Impressions - February 2019 - 41

DTG printers output in cyan, magenta,
yellow and black (CMYK), a combination
of which gives the illusion of the millions
of colors that can be reproduced.

suppose. Rather, it's a pigment formed from naturally occurring
minerals. It is commonly used due to its ability to reflect light
back to the viewer, making it optically appear as a bright white.
TiO 2 often is used for applications such as reflective
optical coatings, sunscreen lotions and pigments in white inks.
Another little-known fact is that titanium dioxide is used to
make edible products appear white. So the next time you bite
into a cake or pastry with white frosting, remember that you
may be eating TiO2.
2. Undercured equals underperforming. All white inks
have a specific point at which they start to cross-link or cure.
Check with your manufacturer to ensure you are curing DTG
inks for the proper time, at the proper temperature and with
the proper pressure. Get all the solvents out of the ink.The term
"solvent" leads most people think of bad chemicals. Most DTG
inks are feature a solvent component known simply as water.
3. Shake it up. No matter which white ink you use, it will
need to be shaken because TiO2 tends to settle and can cause
problems in a DTG printer. Always follow the ink or printer
manufacturer's recommendations when shaking white ink.This
typically is done daily before starting the printer.The TiO2 tends
to be heavier than other white-ink components and gravitates
to the bottom of the cartridge.
Ink formulations get better each year, but still need to be
shaken before use. Remember also that the white ink in the
printer lines will settle after sitting for a while.Thus, after a long
weekend, the first couple of prints could include a faint white
appearance when white ink is used if your printer does not
recirculate it or you don't take preventive measures to mitigate
it settling in the lines.
4.Think big - and longer. All ink manufacturers recommend

a specific time and temperature to cure DTG inks. Consider the
size or amount of white ink printed onto a garment. A small,
relatively thin area will require less curing time.
However, a print with a heavy white-ink area, such as an
oversized or double-pass portion of a design, may require a
longer cure time.
5.Why CMYK and not RGB inks? Why do DTG printers
print CMYK inks, but artwork is designed on monitors that
show RGB color?
RGB is known as an additive color model, while CMYK
is a subtractive color model. As red, green and blue are mixed,
you can get just about any other color based on the percentages
of each component (adding colored light to achieve a specific
color). If you mix all three in equal parts, you get white. In most
art programs, that's why you get the color white if you set the
RGB colors in your palette to the maximum level (255).
DTG printers output in cyan, magenta, yellow and black
(CMYK), a combination of which gives the illusion of the
millions of colors that can be reproduced.
In the past, CMYK halftones were used.Varying dot sizes
were positioned close to each other and even overlapped to
give the illusion of reproducing full-color photographs from
just four colors. Screen printers often still print with halftones
of a single color to give the illusion of that color fading from
0% (no dots) to a 100% solid fill.
DTG printing doesn't use halftone dots, but millions of tiny
ink droplets to create full colors. To get the color green, for
example, tiny droplets of yellow and cyan are printed together
in a particular fashion.They are printed in a stochastic pattern
- a random dot pattern instead of different-sized dots - to
achieve smooth colors and transitions.
FEBRUARY 2019

P.41
Impressions - February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - February 2019
