How To Screen Print White Plastisol Ink On Black Tee Shirts

[Catspit Productions]

A rough look could be loose mesh, worn mesh, not using spray tack or just your flood and stroke. I like less off contact rather than more but it is difficult to set at about 1/8th to 1/16th of an inch. Always go lower as too much off contact can cause registration problems and perhaps print inconsistencies.

As far as knowing when a screen is worn out? Well when the mesh rolls with the squeegee is one certain sign. Otherwise it’s experience as to how it prints. Black ink may print well through most nay old screen but you should know when white ink is not printing correctly through the mesh if it is worn out. It should always fell tight like a drum and never be stained or gray. That could be a sign of worn out and frayed mesh fibers.

[ppdlao]

It should always fell tight like a drum and never be stained or gray. That could be a sign of worn out and frayed mesh fibers.

Cool tip that about the drum!

[ApeShirt]

Thank you Jonathon. My screens are relatively new and have only printed around 20 shirts max each. I have stained screens (ghosting) but not when I printed the white. Actually, my screen was brand new, never used when I printed the white on black. I'm now thinking it was a combination of too much off contact and improper flood/stroke. After all, it was my very first print job. Some looked ok but others not so much.

[Catspit Productions]

You’re’ welcome. Cool, sometimes it just takes a little getting used to. You get to be an ink slinger before you know it. I’m happy to help out in any way.

[she]

Printing white ink on black shirts is really a struggle!! the white ink that i use seems to be too thin.. had this thin coat of emulsion .. cannot really come up with that "PROFESSIONAL LOOKING PRINT" just with one pass.. I cannot find that famous Triangle pheonix white. I think using this will make things easier compared to using this union diamond white. which needs three coats of polycol poly one coat. Darker plastisols seems to lay down nicely because it is "creamier" in form.. If i could only find that in color white..

[Catspit Productions]

You can get Triangle phoenix white from Superstore with a discount:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/sc ... plies.html

I’ll be doing a video on that pretty soon actually.

[ApeShirt]

Just a quick note. I raised my off contact while printing white and the print looks a lot better. I also slowed my stroke. I'm thinking the off contact was too little and the screen wasn't completely snapping off. Make sense?

[Catspit Productions]

Yes, absolutely! It’s called shear and when the screen rises behind the print stroke you want the ink to shear clean and provide for a smooth print. Too low or too high and it doesn’t work well. Also the slower stroke will tend to leave a higher volume of ink on the tee shirt. Nice!

Thanks for the update.

[ApeShirt]

I love learning all this. I get frustrated at times but when prints turn out nice it's a good feeling. I also dig it when I can make others happy. I haven't done a lot of orders yet but my favorite is one I did for a facebook friend. She wanted 1 shirt for her 7 year old daughter to wear to college basketball games. She sent me a pic of her daughter wearing it with a huge smile on her face. And, I saved them a considerable amount compared to what they were paying to an online store to have 1 made every year. I made a a bit and they saved. Everybody happy I just loved the smile on the kid knowing I was able to contribute. I hope the longer I go that that kind of satisfaction doesn't disappear.

[Catspit Productions]

It can be very satisfying to finish a print job you worked hard on, know that every shirt is mint and the customer is very happy. It gets even better when you can make some money doing it too. So the satisfaction and good feelings of helping theirs with their shirt orders will never go away rather there will be jobs you have to do commercially that just don’t provide much satisfaction other than earning a buck.

Some jobs just aren’t as much fun as others but you can still feel pride in the quality of your work.