screen printing > Waterbase and Discharge
Discharging... powder on surface of cured print
Du Manchu:
Hey, we've got a powder on the print area of a cured shirt. If you rub it, it comes off and contaminates the black image area and the shirt. This is going to be a big problem with a belt full of shirts. Can we wash these and fix it, or any other options.
Red Bella 100% cotton shirt.
White DC print. Aquarius 100% white DC (w/ 6% activator w/ 6% distilled water) 156 mesh, 2 strokes
Cured 350 at 2:30 seconds, 8 feet gas
A) Can I fix these?
B) What might we have done wrong with this print run?
Many thanks.
Du Manchu:
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I am stumped and stalled on this job. Thanks in advance.
zanegun08:
Post a photo, I'm not sure what "powder on the print area of a cured shirt" means.
If it's flaking off I would say you aren't printing with enough pressure to get the ink into the fibers of the shirt.
I would cure them longer if possible, 3 minutes should be good. You can also post heat press them to "soften" the feel of the discharge a little bit more, although most of that feel goes away in the wash.
You could try both increasing or decreasing the activator.
From your description I cannot really tell what is going on, however discharge on red is always difficult, I would recommend doing a discharge base and High Solid Acrylic top color, but realistically I would print it with Blocker and two Whites for the best result.
Don't really do white discharge anymore as the inks don't work well in my opinion any longer, as well as Red is probably a B or C on the discharge rating chart.
Du Manchu:
Thanks Zanegun08. The bright shirt is unwashed and I rubbed my finger into the black. This same powder contaminates the other areas of the shirts when folded. The other shirt has just been washed (and still wet actually) which is clearly not as bright and almost pinkish bu no longer powdery.
futurecolors:
That looks like pigment to me. Possibly laying too much ink down and not curing enough. Like zanegun said, increase pressure and cure time.
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