Do u know about pigment printing?

[akeera]

A pigment is a mixture of dye and an opacifying agent, such as white oxide powders. Advantage of pigment printing is flexibility to apply on natural and synthetic fibers. Pigment colors are more popular because the process is simple, new vibrant color combinations are evolved with the mixing of two or three colours. Pigments are used in block printing process of various fabrics like pure cotton, pure silk, chiffon, crepe, georgette and supernet. Pigment printed sarees are highly fashionable and in demand today.



Pigment printing is the affixing of coloured designs using pigment colorants onto various fabrics, through block printing. It is comparatively much easier than the elaborate process of dye printing. A pigment is a material or substance that tends to reflect or scatter some or most wavelengths of the light incident on it. The resulting reflected light is perceived by the human eye as a colour. A fine example is ultramarine that absorbs most colours and reflects only the blue colour that we see.



Pigments generally exist as powders of the colorants meant to colour other materials. A binder or vehicle has to accompany it before applying. A vehicle is a colour less neutral substance in which the pigment is suspended. The essential difference between a dye and a pigment is that a dye dissolves in the vehicle while the pigment is insoluble and remains suspended in it.