What do you mean by "soft hand curable base"? Is this something you dip the shirt in once you've screened it? *

Thanks mate, any help you can offer would be grand.

_A_


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## RichardGreaves (Nov 7, 2006)

*What kind of bleach do you use?
*_laundry bleach - experiment with the concentration.

_ *What do you mean by "soft hand curable base"? Is this something you dip the shirt in once you've screened it?
*"Soft hand curable base" is an additive to plastisol inks that is a balanced combination of resin and plasticizer so that it will cure with the ink no matter how much you put in. Imagine ink without color pigment. Imagine peanut butter without peanuts - it's just butter and has a softer feel. 

For water base ink people, a clear base. You would have to experiment, especially if you want to stop the bleaching action.
*
Does it damage the emulsion at all?
*It depends on the solvent and water resistance of your emulsion. Bleach as a chemical will not effect any emulsion that I know of, BUT, laundry bleach is usually sold at about 5% concentration which means that 95% is water - which can break down stencils that are not water resistant.


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## buckcreek (Aug 13, 2007)

I bought a Chlorox bleach pen and want to try decorating a shirt with it. I was thinking about making a screen and instead of using plastisol I would use the pen on the screen. Once I put the bleach on the screen how long would I wait and then would I just rinse the shirt in cold water to stop the bleaching action? That's what I was planning to do. Does anyone know if this will work?


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## urastar (May 26, 2008)

*Re: screen printing with bleach.....*

I bought a how to screen printing book and the instructions for discharge printing is to use soft scrub. Put it through the screen as if it were paint and let it dry then wash the shirt so the fibers don't weaken and also wash the screen immediately so the mesh fibers don't weaken as well. If anyone is interested in the process I can scan the pages and post here for you.


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## midwaste (Apr 8, 2008)

*Re: screen printing with bleach.....*



urastar said:


> I bought a how to screen printing book and the instructions for discharge printing is to use soft scrub. Put it through the screen as if it were paint and let it dry then wash the shirt so the fibers don't weaken and also wash the screen immediately so the mesh fibers don't weaken as well. If anyone is interested in the process I can scan the pages and post here for you.


Sounds interesting.


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## buckcreek (Aug 13, 2007)

*Re: screen printing with bleach.....*

What book do you have? Also, that would be great if you could post the instructions if it's not too much trouble. Thanks for your reply.


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## urastar (May 26, 2008)

The book is called Home Screen printing workshop and its by Paul Thimou. I scanned the pages (4 total). The instructions are pretty well detailed so it makes up for some of his not so tasteful designs . I bought it at amazon for about $10 a while back. Good luck. 

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/5738/page1ym1.png
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/2169/page2ty0.png
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3297/page3gq0.png
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/1816/page4fc6.png


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## midwaste (Apr 8, 2008)

Any chance you could scan those a little bigger?


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## urastar (May 26, 2008)

I did scan them big but I had to minimize them to host on imageshack. On here it was even worse. I can email them to you if you want.


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## buckcreek (Aug 13, 2007)

That would be great if you could email them. I couldn't read them because when I made them larger they became very blurred. I can't wait to try this, thank you so much for the information.


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## urastar (May 26, 2008)

I need your email  . Here goes another try at posting the pics.


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## buckcreek (Aug 13, 2007)

Those turned out great, I can read them with no problem. Thank you so much for sharing them.
I'll let you know how it works for me. I'm going to try it this weekend.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Ok I know nothing about this, but as a hair stylist I do know a bit about certain hair lightners that might work The lightners (bleach + other chemicals) activate on hair by the chemicals in the solutions (mixing it with peroxide) and the reactions of them are stopped by water, I know I have a bunch of shirts with white spots on them from dripping on myself while doing hair  There is one in particular that might be interesting for this, its called color graphix and it is only activated after it has heat applied to it. They came out with this one because getting the lightner on hair takes a long time if the hair is long, so they came up with a formula that would not work until you applied heat, thus preventing damaged hair from too much exposure. Its consistancy is like a really thin cake frosting, and I am thinking it would go thru screens pretty easy as the granules are super small, it comes in a really fine powder. Of course using it would require gloves, and you do need a license to buy it, but I might just have to try it on a shirt and see what happens. I have gotten this one on shirts before and because I didnt apply heat to my shirt it did not change it but I bet it would work pretty cool painting it on and then heating it. Just an idea I got reading this thread


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## urastar (May 26, 2008)

Your welcome! Can I see your results? I'll post mine here when I take some pics.


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## staned (Feb 25, 2007)

what makes you guys think that the pants pictured are bleached? most apparel manufactures would use discharge as not to compromise the integrity of the fabric. bleach is closer to burn-out ink than discharge. burn-out printing, now there's some fun stuff. stan


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

Matsui DSPS discharge is great, predictable, and somewhat easy to work with. It's also not very expensive, so if you're experimenting with bleach and want to try something a bit more professional, try real discharge ink. You will need an oven though.


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## urastar (May 26, 2008)

Is there a discharge ink you can use without having to cure in the oven? What pigments do you use to put over the discharge? Nice designs Brent!


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

brent said:


> try real discharge ink. You will need an oven though.


I've (successfully) cured/activated discharge ink with an iron, and with a heat press: no oven required.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

Yeah. I first did it with a flash cure unit, so I know you don't *have* to have an oven, but for any really sizeable discharge print run, you should have an oven with an exhaust fed to the outside. That stuff is not good for you to breath in. 
As far as health concerns, I'm not sure whether bleach fumes or discharge fumes are worse for you.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

brent said:


> for any really sizeable discharge print run, you should have an oven with an exhaust fed to the outside. That stuff is not good for you to breath in.


True, you _should use_ a proper oven, but you don't actually _need_ one, which is at least relevant if you want to do some test prints. But yes, discharge can be pretty harsh and it's worth giving some thought to OH&S procedures.


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## smarmyclothes (Oct 16, 2008)

Hello, new here!
So I've done a bit of bleaching before, but I've always hand painted my designs with paintbrushes and old markers. I recently came up with a design that I'm trying to replicate more quickly, so I decided to break out some of my screen printing equipment and give it a try.

I tried the Soft Scrub method a few hours ago, and so far, I'm not seeing any bleaching going on. I specifically bought the kind that says "with bleach" on the bottle, and I know the fabric I'm working with bleaches, because I used regular diluted bleach a few days ago with no problems.

I guess I'm wondering if they've reduced the bleach concentration in SoftScrub so much that it doesn't bleach fabric very readily? 

Has anyone else tried this recently? Do I just need to be patient and wait? 

*ALSO: the earlier suggestion that bleach and hydrogen peroxide are the same thing is wrong. Please don't go gargle with bleach or rub it on a cut. It's extremely toxic.
*And actually, peroxide is one of the best ways to neutralize bleach.


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## MerchFlow.com (Dec 25, 2008)

Hey guys, I did a small expermental run today. My results varied shirt to shirt, but this is the first time I've used bleach or a "discharge" type of ink.

I used a 230 mesh screen & soft scrub, the gel kind & then sent them through or belt dryer. I assuming it was still set for about 300 to 350. (*f) The first shirt was really dark brown! I tried another an pressed harder & it wasnt too bad!! I did it with about 5 or 6 black shirts and the results were rather satasfying for printing with some half-assed toliet cleaner!  & its like $3.99 for a decient sized bottle! :]

Right now the shirts are being washed and dryed to see if anything changes. I can post some pictures if you guys like.

& if it eats my screen, or mesh, i'll for sure be *****ing on here about it! haha


-Devon


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Devon,

I would love to see pics of them after the wash. I still am thinking of trying some of the hair processing bleach. Isnt it fun to do experiments haha.


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## MerchFlow.com (Dec 25, 2008)

Well they wont be washed untill tommaorw. So I'll put some pics up now. [The one is the original shirt, w/ just white ink]

The only thing im slightly worried about is the bleach eating the garmet. lol, it didn't smell to bleach-ey so I think it will be ok! 

Check the shirts out


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## ino (Jan 23, 2007)

Hi,
I like your design,they look quite nice.
BTW Do you use gloves to protect your hands while printing?


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## MerchFlow.com (Dec 25, 2008)

Thank you! 

& no. But im sure it wouldnt hurt!


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## Brantgoose (Sep 7, 2008)

Would bleach or discharge ink make printed and cured black plastisol ink lighter or just the fabric? I'm gonna try it tomorrow because i printed some shirts than dyed them but some of them were in the dye too long so you can't see my design.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

My opinion , is if you mix bleach and pigment ink together the bleach will eat the pigment up before it has a chance to do what it needs to do, and will weaken the bleach mixture,
I have screen gel bleach on garments with great success. You never know what color will come up, and that is the fun part..


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## leo1989 (Oct 30, 2008)

My local printer was telling me how you can mix talcum powder with bleach to get a paste so its alot better to screen with, I havent tried it yet but Im eager to.


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## Earf (Aug 31, 2010)

i just did a test, and my walmart brand dish detergent works perfect. (im pretty poor right now)


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## martinwoods (Jul 20, 2006)

Earf said:


> i just did a test, and my walmart brand dish detergent works perfect. (im pretty poor right now)


The dish detergent bleached the shirts? you screened the shirt with using dish detergent? just curious


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## thelogobiz (Jun 10, 2011)

I dont think bleach was used, you get that look with a laser! check out the link [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7VxrWfrww8[/media]


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## VBZ (Oct 13, 2010)

Has anyone ever tried to make a paste with sodium alginate and bleach? It's basically seaweed powder. I use it to thicken dye or ink when printing on things other than t-shirts.


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