Ghosting on t-shirts

Submitted by select1 on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 13:44
Forums: 
General Discussions

Hello,

I am having an issue with white ink printed on the front of a tee leaving a "ghost" image on the back of the tee. (Not the inside of the tee, the actual back side of the tee) There is no ink transfer AT ALL. It is like the back of the tee is being re-dyed. The tee colors are blue and brown. The ghost inage sgowing up on the back is light purple ( on both ). I've heard lo bleed inks can do this. Is this true and does anyone have any recomendations on what ink would be best to use??

Thanks for your help,

Ian Keller
Select Design Ltd.
selectdesign.com

Location: 
United States
—

:eek:

Greg hamrick

Sat, 11/10/2007 - 09:49

What type of ink are you using, Plastisol or Water Based? Also, what is your mesh count of the screen your using? Are you using a Transfer?
Lo-Bleed inks are desinged "not to bleed". Did you lay your shirt down on top of a accidently printed platen? Are you not putting the shirt around the platen, instead, laying it flat on the platen leaving the back of the shirt able to recieve ink with too much pressure being applied?

Need more info Ian................................

At the edge of dreams lay the far-flung ideals of true creation.

select1

Tue, 11/13/2007 - 10:43

I am using plastisol ink. There is no ink transfer. Shirts are being loaded normally. The problem is not ink transfer. The shirts look perfect off the dryer and are perfect when put away. After going into a box and to a wharehouse and being picked one at a time for internet sale is when the problem is being noticed. I spoke with someone who said the components in lo-bleed ink actually release gasses after the fact actually dye the shirt different colors in the areas that are near the printed ink. They suggested a non lo-bleed ink that will cure this problem. I guess I'll see what happens.

Ian

:eek:

Greg hamrick

Tue, 11/13/2007 - 23:43

That's odd...never heard of that one in over twenty years at this.....but, good luck fixing the problem. I've always used Wilflex, Rutland and Union as my brands of ink, mainly Wilflex, and have never had a problem like what your describing. If switching your inks works, please let us know in case someone else runs into the same trouble.

At the edge of dreams lay the far-flung ideals of true creation.

zsvpablo

Mon, 11/26/2007 - 14:06

Sounds like you are printing on Reactive Dyed 100% cotton Shirts ( stone wash look ). What you need is a white ink made for 100% cotton only. The one product that I know that will work for you of hand is Wilflex Artist plus White. but you need to let your supplier know that you need a white for 100% reactive dyed shirts to prevent ghosting I hope you only printed a few. You will know if it works right away because you will see the ghosting happen at the end of the dryer it's not something that happens in time.

David Robison

Fri, 01/11/2008 - 06:50

What you are experiencing is a direct effect of Dye Migration in the garment. Even 100% cotton shirts can do this if the circumstances are right. the image you see is a ghost of the shirt below it. Your stacking these shirts while hot on top of each other and then folding them up in bundles boxing them up right? 2 or more hours later you have a ghost image of the print on all the shirt backs except for the one on top of the bundle right?

To fix this- first check your gel temperature of your inks most plastisols gel at 320 degrees and need to stay that temp for about 15 seconds to cure if your curing at 400 plus your garmets are getting VERY hot and need to cool before you stack them.
we do a lot of unusuall material printing and have compressed air lines at the end of the dryer and occasionally will blow off shirts to cool them along with fans. we also have tables that allow us to spread out garments to allow them to cool whenever we print cotton poly blends or nylon lacra tech fabrics. Also if your using a cotton poly blend shirt that can cause dye migration as well. At this time 100% cotton shirts are often cheaper than 50/50's so try using 100% cotton whenever you can. That will almost eliminate any dye migration but when using an underprint white on any blend wilflex makes a PolyWhite for dye migration block and on 100% cotton shirts try "Quick White". Its the best white ink all around for coverage and detail. I use it on a 195 mesh with a 55 line for an underprint and have fantastic results.

David Robison

Fri, 01/11/2008 - 06:54

One more thing, it's not enough to just block the shirt your printing with a low bleed underprint. If the inks going down on top of a low bleed underprint white are NOT low bleed and your stacking a hot shirt on top of that print at the catch table end of the dryer then your exposing a HOT shirt with traveling dyes to the hot surface of the printed shirt below it and the ink can travel to the back of the shirt in front of it or the ink on the shirt below can absorbe the dye fron the shirt on top leaving a lighter coloerd ghost on its back.
You will have to cool the garments in that case before you stack them up.