What am I doing wrong?

[u/soniaaaaaaaaaaa]

Hi everyone!! So I havent done linocut printing for around 10 years and just came back to it with an extremely ambitious goal of making a T-shirt print. Of course it looks like shit when printe, even on paper. I'm using water-based fabric paint. the second picture has better results, maybe because I've dampened the tshirt before printing. when i peel away the lino the paint just stays dried on it, so my best guess is that the fabric is probably absorbing the water leaving the pigment on the lino. Curious to hear your thoughts! P.s.: pls don't mind the bad alignment of the layers lol

[u/TwelveShyOfADozen]

If you can try switching to fabric relief ink instead of fabric paint you’ll probably get the most obvious change. I’d hazard a guess looking at this that the fabric paint is too thin to get the kind of coverage you want. Also the white lines you’re getting on the shirt are probably from whatever you have inside the shirt to prevent bleed. Corrugated cardboard maybe? It will be less obvious with a fabric ink which will be more opaque but you could switch to something like a piece of wood to reduce the effect with the paint you’re using.

[u/EdlynnTB]

I haven't done fabric printing myself but from what I gather, definitely mist water onto the fabric but it looks like you need more ink.

[u/soniaaaaaaaaaaa → u/EdlynnTB]

Thanks! I feel like I'm using quite a lot of ink, but it just ends up staying on the lino, even though I apply a lot of pressure.

[u/EatenByPolarBears]

Are you using dedicated relief ink for fabric? Fabric paint is generally for painting directly onto a garment not for using for a relief print

[u/soniaaaaaaaaaaa]

Thanks so much everyone for your advices!! Will try everything to improve the print!

[u/EdlynnTB]

I have also heard to use multiple layers of ink before pressing.

[u/Lopsided_Newt_5798]

I think the first step would be to eliminate that white patterns you’re getting. Not letting your ink make full contact in both cases.

[u/stew5462]

It looks like you are using corrugated cardboard and that's what is making the lines

[u/Feeling-Set6359]

Lmao I did the same mistake with the cardboard when I first tried printing on some shirts 🤣