Anyone have any experience or knowledge about direct printing on silk? I have a new Epson 5800 that I am hoping to use for this. The plan is to produce fairly large women's scarves and some wall hangings. Any advice about printing on silk or info on the Epson 5800 is greatly appriciated. The ink supplier thinks this printer will work, but I am only aware of people doing this on much more expensive printers than the Epson. I have concerns about the fine silk threads clogging up the print head. Any thoughts, advice, or witty criticisms about what a foolish plan this is?

Thanks,
Jim

The whole concept confuses me a bit. What ink? it will need to bond and be waterproof.

The print head should not touch the item so not even silk dust, (if there really is such a thing), will not get into the head. Silk is a long strand, far longer than cotton that I believe does not fracture as easily, so no problem there.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Jim,

Of the fabric I've seen directly run through printers, (Jacard?) it's been attached (somehow) to a carrier sheet.

Not sure how that's done.

I think it would be necessary to use a solvent-based ink, which would be more a concern over printhead wear, than silk dust.

The silk can be purchased in rolls with a paper carrier attached so it can be fed through the printer. The ink used is some kind of acid dye that I don't know much about yet. After printing, the silk has to be steamed to set the ink. Then it goes through an acid wash to remove any unset ink. I bought out a business that had just started doing this and have hired the former owner to be my graphic designer and large format printer. He had started out using an old Epson 9600 but multiple visits from diferent Epson techs have failed to get the old printer working properly. At one point they installed a new print head and after just a few hours of printing I was told there was already a noticable accumulation of silk fibers on the head. I wasn't there to see this and can't explain how or why it happens. I am obviously not at all knowledgeable yet about this process, but I have seen some excellent products that were produced on the old printer before it broke down.

Jim

Are you sure it was silk fibers and not sizing?

As I said before, silk is very long fibers, maybe a yard long or more. The only way to get tiny scraps is by cutting the fabric.

Try using a lint roller first to remove any tramp surface material whatever it really is.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

When you finally understand it completely... it changes.