# help needed with printing white on black t-shirts



## megaloprintiac (Sep 8, 2007)

Hello, ive jsut been asked to conduct my first screen printing job for a band. Ive been practising for about a month on personal projects using standard water based inks.

Ive been asked to print onto black Hane's fit-t t-shirts, which I have no problem aquiring from my supplier, but I want to achieve a sporty look, so im going with plastisol's.

I have requested a Union ink brochure which will be with me any day. Would any of you tell me the best way to print white plastisol onto black, is there an ink where a second coat isn't required? Are any of you familair with a good white Union ink? Can you simply print the one colour white design, take the t-shirt off the platen and cure to the ink is fully dried?

Any tips and tricks would be great, i dont want to turn down the work, im a confident printer in terms of how much experience I had so far (which is little), but feel abit out of my depth so thought I would approach the forum for any advice.
Many thanks.


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## acanvas (Sep 27, 2007)

White ink on black cotton will require print/flash/print. Order extra shirts so you can do test runs on the actual fabric your using. Cotton shirts have a tendency for fibrillation going on after a few washings which turns the ink grey...well, not really but the black cotton fiber starts showing up through the design and makes the ink appear grey. Try this, mist water lightly onto your shirt, using your hand quickly lay the fiber down by swiping the shirt in the same direction your squeegee is going to be pulled (or pushed). It helps alot and will get that first coat on nice and smooth which is needed because your second coat will show whether your 1st coat was smooth or not. Also, regardless of what white you use, stir till you think your arm will fall off. They are VERY thick becouse they need to be very opaque so it will be a nightmare to work with if you don't stir alot! Also, most printers recommend no soft hand additive to whites to keep them opaque, we ignore that advice and add approx. 25% soft hand, we'd rather 3 thin coats feeling nice than 2 thick coats feeling like a plastic shield!
Good luck!


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## megaloprintiac (Sep 8, 2007)

thankyou so much, just as a matter of interest, with the soft-hand additive, what temperature do you flash at? and for how long for. is it like 160 degrees c for 10 seconds?
And if you do, like you said, 3 thinner coats, would you then - print/flash/print/flash/print/fully cure?


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

BLAKE clothing said:


> thankyou so much, just as a matter of interest, with the soft-hand additive, what temperature do you flash at? and for how long for. is it like 160 degrees c for 10 seconds?
> And if you do, like you said, 3 thinner coats, would you then - print/flash/print/flash/print/fully cure?


Depending on the ink, the flash usually occurs between 200˚ - 250˚ and the moment it reaches that temperature, it is flashed. Plastisol inks do not need to have a certain dwell time. To cure the ink, 320˚ is usually what temperature you need. If it takes 5 seconds to get to that or 1 minute, whenever the ink reaches the correct temperature it's finished.

White on black may require a little higher because you need to cure the ink through and white on black will be a thicker deposit. About 340˚ will do it.


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## candimantint (Jul 11, 2007)

i watched this video on you tube about white on darks, its from one of our sponsorshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M6tuL_zIfs


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## Roboto (Apr 6, 2007)

YouTube - The RIGHT WAY to screen print white ink on dark fabric. heres another video


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## tryplecrown (Jan 24, 2007)

Printing white ink was my nemesis in the beginning, but after some practice and research it becomes second nature. I pretty much print exclusively with Union inks. Jeff at Union is the man. We use 2 different white inks from union. If printing on 50/50's, we run their diamond white. It's pretty good but you have to be careful because if you over cook in your dryer it the puff additive will get crazy and make it feel rougher than normal.

If printing on 100% cotton, we use Union's Bright Cotton White. Normally print/flash/print does the job and it prints really smooth and has a softer feel than the diamond white. 

What I've found is that I get the smoothest print by making sure I clear the screen. Also making sure that my flashes are not too short where the ink's still wet to the touch. But those two inks from union usually work well for us. Just be sure you're using the right one for the type of shirt you're printing on. We have a Union booklet that we got from our supplier that details each type of ink, cure times, substrates to print on, etc... If you can get one of those it's pretty handy.

Another thing to consider is something I read in one of the trades a while back in an article by Roger Jennings. He talked about if you have a white that's just stupid thick and viscous that instead of mixing in soft hand, extender or reducer (yikes)... to mix in some white ink with less pigment in it that is thinner. I have a gallon of Rutland Snap white that was recommended to me, and man that stuff's like trying to print taffy (can't even clear the screen). I recently mixed it with some union diamond white and it prints fine and it's not near as thick. Seems to wash and hold up well in our wash tests too.

Sorry probably more info than you wanted.


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## megaloprintiac (Sep 8, 2007)

tryplecrown;245071
Sorry probably more info than you wanted.[/quote said:


> No, thankyou, the more info the better - im abit of a perfectionist, so I want to get this correct, so thankyou for opening up on that to me.
> Ive requested a Union brochure, which should be with my Monday, so i'll look into the whites you suggested.
> Thankyou for all of your help, this is all going to be printed off and added to a knowledge sheet im compiling to have by my side when printing.
> If anybody else has extra on the topic, please feel free to share.
> Oh and thanks for the videos, often better to see it in action


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

Depending on the design, if the art tends more toward thinner lines rather than large flat areas, you might get by using a 110 mesh and flood, print, dry stroke (to flatten any fibers and cleara the screen if necessary), then flood and print again without flashing. I've had some success doing this, but it won't work as well if you've got large flat areas of ink.


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## Cortwrong (Mar 15, 2011)

I have been printing on black Gildan 50/50's, with Union's Cotton White. What I do is stir it to a thinner consistancy. My latest job has an Aztec calendar in it with alot of detail so I used a 156 mesh and dual cure diazo emulsion. I only have a one station press so I dont flash one color jobs so as not to clog the screen. I saw a guy on youtube use a "fill stroke" rather than a flood stroke and it works well. In his fill stroke he pulled the ink across the immage hard enough to create a thicker print. One or two passes and its good. 

I also dont have a conveyor dryer so I have to cure the shirts with my flash unit. I always cure the immage in sections as follows...left-->right-->bottom. I actually end up over 400 degrees this way but this is the only way i have been able to avoid wash-out. I


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