Do you still love your high school shirt with the perfect aged look? We know you want to recreate that look on your new shirt. Today, we will share how screen printing can help you get that old vintage look.
Vintage prints are deliberately printed lighter on the fabrics to give them a worn and old appearance. It is a simple process in which you need to print your artwork by using just one screen. Let’s discuss how this process works to create a vintage look.
Designing Artworks
To create a vintage appearance is simple but tricky. You have to choose artworks and print them lightly on the fabric. It will appear like it has been washed and worn over time. You can choose any design for printing, but it adds distress to your design before using it. It will make the print look vintage, although it is new.
Many vintage filters work great to create vintage looks while designing artwork. Some printer types help distress their screens while the designs are exposed.
Fabric for Vintage Printing
Vintage-looking clothes should be soft enough to give the best results. A new cotton shirt will not give you a vintage look as it is new and crisp. Although the design is distressed, fabric still matters here. For best results, choose mixed fabrics. Fabrics colors are also important here. Choosing light and faded colors will give more vintage feel. The soft and comfortable garment will appear vintage as it appears to be used a lot, and now it’s losing its crispiness and hard texture.
Inks for Vintage Prints
Just like fabric, choosing ink for vintage prints is important. You need to use ink with a soft hand feel to give a vintage appearance. You can also add a reducer additive to make ink thin and give a vintage appearance to the shirt. Using water-based inks is also helpful to give your garment a soft texture. It means you have to choose softer inks to type instead of plastisol inks. These soft ink types will set into the fabric and do not lie on the top of the cloths. Let’s discuss the inks we can use here for the best vintage appearance.
• Additive and Reducers
Adding additive and ink reducers to your normal inks will help you create softer prints. Plastisol inks are thicker, but add additives to reduce the thickness if you still love them. It will dilute the ink color and prints will be lighter in color. The lighter colors give a soft feel to your prints.
• Water-Based Inks
If you do not want to use plastisol inks, try water-based inks. Water-based inks are good for creating soft prints. The ink cures and color pigments enter the fiber of the fabric. It creates a soft print on the cloth. The remaining feel of the first print is removed when we wash the fabric.
• Discharge Inks
When you have no other choice than cotton to print your design, discharge inks are the best. Discharge inks can print on 100% cotton fabric. These inks first finish the cloths pigments and then color print the design with less ink. It is the best way to create a vintage appearance on shirts, hoodies, etc. Less ink usage is both economic and ideal for vintage shirts. But this does not work for all types of fabrics.
Lay Down a Thin Ink Deposit
Another way to maximize the vintage appearance is to use a single paint stroke. Using single-stroke will keep the design dimmer, and it will appear worn. The more passes you use; the less chance is your fabric will appear vintage. It will make the print dark and clear. It is also best to push the stroke using a curable reducer.
Other Considerations While Printing Vintage-Looking Garments
There is something you may consider while creating vintage clothes. If you create a logo for a company, it is essential to make a sample logo for them in a vintage feel. Sometimes color may change a little than the original. Secondly, while using under base in this type of printing, make sure that it is adjusted properly because sometimes it is difficult to adjust under base.
Conclusion
Vintage looks are getting more popular day by day among young and older adults. Sometimes we keep our favorite old t-shirt safe for years. But it is not always possible, so it is a good idea to recreate it from a new one. The idea is so cool that customers are ready to pay more for it. This vintage appearance is not difficult to make. You can use various techniques discussed above to create a best-worn and distressed piece of garment. You can create a masterpiece and make your customer happy and satisfied using all these techniques. Along with it, you will save on the ink as well.
