Category Archives: Discharge Screen Printing

13Jun/16
Discharge Screen Printing

Discharge Screen Printing

Discharge Screen Printing

Given the proper amount of time, any industry is subject to an evolution.  The technology and marketplace around the industry start to change and grow as consumer needs change.  In the screen printing world, one of these developments was discharge screen printing.  To understand discharge screen printing, it’s important to first understand how it compares to traditional screen printing.

Discharge Screen Printing

Traditional screen printing previously used all plastisol inks.  These inks were great because they do not dry up so, if kept clean, they can be reused over and over again which is cost effective.  Plastisol inks, however, require strong cleaners to remove them from the screens which isn’t always the most environmentally-friendly.  Plastisol also leaves a “hand” to the print which means that you can feel the print on the shirt.  For some, a print with a hand is preferable while for others, they prefer printed garments without a hand.  Water based screen printing is a more recent development in printing technology that counteracts some of the disadvantages of plastisol screen printing.  With discharge screen printing, you are starting out with a water-based ink.

Water based screen printing gets its name from the way that it reacts with the garment to be printed.  The ink is formulated to remove the existing color from the fabric, “discharge”, and then deposit a new, desired pigment into the garment.  It is a rather fascinating process to watch because the discharge ink reacts to the heat during the drying process.  The ink is printed on clear and when it passes through the dryer, it comes out as a fully rendered color print.  If discharge screen printing sounds like a service you are interested in, we’d love to help you create your own custom garments here at AMBRO Manufacturing.  You can contact us by email or by calling us at (908) 806-8337.

Discharge Screen Printing

Discharge Screen Printing

28Apr/16
Discharge Screen Printing

Discharge Screen Printing

Discharge Screen Printing

If you ever thought about or made a screen printed shirts then you know a little about the process of how they are made. There is more than one type of screen printing inks that you can use. There is a process called discharge screen printing. If you don’t know what this process is then have a seat and let me tell you about it.

Discharge screen printing is when you use a water based ink that gets soaked into the fabric of the shirt. In the actual ink there is a discharge agent that is mixed into it that will remove the dye of the shirt when it is printed. In other words it is a similar look as if you bleached a dark colored shirt. Now to add a color to the area that the shirt dye is removed, the discharge ink has to get a water based color added to the mixture.

Discharge Screen Printing

Discharge screen printing is a little cheaper than normal screen printing because of the type of ink that is used. It does not need to have an under base which is a layer of all the colors combined so that colors will look vibrant on the shirts, since the shirt is getting the dye removed of the area that there will be color. Also, these types of printing yields a softer feeling shirt, because you won’t be able to feel the ink like you do on normal screen printing.

If you love a screen printed shirt but don’t want some of the attributes that normal screen printing has then discharge screen printing is the way to go. Not many screen printers use this or have the inks. AMBRO Manufacturing is the one place that can now do this type of printing. So email us or give us a call at (908) 806 8337.

Discharge Screen Printing

Discharge Screen Printing