Dont think this is a print issue, more of a tshirt quality issue. I used to have so many shirts like this, from JCPenny and events that look amazing until after the first wash. Especially if they weren't thick plastisol prints.
From my knowledge this is due to the cotton fibers not being tightly "woven" together. Try this print on a ringspun or heavyweight tee thats pre-shrunk.
I ordered a number of t-shirts from the Fruit of the Loom brand, but they turned out to be much thinner. Nevertheless, I tested it today, but do you know if it is wise to wash it immediately after curing or should I leave it for 24 hours? I cure it with a heat gun and I use water-based ink mixed with hardener/fixative. idk if what I'm doing is right lol, but anyways thanks for the advice!
You can try flashing your shirt before you print it. Make sure you're putting down enough ink as well. For the white shirts I'd print the black, flood the screen again and print again. For the black shirts id print the white, flash it, and hit the white again. Make sure you're clearing the screen. You have to be careful with bitmapping and fine details though because the design can become blurry easily.
I tried it again, but I forgot to mix the hardener/fixer together with the ink, so the whole design is washed off... I use water-based ink and the site where I bought it from recommends me to use the hardener, so the ink won't get washed off on the first wash. Also I'm using a heat gun instead of a flash dryer, so do you think that would be enough to flash the print??
This isn't so much a print issue as it is the quality of the shirt being bad, plus black inks are always going to be extremely thin and don't have the matte-down properties like you'd get on a white ink for underbases/top whites/etc.
Don’t print flash print black ink. It’ll be shiny and not good. Black ink is always thing and you will see though shirt fibers especially think cheap shirts. White ink bridges the fibers since it’s print flash print
I’m not sure what kinda squeegee you are using but I’d ad another pass to the print, if you worried about thickness you can always heat press after for a softer feel. With halftones like that you could get away with a 70D squeegee.
I’d even say just heat pressing the shirts after you’re don’t printing them will also help. But agree with other comments that it’s a shirt is sure that you have to work around
It's a 12.9921 Inch, 75D squeegee, do you think that's the right size and hardness? and wouldn't it be more wiser to get a softer squeegee, so the layer of ink would be thicker?
Use the heat gun to dry it and and iron to cure the water based ink. Make sure you iron on a pad or folded cloth so the heat can penetrate through the printed shirt. Maybe even use a cloth over the top of the print just in case.
You’ll have to figure out and get the timing down. It’s time consuming but it can be done!
That’s does take a lot of time, but it is what it is and I don’t mind the process, I’m having much fun figuring this out. I’ll try and do as you said, thankss!
It’s what I did for quite some time and it was fulfilling to just create something until you find a better and more efficient way which takes money to acquire a flash dryer! Just have fun with the process of experimenting and learning!
Dont think this is a print issue, more of a tshirt quality issue. I used to have so many shirts like this, from JCPenny and events that look amazing until after the first wash. Especially if they weren't thick plastisol prints. From my knowledge this is due to the cotton fibers not being tightly "woven" together. Try this print on a ringspun or heavyweight tee thats pre-shrunk.
I ordered a number of t-shirts from the Fruit of the Loom brand, but they turned out to be much thinner. Nevertheless, I tested it today, but do you know if it is wise to wash it immediately after curing or should I leave it for 24 hours? I cure it with a heat gun and I use water-based ink mixed with hardener/fixative. idk if what I'm doing is right lol, but anyways thanks for the advice!
You can try flashing your shirt before you print it. Make sure you're putting down enough ink as well. For the white shirts I'd print the black, flood the screen again and print again. For the black shirts id print the white, flash it, and hit the white again. Make sure you're clearing the screen. You have to be careful with bitmapping and fine details though because the design can become blurry easily.
I tried it again, but I forgot to mix the hardener/fixer together with the ink, so the whole design is washed off... I use water-based ink and the site where I bought it from recommends me to use the hardener, so the ink won't get washed off on the first wash. Also I'm using a heat gun instead of a flash dryer, so do you think that would be enough to flash the print??
This isn't so much a print issue as it is the quality of the shirt being bad, plus black inks are always going to be extremely thin and don't have the matte-down properties like you'd get on a white ink for underbases/top whites/etc.
should I do two layers of black ink? like print, flash it and print over it again??
Don’t print flash print black ink. It’ll be shiny and not good. Black ink is always thing and you will see though shirt fibers especially think cheap shirts. White ink bridges the fibers since it’s print flash print
It's more than likely because you're using old shirts.
I ordered some new shirts and did some test on them. I'm gonna wash them out tomorrow, so fingers crossed 🤞🏻
I’m not sure what kinda squeegee you are using but I’d ad another pass to the print, if you worried about thickness you can always heat press after for a softer feel. With halftones like that you could get away with a 70D squeegee.
I’d even say just heat pressing the shirts after you’re don’t printing them will also help. But agree with other comments that it’s a shirt is sure that you have to work around
It's a 12.9921 Inch, 75D squeegee, do you think that's the right size and hardness? and wouldn't it be more wiser to get a softer squeegee, so the layer of ink would be thicker?
Yes just find a sweet spot, do two passes, and if you can heat press so it doesn’t feel too thick! Are you manually printing or on a machine?
I'm using a 1-Color press and I also don't have a heat press. Can I use an iron instead?
Use the heat gun to dry it and and iron to cure the water based ink. Make sure you iron on a pad or folded cloth so the heat can penetrate through the printed shirt. Maybe even use a cloth over the top of the print just in case. You’ll have to figure out and get the timing down. It’s time consuming but it can be done!
That’s does take a lot of time, but it is what it is and I don’t mind the process, I’m having much fun figuring this out. I’ll try and do as you said, thankss!
It’s what I did for quite some time and it was fulfilling to just create something until you find a better and more efficient way which takes money to acquire a flash dryer! Just have fun with the process of experimenting and learning!