Digital chic
Updated: 2012-12-19 09:49
By Tiffany Tan (China Daily)
|
|||||||||
|
Besides being able to integrate more colors into one design, digital printing is also better suited than screen printing for small orders and customized designs based on things like paintings, photographs and collages. In the more traditional screen printing, or silk-screening method, dye is squeegeed onto fabric through screens containing design stencils, one color at a time.
On the Chinese mainland, digital fabric printing, a growing industry that started in the mid-'90s, is also considered more eco-friendly.
It doesn't cause pollution or release harmful substances into the environment, says Jia Jingsheng, a professor at Tsinghua University's Academy of Art and Design, who specializes in textiles and dyeing.
Dyes used in traditional printing need to be "fixed" by metallic solutions, which when drained into the soil are harmful because they accumulate and become toxic to humans and animals, says Anita Quye of the University of Glasgow's Center for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History.
Digital fabric printing, Jia says, saves on resources, such as the multitude of stenciled screens needed in screen printing, as well as the dyes left over in the squeegeeing process.
- 'Taken 2' grabs movie box office crown
- Rihanna's 'Diamonds' tops UK pop chart
- Fans get look at vintage Rolling Stones
- Celebrities attend Power of Women event
- Ang Lee breaks 'every rule' to make unlikely new Life of Pi film
- Rihanna almost thrown out of nightclub
- 'Dark Knight' wins weekend box office
- 'Total Recall' stars gather in Beverly Hills
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Supplies pour into isolated villages |
All-out efforts to save lives |
American abroad |
Industry savior: Big boys' toys |
New commissioner
|
Liaoning: China's oceangoing giant |
Today's Top News
Health new priority for quake zone
Xi meets US top military officer
Japan's boats driven out of Diaoyu
China mulls online shopping legislation
Bird flu death toll rises to 22
Putin appoints new ambassador to China
Japanese ships blocked from Diaoyu Islands
Inspired by Guan, more Chinese pick up golf
US Weekly
Beyond Yao
|
Money power |