Textile Printing

Training

By: Wolfgang Heitkamp

 Textile Printing
Training
Level 1 + 2

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Printing
Transferring the talent of
the designer to the fabric

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique

• direct printing
• resist printing
• discharge printing
• special printing

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
• direct printing
Cotton & viscose reactive
vat
direct
pigment dyes

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
• direct printing
Polyester disperse
Cotton / polyester reactive / disperse
vat / disperse
pigment dyes

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
• direct printing
Silk acid
metal complex
reactive dyes

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
• direct printing

Polyamide acid
metal complex
reactive dyes ( new generation)

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
• direct printing

Polyacrylic basic dyes

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
• resist printing
Chemicals are printed onto the fabric which
prevents fixation of the following over-printed
colour.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
discharge printing

Pre-dyed fabric is partly destroyed by a

print paste containing a reducing agent.

The discharge paste can contain a colour

which displaces the original dyed colour.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
Special styles
Transfer printing
Disperse dyes which are sublimable ( low energy)
are first printed onto special paper and dried.

The design is then transferred by heat from the

paper to polyester fabric via a heated calendar.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
Special styles
Burn out
It is done usually on PES / CO blends.
A strongly acidic paste is printed, dried and
then the cotton part is burned by heat and
finally washed off, which leaves a transparent
polyester skeleton.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Printing technique
Special styles
Seersucker
A caustic soda paste is printed onto cotton
which causes shrinkage in the patterned area
and gives them wrinkled appearance of
Seersucker after washing.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing

Statistics

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing Market

8% 12%
13% Far East
Middle East
9% Africa

3% Latin America
47%
8% North America
Eastern Europe
Western Europe

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
17
 Textile print production
substrates
55
1994
1997
45
2001
35
Share %

25

15

-5

Polyester
Viscose

Other
Cotton

Polyester
Cotton/

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
18
 Printing techniques
relative split
70

40

70
20
60

50
0
Rotary printing
Share % 40
Flat-bed printing
30 Roller printing
20 Transfer printing

10 Table printing
Digital
0
Textile Effects1982 1990 1994 2001
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile print production
dyestuff groups
60
1994
1997
50 2001

40
Share %

30

20

10

0
Pigment

Vat

Acid
Disperse

Other
Reactive

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
20
 Textile print production
worldwide 1980 - 2001
25

20
Billions of Metres

15

10

0
80

82

84

86

88

90

92

94

96

2001

2003

2005
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
21
 Textile print production
Western Europe
3

2.5
Billions of Metres

1.5

0.5

0
88

90

92

94

96

98

2000

2002

2004
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
22
 Textile print production
North America
3

2.5
Billions of Metres

1.5

0.5

0
88

90

92

94

96

98

2000

2002

2004
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
23
 Textile print production
Middle East
1.8
1.6
1.4
Billions of Metres

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
88

90

92

94

96

98

2000

2002

2004
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
24
 Textile print production
Far East
12

10
Billions of Metres

0
88

90

92

94

96

98

2000

2002

2004
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
25
 Print production
regional split-up
55
1994
1997
45
2001

35
Share %

25

15

-5

Middle
America

America

Africa

Asia
Eastern
Western

Europe
Europe

East
North

Latin

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
January 1999
Asia / Pacific
26
 from Block
to
Roller Printing
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing

from the past

to the

future

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Textile Printing
Is best described as an
industrial art.
Bringing together a design
idea, one or more colorants,
and a textile substrate, using
different techniques for
applying the colorants with
precision.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Historical Perspective
- Hand Painting
- Batik-Resist Printing
- Hand Block Printing

- Engraved Roller
- Silk Screen Printing
- Rotary Screen Printing
- Ink-Jet Printing
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Historical Perspective
Where textile printing originated -
whether in India, Egypt, China or
elsewhere- is not clear.
It is presumed that the first pattern
could be produced by applying
beeswax as a resist to the dye liquor
or by tying threads tightly around
the areas to be resisted.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Historical Perspective
As early as the first century AD
hand painted fabric has been
produced in India and the use of
madder was by then long
established.

By the 14th century the use of

wooden blocks in printing was
established in France,Italy and
Germany, but mineral pigments
was used rather than dyes.
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Historical Perspective
In the early 17th century hand-
painted Indian cotton reaching
Europe in big quantities.
They were colourful and
colourfast, and introduced a
richness of novel and stimulated
design styles.
Paisley designs for example, were
derived direct from one of these
styles.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Historical Perspective
The English term “printing“
was established in the 18th
century and comes from a Latin
word meaning pressure.
Around that time printing was
normally done by the use of
wood blocks, which had raised
printing surfaces,which needed
pressure to obtain good contact
between the fabric and the
colour on the block.
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Hand Block Printing
A design is carved in
raised form into a
wooden block, which
are inked and then pressed
on the fabric.
By repetition, the image
from a single block builds
up into a complete design
over the fabric area.
For each colour a new block
is made.
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Hand Block Printing

Part of the carved wood has

been replaced by brass pins
and small brass sheets.
Paisley model from
Switzerland ~ 1890
WH collection

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Hand Block Printing

Hand block
detail

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Hand Block Printingnting
A four colour Paisley
design.

Around 1900
WH collection

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Hand Block Printing
Hand block printing has
been used in Europe from
the 18th and 19th century
until the mid 20th.
(Switzerland for wool and
silk scarves )
It still can be seen in India
and Indonesia in some
traditional style printing.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Mechanical Block Printing

PERROTINE

- in order to increase the

print production for certain
designs the Perrotine was
used in many print-works
in Europe.
( ~1850 – 1950 )

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing
The first roller printing
machine for mass
production was a “relief
printing” machine.

Textile Effects This relief printing technique ( much modernized )

RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
Is still used today in wallpaper printing.
 Relief Printing Machine

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Relief Printing Machine

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 From copper plate
to copper roller
Copper plate printing on paper has
been known since the 15th century.
In the mid. 18th century an entirely
new type of printed fabric decorated
with figures, landscapes and
architecture made from engraved
copper plates conquered the market.
First in England than on the continent.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 From copper plate
to copper roller
In 1783 Thomas Bell patented the
first “Copper Roller” printing
machine.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing Machine
The output of printed cotton in England
alone increased from 30 mil. Yards in
1796 to 210 mil. in 1821 and to 600 mil.
in 1851.
It peaked in 1911, when production from
British printworks amounted to 1400
mil. Yards.
Worldwide, roller printing production
accounted for more than half of the
total amount printed until 1976.
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing
Copper roller machines have been
ideal for high-volume printing of
woven fabrics for almost 200 years.
Since the early 1970th the roller
printer method has been more and
more replaced by “Rotary Screen
Printing”
Some old Printworks still keep 1 or 2
machines for special fine line and raster
effects.

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Printing Rollers
The copper rollers used are hollow
cylinders of two main types,

- solid copper

- shell

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Printing Rollers
- solid copper

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Printing Rollers
- shell

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Printing Rollers
Copper plating machine
Shell rollers are made by
the electrodepositing of
copper onto a cast iron or
steel tube.
Whenever a design is turned
off, more copper can be
deposited to return the roller
to its original circumference.
Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing

Old technique

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing
Saueressig
New technique

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing

Saueressig

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing
Saueressig

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing
Saueressig

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing
Saueressig

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific
 Roller Printing
Saueressig

Textile Effects
RTC Printing
Asia / Pacific