So we are now offering foils using a phthalate free adhesive, when used in combination with waterbased inks no foil resist additives are required, the additional heat pressing also adding some colour intensity to discharge prints. It has taken some time to get the correct screen mesh, pre curing, heat press pressures, temperatures and pressing times correct, but we now seem to have relatively quick production time and a consistent final result.

T shirt printing by advertees

Advertees always try to find the best process for the designs we are given, for one off designs and sampling we are using the direct to garment printing more and more. Screen printing is always our first choice on larger orders, but every now  and then we find cad cut vinyl is the only process we can use. For large areas of bright colour and clean edges it is the only cost effective option on orders of less than 10 items. The thing we do not like about heat pressed vinyl is the amount of plastic involved in the process. Direct to garment printers are excellent in this respect, as there is virtually no waste, and require no screens. We are hopeful the next couple of years will see direct to garment machines produce this kind of design on a sweatshirt at a similar quality, and with the rapid advances to date we are pretty sure this will be the case.

2011 update: one offs are no longer catered for by Advertees, and vinyl is only used in situations where nothing else is viable. Advertees are progressively working towards solutions which do not produce such a large amount of waste.

Good waterbased binders are available for phosphorescent, glitter, gold and silver powders. We are presently using Grafco an Italian ink manufacturer who supply very good quality waterbased inks, binders and powders with which you can achieve a very wide range of special effects.

All of these powders require coarse screens, down to a 34 recommended for golds and glitters. Glow in the dark can be printed through a finer screen but we have found the better coverage you can achieve the better the glow. A good white underbase is also required, a fully opaque white is going to give the best results for glow in the dark ink, with a white plastisol underbase and binder this can create a very heavy print, there is a distinctly lighter feel to the water based opaque inks and binders.
There are alternatives for gold t shirt printing such as foil. Foil comes in the form of a vinyl which can be heatpressed to the garment, or a foil which can be applied over the top of a screen printed glue, these methods can achieve a fully mirrored effect, but these prints are more fragile than traditional screen prints. So using a binder and powder solution should give the print a longer life.

DTG printers are very good at what they do, this design from studio radio is a perfect example of what has never been achievable by transfer processes, and is beyond anybodys budget as screenprint on only five T shirts. The question is how often are we presented with these type of designs, is there a big enough market for short run multi coloured T shirt designs to keep a DTG printer running all day every day of the week? We do seem to spend a lot of time as screen printers altering designs to suit the process, DTG printing does allow the T shirt printer to say yes to more designs, and stay true to what the designer has really expected to see on their T shirt, the only problem now is what do you do if they decide they need 1000′s!? or the same design on a polo shirt!??? Garment decoration is not going to get any easier, this is just another technique to master.

Another attempt is being made by Andy Clark to row the North Atlantic, this time accompanied by Pete Lumley a photographer from Mousehole. This is hopefully third time lucky for the sevenoaks Atlantic challenge, which has not been so lucky on previous attempts. The two rowers are planning a quiet send off from New York, they will row past the scilly isles in favour of Mousehole, where they hope to be greeted some time in August.

T shirt transfer printing by Advertees

We are presently sampling a new range of waterbased inks, we are always looking for the ink that does everything, the ink that uses no solvents or plastics, no hazard signs on the tin. It seems that the UK and America committed almost entirely to plastic inks and their developement in recent times. It looks to us like some of the best waterbased products are coming from other parts of the globe. We are testing the products at the moment and it does look promising, we feel discharge T-shirt printing on dark shirts is really only suitable for larger orders, and that discharged reds we have come across so far are not permenant enough or bright enough for some jobs. Opaque waterbased inks with good flexability, that will not dry in fine mesh screens is what we want, if these inks really do tick all the boxes we will seriously consider converting all our screen printing jobs to waterbased ink. It is a difficult transition for us to make, some of our printing jobs go back so many years, it is hard to convince some people to try a new product when they are happy with the one they have. There is also the question of choice, some of our customers have requested plastic ink specifically, because they want to attain a certain look. The change to pthalate free inks is seemless and goes unnoticed, we hope that an almost entirely waterbased print shop is just around the corner. Then perhaps we can make a start on the small orders department and our cad cut materials!

Airkraft are part of the Cornwall VW Village. With over 40 years of combined experience Matt Keene and Ben Lewis offer a show winning aircooled service without compromise. Catering for anything from a simple service to a full restoration of Bugs, Buses, Porsche and even aluminium coachbuilts in their fully equipped workshop.

screen printng on hoodies by Advertees

Update 2011: Advertees are now only offering transfer prints really can’t be used, ie individual names and numbers, we are happy to make recommendations of companies who do offer this service, but Advertees has decided this method of decorating T shirts does not sit well with our efforts to be a more environmentally responsible T shirt printer.

Advertees did not pursue this line of enquiry, but interestingly enough polyester is now regularly being mixed with cotton, reason being cotton shortages! Demand is greater than ever in all corners of the world. It will be very interesting to see where this takes us.