inkpony

hi. i just purchased a bunch of equipment:

4 color, 4 station hopkins press
single station press
flash dryer
conveyor dryer
wash-up sink

... and more.

in the past I've used only water-based inks. the guy who owned this whole set-up has been using plastisol inks, so I've inherited the entire plastisol ink stash as well.

should i switch over?
what are the pros and cons of plastisol?

should i plan to use plastisol for the work aspects of printing (team/company tees) and water-based inks for my creative endeavors?

 

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droskem

I just made the switch to Plastisol yesterday. While I haven't run any garments throught the wash yet to evaluate how durable it is, I am initially impressed with look of the Plastisol ink on the substrate. You'll find there are water-based junkies on T-Shirt forum as well as Plastisol addicts. Personally, I think Plastisol looks more professional. You'll find plenty of people that would agree. Give it a try. It won't take long to form your own opinion. Blessings...

 

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red514

aside from what Droskem mentioned another differance is the technique, you won't have to constantly keep the screen flooded like you do with water based inks. You can leave plastisol ink in the screen for long periods of time and not worry, this allows you to stop printing mid run to answer the phone ect..
I've only worked with water based inks a few times but i much prefer plastisol for a few reasons; the look of the overall print (you can still achieve a nice soft hand feel and vintage look with plastisol), the easy of working with the inks and the many different printing seps that work easily with this inks (i tried index a few times using water base and it wasn't friendly)

 

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Tj Ryonet Tech

Plastisol vs. Water-based Ink for Textile Printing Here is a great article about the pros and cons of each system.

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Liberty

Why not use both? You don't have to choose one or the other. You can mix em up. Some of the nicest shirts out there are discharge plus water based plus a soft hand highlight plastisol and maybe even a foil highlight or two.

For the everyday spot color work though, plastisol all the way...

 

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