Best Sublimation T-Shirt Printing in Cuttack Preparation of cloth for printing

Preparation of colors

Further information: Dye
The art of making colors for textile printing demands both chemical knowledge and extensive technical experience, for their ingredients must not only be in proper proportion to each other but also specially chosen and compounded for the particular style of work in hand.

Colors vary considerably in composition. Most of them contain all the elements necessary for direct production and fixation. A mordant is a metallic salt or other substance that combines with the dye to form an insoluble color, either directly by steaming, or indirectly by dyeing.

Thickening agents

The printing thickeners used to depend on the printing technique, the fabric, and the particular dyestuff. Typical thickening agents are starch derivatives, flour, gum arabic, guar gum derivatives, tamarind, sodium alginate, sodium polyacrylate, gum Senegal and gum tragacanth, British gum or dextrin, and albumen.

Most thickening agents used today are cold-soluble and require only extensive stirring.

Starch paste

With the former, it thickens up to a stiff unworkable jelly. In the case of the latter, while mineral acids or acid salts convert it into dextrin, thus diminishing its viscosity or thickening power, organic acids do not have that effect.[6] These have a stable viscosity and are easy to rinse out of the fabric and give reproducible “short” paste rheology.

Gums

When added to a starch paste it increases its penetrative power and adds to its softness without diminishing its thickness, making it easier to wash out of the fabric. It produces much more even colors than does starch paste alone.

Gum Senegal, gum arabic, or modified guar gum thickening yield clearer and more even tints than does starch, suitable for lighter colors but less suited for very dark colors. (The gums prevent the colors from combining fully with the fibers.) A printing stock solution is mostly a combination of modified starch and gum stock solutions.[6]

Albumen

Albumen is both a thickening and a fixing agent for insoluble pigments. Chrome yellow, ochres, vermilion, and ultramarine are such pigments.