printing process
My shirts are exclusivly screenprinted directly by hand. No transfer foils, no commercial printers.
In screenprinting the design gets exposed on an inktight emulsion hold on a tight and dense mesh.
If you want more colors, you need additional screens.
Each screen is monochromatic, so for fades or color changes you have to use half-tone designs.
what a mess
The whole process is quite a mess with lots of chemicals involved. Don't worry - I'm not using diazo emulsion to keep it safe(r) for the environment and myself.
I have a proper science education, worked in biolabs before and I'm a saftey officer for the company I currently work for. I put a lot of thoughts into what products and how I use those at home.
Inks used
In most of my designs, I use ink, that you won't usually get from stores.
DISCHARGE INK - Part of the ink is an active bleach that "discharges" the color of the shirt. The result is, that the natural cream white of the cotton ensures vibrant colors even on black and other dark colored shirts.
When after dozens of washes some pigment is lost, the design is bleached out and will always be there.
Side effect is, that there is no thick film of ink on the shirt and it stays flexible and soft to the touch.