Solid Colors

Printing Pitfall: Digital printing is done in stripes or passes; in some circumstances these stripes can become visible in single, solid colors
Klick für Zoom

Single-color fabrics are, as a rule, usually dyed. This means they are dipped in a vat of liquid dye, and, over a long process, are slowly rolled and rotated to spread the dye evenly throughout the length and thickness of the textile. This is very different from the digital printing process in which the ink is quickly sprayed onto the top surface of the textile, over the course of several quick passes of the printheads, and is absorbed, spreading a little ways into the textile fibers. Because of the relatively small amount of ink being used, the color does not soak all the way through the textile.

Using this stripe printing method we occasionally have the problem that, as with any home or office printer, the individual passes of the printer become visible as lines because some of the nozzles in the print head are printing slightly more ink than others. When printing a flat color these small differences can become visible


Dgital printing loves textures and shades - It's better to have a gradient, structure or pattern than big, flat colors!

Last update on 2016-03-09 by Ellie Mutchler.