Discuss the different plastisol screen printing inks and curing methods on the market. Share tips on getting the best results with the different ink manufacturers.
I have just started screen printing and a little confused about the different kinds of water based inks. I've purchased a few Permaset inks and a few colors of the enviro line from silk screen supplies (matsui) I think it is. From what I've read about discharge inks, I don't think I want to tackle that right now until I get a little more experience. From what little I've learned so far from permaset is there great but just the colors are very limited. Haven't tried the matsui yet but read that if u print on dark even with white underbase that the top ink comes our a different color (red comes out pink). I'm looking for a versatile ink to use with both lights and darks shirts with a variety of colors, if there is such a thing. Is the Gen IV the most versatile? Just a little pricey!!!
Matsui and Permaset are the two most popular waterbased inks. There's also Speedball, although it's more for the consumer/hobby market.
Permaset does have a supercover which goes on darks pretty well without an underbase. They are pricey, however.
I have not heard of the issues with Matsui changing color on underbase. There are some Matsui distributors who crawl the board, hopefully they will chime in. Or just experiment with the ink you have.
Yes, mixing red discharge colors with Matsui seems to be the most difficult pantones to match. We use their mixing formulas, but we end up having to put 4x the amount of pigment that it calls for or it comes out way too light. We haven't bothered with Permaset super cover because of the price. A gallon of Permaset costs 3x that of a gallon of Matsui discharge base. However, you will spend several hundred dollars on the pigments required to match pantones, but the bottle of pigments go a very very long way. We have only had to reorder a few of the 13 pigment colors in the past year.
Matsui also has a form of "super cover" called 301 HO series. These inks can be somewhat hard to find and Matsui may have discontinued them already. But, you can mix your own "super cover" inks with the Matsui line. Simply use 301 White and water based pigments to acheive the desired effect.
@unik ink - We have started to notice that Pantone colors are more accurately reproduced with the 301 series pigments. There are more pigments in the system and they can be harder to mix (since you need a high quality scale) but printing with these pigments might get you closer using the Matsui formulas.
We're able to get white white water based prints on red shirts with our Rutland WB99 system. If you're printing on red, black, or colored shirts with an ink color that is lighter than the garment, you will want to "charge" the base with discharge for opacity.
Don't be too afraid of discharge. If you're fluent with water based inks, discharge is not that tough to incorporate, and in time if you want to print water base on darks, it is pretty much mandatory...
we learned the hard way.. and we paid for it.... always wash test and stretch test one of your clients shirts(order extras of the ones you plan on printing with for your client)...always test the final planned print... super cover permasets dont always hold up to the stretch test... an elastic underbase..like the super cover white will do well and it bonds well with other colors..on black shirts make sur the underbase is on well.
Preferred water base ink 
