by screen printers for screen printers
How to Print on Mesh Jerseys
And other garments with those stupid little holes!
In my mind, there is nothing worse to print on than reversible nylon mesh jersey. Oh, the pitfalls that await! We will save “reversible” for another post. For now, lets focus on the nylon and of course those STUPID LITTLE HOLES!
Printing On Nylon
- Ink
Most mesh jerseys are made of nylon. If they are, they will need to be printed with special ink designed to print on nylon, or the ink will fall off. I recently posted an article on printing on nylon. Please refer to “How To Print On Nylon”
Mesh Fabric
- Stupid Little Holes!
If you look at mesh, you will see it is obviously made up of little holes. Micro mesh is a little easier to deal with, but the good old fashioned mesh has BIG holes. The problem? How the heck do you print ink on a hole?!
- Ink On The Shirt Board
Imagine putting your pretty little (and expensive) mesh jersey on your shirt board and printing the number 43 in huge print on the front. You pull the jersey off the board and load it in the dryer, only to still see the number 43 printed on your shirt board! No big deal huh? Well, if you leave that there and put the next shirt on, it will have the number 43 printed in reverse on the inside of the jersey. And if that isn’t bad enough, when you get to the other end of the dryer where good old number 43 is coming out, you realize the ink went thru the mesh and stained the back of the shirt as well. What the crap?!
- Scrap Paper
The solution is very simple. We use scrap paper. Spray the shirt board with adhesive. Next place a sheet of scrap paper larger than the print area on the shirt board. Spray the paper with adhesive. Load the shirt on the shirt board and print the design. Pull off the shirt AND the paper, making sure the paper is still stuck to the inside of the shirt. Load the shirt with the paper still attached to it into the dryer. When the shirt comes out the other end, peel off the paper and stack the shirt.
There you have it! No mess on the shirt board, and no mess on the shirt. Now, for those reversible jerseys…
Pin It
Iv’e just recently been tyring to print on mesh jerseys lately and I’m very new at this and not very good!!! It’s really timely and I’m trying to figure out the best and easiest way to do this. I tried puting newspaper down just like you said scrap paper. It stuck to the ink on the inside of the jersey and the black newsprint ink is all over the inside of the jersey. I found something saying a good thing to use would be wax paper each time.
Would you have some good pointers or recomendations for me?
-Amber
Amber
Wax paper works great, but is kind of expensive. I have a laser printer and print paper copies of almost EVERYTHING. As a result, I have a LOT of scrap paper that I hate to throw away. I just toss it in a box under my desk and use it for times like these. Newspaper is probably the worst thing you could use. I wouldn’t use newspaper for anything in my shop, not even to advertise in. It is not very strong and the newsprint comes off on EVERYTHING. I have heard of people using newspaper to blot water out of a screen after you burn the image into it, but seriously, how much is a roll of paper towels?! But I digress…
Short story long, scrap paper is the most economical solution I have found. I bet wax paper works well (and I bet your could even reuse the wax paper after it goes thru the dryer), but I would guess that is a more expensive route. Even if you went to Wal-Mart and bought a whole ream of 500 sheets of paper, it would only cost you $2.99.
I hope this helps! Reply back to this post with your results and let us all know how you did. If anyone else has advice for Amber feel free to comment on this post. Even if you don’t agree with me.
Jeff
How do you print on reversible jerseys? I have tried and I get ink everywhere. I have turned down orders so I don’t have to screenprint on them. Help?
Debbie
Debbie,
Reversible’s are pretty much the same as regular mesh jerseys with the addition of having WAY more opportunities to screw up. If you consider numbers on the front and back along with team name on the front and individual name on the back, it is enough to pull your hair out. Imagine a double digit number… that is 2 digits front, 2 digits back, then flip it inside out and print 2 digits front, and 2 digits back again IN A DIFFERENT COLOR. That is 8 digits on one shirt AND a color change. Even if you do not consider the team name and individual names on the back, there are 8 ways to screw up the numbers alone.
We normally turn down these jobs anymore, but back in the day we made them work. I think the biggest trick is finding the right jersey. We always used the type with open seams at the bottom so that we could slip the platen between the two layers of mesh. Without being able to do that, I wouldn’t do them unless you had a heat press.
Follow the instructions for the regular mesh jerseys, making sure you purchase the reversible jerseys that are not sewn together at the bottom. Use as little ink as possible, and make sure you leave the scrap paper inside the shirt while curing. I would buy some reversible’s and practice, practice, practice.
Jeff