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Zazzle

Zazzle

It’s time to revisit a topic I first raised ten years ago. Zazzle was fairly new and threatening to shake up the textile screen printing industry with its online service. Zazzle has clearly grown since those earlier days but as far as I can see, the impact of this type of concept on the traditional Canadian textile screen printing industry has been minimal.

So once again, as we did ten years ago, click on the link below and watch the presentation. But before you do that, keep in mind a few questions as you watch it . . .

  1. Is this a totally brilliant concept?
  2. If it is not totally brilliant, does this concept at least have some merit?
  3. Is it fine in theory but a whole different thing in practice?
  4. Have they made it sound simple by overlooking some obvious hassles in dealing with customers who don’t always know what they want?
  5. Can I use any of it to perhaps modify the way that I do business?
  6. Obviously there will have to be an investment in software if I were to provide my customers with such an online facility. How much would that be and would it be worth it?
  7. How would my customers respond to a concept like this?
  8. Does textile screen printing in Canada work just fine in the current conventional way or does something like this concept threaten to turn it on its head?

Here is the link.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Z0ENFJBZg

So, what do you think?

This is what I thought back then . . .  All new concepts and ideas should be considered because that is how we progress as a business, an industry and a society. But, a good dose of skepticism doesn’t do any harm in today’s world where sometimes things are presented as great ideas but are found to not work as expected in practice. It would be really useful to see some hard numbers or at least have some indication of how successful the concept has been. They may have sold a zillion shirts this way or they may not have sold one. So, some old advice – look before you leap.

Spring cleaning – the hazard of lint buildup

Spring cleaning – the hazard of lint buildup

It’s time for spring cleaning in readiness for the busy summer season. So, among other things, if you have not paid any attention the to the lint build-up in your shop for some time, now is a good time to do it.

As we all know, if you handle tees and sweats, lint happens. It takes to the air and slowly builds up wherever it lands. Besides becoming a potential health hazard if it builds up on shelving and work surfaces where people can later disturb and inhale it, it also builds up in places where it cannot easily be seen. Places like the exhaust system of your dryer where it eventually becomes a fire hazard.

This is not a topic you hear much about but ignoring it can be dangerous. I’ve written before about two lint fire incidents, one in Vancouver and one in Calgary. THey’re worth telling again to make the pint about the hazard of lint buildup.

In the Vancouver incident the lint around the dryer caught alight and quickly spread wherever lint had accumulated. The flames ran up the metal pillars in the print shop and back and forth across the beams under the ceiling like those gunpowder fuses in the old cowboy movies. It had burnt out before the fire truck arrived but it still caused a lot of smoke damage.

In the Calgary incident a spray can of adhesive fell onto the conveyor belt and exploded inside the dryer. There was apparently a considerable build-up of lint in the exhaust system which caught alight. In this case it required a fire truck to put it out. The hop had to close for some time for recovery and repairs.

If you have one of those very rare spotlessly clean textile print shops where lint is not allowed to accumulate, then you don’t have to be concerned about this at all. But let’s face it, that wouldn’t be the case in most textile screen shops. Lint can build up quite quickly, especially the bigger, high volume shops. So, keep your shop as healthy and as safe as possible—make lint removal one of your Spring-cleaning chores.

A recipe for testing for dye migration

 There are few things more annoying (and costly) than ending up with a ruined job because you didn’t expect the substrate to bleed into the print. So, if in the slightest doubt, test. So, here’s the recipe for testing . . .

Materials and ingredients:

  • Heat transfer clamp press heated up to 320F.
  • Avient Viscosity Buster, K2910. If you use a different brand of reducer make sure that it’s the kind that shouldn’t ordinarily be added to ink at more than 1% Anything calling for more than that probably has resin, and you don’t want that for this test.
  • A piece of white cloth or pellon.
  • The substrate to test.

Process:

  • Lay your substrate on the base of the open heat press.
  • Place a spot of Viscosity Buster on the substrate (about the size of a quarter should be fine).
  • Place the white cloth over the the spot.
  • Heat press it for about 30 seconds at 320F.
  • Open the press and remove the white cloth.

Results:

  •  Check the white cloth for a stain.
  • Nearly all polyester fabrics will bleed to a greater or lesser degree.
  • The extent of the stain will tell you the extent of the possible bleeding to expect.

Now, knowing the extent of the dye migration challenge you’re facing, you can save yourself a lot of grief (and potentially money too) by using the appropriate underbase or low-bleed ink.

If you need some help with the choice of an appropriate low bleed or dye block ink, make a quick toll-free call to one of Stanley’s Wilflex ink experts: Craig in Cambridge at 1 877 205 9218 or Wendy in Calgary at 1 800 661 1553

Change is hard, hard, hard.

Change is hard, hard, hard.

Yesterday there were two illuminating developments in the campaign against microplastic pollution generally and, specifically, in the context of our industry, gitter.

The first was an article in the Guardian that reported how scientists had examined 62 human fetuses and found microplastics in every one of them. The article went on the confirm that microplastics was also now being found in breast milk and blood. And, as you’d expect, this has significant adverse health implications.

The second development involved a response from yet another regular contributor to a significant industry magazine to my invitation to collaborate in persuading the textile screen printing industry to stop using glitter. I approached him after reading an article in which he mentioned glitter prints. The opening line of his email was one I’ve become accustomed to by now: “Thanks for getting in touch. While I admire your tenacity, this is not an issue that i would like to be involved in.”

There are a two popular excuses for dismissing concerns about glitter as a microplastic and “not getting involved”: (1) There are biodegradable alternatives; and (2) Glitter is a minor plastic problem compared with, say, plastic bottles. Both of these are easily answered . . . the first is simply untrue, and the second is that we aren’t going to solve the sustainability issues in our industry by pointing out that other industries have bigger problems. We have to start cleaning up our act somewhere and glitter is as good a place as any to start.

And should you have doubts about the adverse impact of glitter on the environment, then you have only to consider that such significant entities as Hallmark, H&M, and the EU have banned it.

Change is hard, hard, hard. But while ignorance, vested self-interest, and greed keep getting in the way of bringing it about on a large scale, you could help at the grassroots level by refusing to use glitter.Then differentiate your shop by promoting it as ecologically responsible.

Squeegee blade profiles

Squeegee blade profiles

Tony Palmer writes a monthly column for Images online magazine in which he responds to printers’ technical questions. In the February edition he addressed a question about “the best squeegee blade profile to use.” His opinion on this is worth considering even though he ends up the article by saying that there is no correct answer to the question but that whichever blade profile you choose should be an informed decision.

Some of the options suggested include a square profile blade which he says is currently the “king of the heap” because of its ability to create sharply-detailed prints. He advises that slightly rounded or worn blades be replaced to ensure clean prints. He doesn’t mention sharpening blades rather than replacing them, but I would suggest that that too is an option.

He goes on to discuss a ‘V’ profile blade describing it as “the new kid n the block.” It has apparently traditionally been used to print hard surfaces such as glass and ceramics but is now finding favour in hybrid textile printing—combining analogue screen printing and digital CMYK printing. This is where a white base screen is used to block out the garment colour before the CMYK digital ink is applied on top of the opaque white. The trick in this process is to put down the white in a way that does not penetrate the substrate because you want to maintain the soft hand of the DTG technique. This is apparently where the ‘V’ profile blade comes in handy.

The bottom line on choosing the “correct” squeegee profile blade? You have research and experimenting to do.