Styles of Printing

Styles Of Printing

Fabrics can be printed in three different styles namely direct, discharge and resist styles.

1. Direct Style of Printing

The most common style of printing textile fabric is direct printing. In this method the dye is directly applied onto the fabric. Dyes are used in paste form. It is the simplest and oldest style of printing. It can be done on a white fabric or coloured fabric. The dye is imprinted on the fabric in paste form and any desired pattern may be produced. Dark colour prints in lighter background is the characteristic feature of direct style printing. In this style of printing, the printing paste is transferred to the selected areas of the fabric and the pigments adhere to the fabric surface. Direct style of printing is used in block printing, screen printing or roller printing methods.

·               easiest style of printing

·               economical

·               This style is easy, economical and suitable for printing both simple and complicated designs.

2. Discharge Style of Printing

In this method, the fabric is printed on a dyed fabric. The printing paste used in this method contains a discharging agent, which will bleach or destroy the colour from the dyed fabric in the printed areas. The resulting white area is brighten the overall design. Sometimes the base colour is removed and another colour is printed in its place. The discharging agent is an oxidizing or reducing agent capable of discharging colours by oxidation and reduction. Potassium chlorate or sodium chlorate (oxidizing agents) and stannous chloride (reducing agent) are commonly used discharging agents. The effects produced are very striking as the white area obtained brightens the overall design. This style of printing enabled intricate and fine designs to be printed on the fabric. If the fabric is not thoroughly washed after printing, the strength of the fabric may be affected due to the use of discharging agents. The advantages of discharge style of printing produces light, bright colour on a dark background, printing is sharp and fine and easier to work. However the major disadvantages of this method is the cost involved.

3. The Resist Style

In this method, the bleached fabric is first printed with a substance like wax, rice paste, china clay or chemicals such as acids, alkalis and salts that resist dye penetration and fixation. The printed fabric is then dipped in cold dye bath, so that the resisting agent remains unaffected and only the areas free of the resist agent are coloured. After dyeing process, the resist paste is removed, leaving white or light coloured patterns on a dark background. Batik, tie and dye are examples of resist printing. The durability of the fabric is not affected by the resist method.