SILK SCREEN PRINTING

[ART DISCO]

Hi,
One thing to think about before using discharge inks is it's notoriously short shelf life once mixed (some are only 8 hours maybe slightly longer if refrigerated and depending on the brand) so if you are going to be using it yourself be sure you know exactly what you need printing because it can be quite expensive/tricky stuff so make sure you have a battle plan in place before you mix it up:)

Going back to earlier in the thread...

I print in entirely water-based ink and it seems to be become increasingly popular because it's environmentally better, very easy to clean up (washes away with water, no harsh chemicals) and the ink sits into the fabric, giving a soft feel unlike Plastisol.

That being said Plastisol has other strengths as mentioned, but for me water based is fantastic.

Good luck with it all,

Lucy

[GoldRapt]

Hi,
it is possible that what you are referring to is discharge ink, which is waterbased and removes the base colour from the garment replacing it with colour when heat cured under the flash dryer. Alternatively a discharge white undebase may be used, and waterbased colours overprinted.
This process cannot be carried out wet on wet as with plastisol, the discharge ink carries a bleaching agent which basically burns out leaving its dye behind. This discharge must be carried out between each colour. The result is a design with no feel, that is completely wash and iron resistant. Quick search on youtube for discharge printing will explain in detail.

Just a thought but looking at the type of work you presently produce from your website, and the issues you appear to have with screens, stencils etc can I suggest the following, all of which I occasionally use when printing on dark garments.

Make positives from red or black sign vinyl, onto acetate which will allow far longer exposure times than inkjet or laser film then
Double coat the print side (non squeege side) of your screen, drying between coats for increased stencil thickness. Expose for longer to achieve a ticker stencil.
Increase the efficiency of your exposure lamps with a white correx board enclosure.
Finally for a quick robust stencil, use nylon garment vinyl, cut un-mirrored and apply to print side of screen after weeding out image area. I have used this method to single hit royal blue fleece with white waterbased ink through a 29 mesh. This gives a crisp edge definition despite the low mesh count. A quick spray of garment film remover and stencil reclaims from screen leaving no residue.
Use a good quality opaque white ink, and mix well before attempting to print. Opaque Plastisol tends to thicken in tub, a gentle warming will get it flowing and mixing better.
Finally, to get a look more like garment vinyl, i use the waste backing paper from sign vinyl on top of printed garment in heat press at around 165 degrees with little to no pressure for around 40 seconds, peeling the paper from print hot. This ensures the print is cured, and also gives a really smooth finish to the finished garment.

Keep at it, and one day soon you will get a feel for printing onto different surfaces, when I started screenprinting I used to get the jitters just thinking of starting a paying job. I now print anything more than six garments in preference to vinyl as its more rewarding and to be honest can be quicker and more profitable.

Matt

An old thread I know but.

Thats some great insights Matt. Thanks