# Screen printing on Tie-dye



## RixDzine (Dec 7, 2007)

If I have a blank t-shirt that will be tie-dyed do I screen print the design before or after the shirt is dyed?


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## InkedApparel (Mar 18, 2009)

I would say after..unless you want the dye to be in the print also......I may be wrong tho...

Inked


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## IDEAGUY (Jun 4, 2009)

CAN I DO A BLACK SCREEN PRINTED TRANSFER ON A WHITE T SHIRT AND THEN have a group tie dye them AFTER the transfer has been put on? will it compromise the transfer?
it would be a hotpeel.


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## gjwinston (Jun 8, 2007)

I don't know about transfers, but I've screen printed a black image on a white shirt and tie-dyed it afterwards, and it came out great. The black design still looked black and the rest of the shirt took on whatever color it was tie-dyed with. That's how I market some of my summer camp shirts - - as a 1-color on white so they can have the campers tie dye it as a project. To be sure about transfers, your best bet would be to try one. You can get tie-dyes from Michaels or Joann's for a few dollars per color...


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## Celtic (Feb 19, 2008)

I guess if you're just doing one shirt, just experiment. 
I'm printing a one color (black) job on rainbow tie dye tees this week. (Already dyed). 
I can't imagine printing them first.
Of course, I'm buying commercially done tie dyes too. If you're doing your own, you can do whatever you want.
Also, to the question about to the transfers.......I'd definitely suggest doing it on a shirt that's been pre-dyed. 
just my thoughts.


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## bsac2012 (Jan 9, 2012)

It should be okay to screen print black first. Then tie-dye. Or vise versa. However if you are screen printing with colours it would be better to screen print after dying. Screen printed colours will look best on a lighter coloured tie-die shirt i think. Im not sure about plastisols though? Hope your design turns out nicely


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## TYGERON (Apr 26, 2009)

RixDzine said:


> If I have a blank t-shirt that will be tie-dyed do I screen print the design before or after the shirt is dyed?


If you're going to soak the shirt in soda ash prior to dyeing, which is common when using fiber reactive dyes, I'd be inclined to dye first then print just to be safe. Not sure how the sodium carbonate would affect plastisol.


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## deuce (Apr 16, 2008)

RixDzine said:


> If I have a blank t-shirt that will be tie-dyed do I screen print the design before or after the shirt is dyed?



I know this is an older post but I'll add my thoughts:

It really depends on what you are going for with the design. You can use that method and I doubt it will hurt the plastisol.

Using heat transfers may not be as effective and should be applied after the fact if possible. are you talking about sublimation paper or using a cut roll like thermoflex?

We print on Tie Dye apparel alot and everything is pretty much just ready to print on and ship. 

Hope that helps.


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