What is High Density Printing

High Density is a popular special effect that rises straight up off the shirt and has a hard rubbery feel with sharp edges. A High density print has slight glossy finish.

The source of this image is Anomaly Ink.

To get these effects about 20% of the puff base is taken which is then mix with colored inks to make it 100%. The base is Vinylidene chloride based polymer and the inks are Acrylic co-polymers. 

Then it is printed in 5-8 rounds depending upon height required on normal screen ( 2 flood/ 2 strokes). After that 3 rounds of printing is given with 150 micron film screen and then 2 rounds with 220 micron capillary film screen depending upon the height. 

An excellent video on flooding and stroking is embedded as below:

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What is Glitter Printing

Glitter Printing

Glitter printing enables the fabric to show glittering granules on the fabric. For this Glitter powder is used.

Glitter Powder is generally PET with size of 1/8" to 1/256". It is cut into square and hexagon shape. It is available in metallic, rainbow, laser and iridescent colors. Generally it comes in 25 kg bag. A typical glitter power substance is heat resistant to 170 degree celcius and is acid and alkaline proof. The picture of the glitter powder is as given below:

To Print, first glitter paste is prepared. Glitter powder is added in the Glitter ink, under stirring slowly to avoid lumb formation. Glitter ink is made of acrylic co-polymer. Then it is screen printed using Bull nose squeegee (You can read an excellent manual on squeegee here.) The mesh size should not be more than 20 T (An excellent premier on mesh size can be read here).

One can get an idea of the prices of the chemicals used for glitter printing here.

Source of Picture: http://www.ampmerch.com


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What is Foil Printing

Foil printing is to print some pattern with the foil on the fabric for shiny effect. There are twos kind of foil printing method. In the first method, the pattern is printed by a foil/transfer adhesive on the fabric, and then pressed with foil paper by hot steel roller. The pressure is generally 5-6 bar on printed portion and at 190 degree Celcius on fusing machine for 8-12 seconds.  

In foil printing, the quality of the adhesive is very important. Generally it is made up of acrylic co-polymer with water as diluent. Cheaper qualities show very poor stretch, loss of softness and smoothness after five washes and look very unlike the original print. The foil should not stick to cured inks under pressure. Normally a matting agent is added to avoid sticking.

In the second method, printing is done on the foil paper first, and then foil is pressed on the fabric with hot steel roller or iron. 

Foil paper is called the stamping foil paper. Actually it is not the paper but the detachable foil film on the plastic base. Generally it is PET film of 15 micron thickness, available in widths of 640 or 1500mm. 

source of image: http://www.newasiajsc.com

You can watch an amazing video on foil printing here:

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Jala(Jaala) and Adai

Jala and Adai Mechanisms are used in Indian Traditional Saris. They are a close substitute for jacquard machine for weaving intricate designs. Both extra warp and extra weft figuring is possible with these mechanisms.

However there is a basic difference between the two. The following points highlight those. They also talk about some of the distinctive features of Kanchipuram Saris


• In Varanasi Sari, Extra warp and extra weft patterning is done by means of a Jaala, in Kaanchipuram it is done with the help of an adai.

• Separate adai have to be prepared for extra warp border designs, crossborder designs and for body butas. Crossborder is used to refer to the extra weft ornamentation done across the width of the sari to mark the end of its length.

•Solid coloured borders with extra warp patterning and solid colored pallu with extra weft pattern form the distinctive feature of the saris from Kanchipuram. The meaning given to the term solid is that both warp and weft are of the same color.  The warp is made of 2 ply 20-2 denier filature silk, weft of 2 ply twisted 2-=2 denier charkha silk, while 3 ply pure gold/metallic yarn/zari is used for extra warp patterning.

•Jaala mechanism leads to more ornamentation that adai mechanism.

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