Printing defects: usually the paste, rarely the pigment.
Bleeding, halo effects, mottling, uneven penetration, and color-to-color bleeding in multi-color prints usually come down to paste rheology, screen/roller condition, or curing profile mismatch — not the pigment itself.
What actually drives print quality issues.
Paste rheology and cure profile, checked against your actual equipment.
A paste that performs on a flat-bed screen can fail entirely on a rotary line. We check rheology and curing against your specific equipment and fabric construction before any reformulation — the fix is often a process adjustment, not a new paste.
What's your printing method and equipment?
Flat-bed screen, rotary screen, and digital printing each demand different paste rheology — the fix depends entirely on which one you're running.
What's your actual cure temperature and dwell time?
Nameplate settings and actual in-line conditions often diverge — we ask for measured, not assumed, cure parameters before diagnosing.
Printing defects, in plain terms.
What causes mottling in textile printing?
Mottling is a blotchy, uneven look inside areas that should be solid colour. The usual causes are uneven fabric absorbency left by pretreatment, a paste that is not fully homogeneous or whose viscosity drifts during the run, uneven squeegee or roller pressure, and uneven drying before fixation that lets colour migrate. We check fabric preparation and paste consistency first, before looking at the pigment.
What is the difference between bleeding and flushing (wicking)?
Flushing, or wicking, is when a printed area spreads into the unprinted area around it, creating a haloing effect at the edge of the design — usually from low print paste viscosity. Bleeding is when one applied colour migrates into a colour or coating applied afterward.
What causes misfits or out-of-registration printing?
A misfit happens when the screens used for each colour aren't properly aligned, leaving unprinted gaps or one colour overlapping another's outline. It's a mechanical registration issue, not a paste or pigment issue.
What is a doctor mark or streak?
A doctor mark is a parallel line running across the fabric, caused by a damaged or improperly set doctor blade — the metal blade that scrapes excess paste off the printing roller so dye stays only in the engraved pattern areas.
What causes uneven printing?
Uneven printing shows up as gaps or tone differences through the design, usually from an improperly prepared screen or a squeegee run with inconsistent pressure across the print width.
Is bleeding or haloing usually caused by the pigment?
Rarely on its own. Bleeding and halo effects usually come down to paste rheology, binder-to-pigment ratio, or curing profile — not the pigment's inherent quality. We check thickener viscosity and cure settings against your specific equipment before reformulating.
Why did a paste that worked on one printing line fail on another?
A paste tuned for flat-bed screen printing can fail entirely on a rotary line, because penetration behavior, dwell time, and shear differ between the two equipment types. Paste rheology has to be matched to the specific printing method, not treated as universal.
What should be checked first for color-to-color bleeding in multi-color prints?
Thickener viscosity for the printing method, binder-to-pigment ratio, and curing dwell time are the first three variables checked, since color-to-color bleeding is typically a paste penetration issue rather than a pigment compatibility issue.
What is the difference between bleeding and flushing (wicking) in printing?
Flushing, or wicking, is when a printed area spreads out into the unprinted area around it, creating a haloing or shadowing effect at the edge of the design — usually caused by low print paste viscosity. Bleeding is when one applied colour migrates into a colour or coating applied afterward, often from paste that is too low-viscosity or overly concentrated with dyestuff.
What is a doctor mark or streak in printing?
A doctor mark is a parallel line running across the fabric, caused by a damaged or improperly set doctor blade — the metal blade that scrapes excess paste off the printing roller so dye stays only in the engraved pattern areas.