Hi, I have a question about inks for screening tee's. I'm using international coatings currently , haven't tried any additives yet. I'm looking for a good source for info on these. One question I have, will adding softhand make the ink look and feel less plastic. I read that it makes it more flexi, I think I'm looking for something to make it look less glossy, Thanks!
Hi, I have a question about inks for screening tee's. I'm using international coatings currently , haven't tried any additives yet. I'm looking for a good source for info on these. One question I have, will adding softhand make the ink look and feel less plastic. I read that it makes it more flexi, I think I'm looking for something to make it look less glossy, Thanks!
By adding a curable reducer, you can change how much of a "hand" you have to your garments. The ink becomes thinner and sinks into the shirt more, however you lose some of your opacity. If you want to keep your opaque look and still have a soft hand I would look into waterbased inks instead of the plastisol. Plastisol is of course basically PVC so to get rid of the plastic look is pretty hard to do. Even with reducing the stuff, you will still get a sheen to it.
I too would recommend water-based. It's all I use, and you can get opaque stuff (like Union Aerotex) that can be very opaque with one layer of white on navy. And it's a soft hand, doesn't look plastic-ish unless you put down a ton of layers, which you wouldn't need to. My biggest complaint about water-based is it drying/clogging a screen, but get some retarder base and you will be fine.
... will adding softhand make the ink look and feel less plastic. I read that it makes it more flexi, I think I'm looking for something to make it look less glossy
I suspect you are using a coarse mesh (86-110) and the ink deposit makes a film on the surface of the shirt. This is excellent for opaque colors on dark shirts. If the ink is NOT a film, it will actually stretch and be as flexible as the shirt, not the inflexible film of ink.
Softhand additives will dilute the pigment in your ink and it will soak into the shirt. This is excellent with light colored shirts that you want to print Wet-On-Wet. When you combine a more liquid ink and higher mesh counts, the ink will 'stain' the shirt, not film on the surface. This is a basic principle of W-O-W printing. You could print a multi-color job and after printing the first color, you could run your finger across the ink and you would hardly get any on your finger. This is the whole principle of W-O-W printing.
IC also has many inks designed for different purposes. If you bought from their 700 series of HP (high pigment) colors, that's what they are designed to do. If you are printing white shirts W-O-W, you will not be happy because you are using the wrong ink. You could add lots of extender and shoft hand additive, but that would be like taking peanut butter and adding butter until it was like butter. I want you to use the right ink inthe first place.
IC has a multipurpose series with less pigment that will not cost as much and have a softer hand right out of the bucket.
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How are you measuring? retired Ulano Technical Support Screen printing since 1979 - SGIA Academy Member
I think a lot of people confuse curable reducer and soft hand clear. A reducer's primary function is to reduce the viscocity of the ink. It is not intended to make an ink have a softer hand. Although it may soften the ink a little bit. It also does not make an ink less opaque, except for the fact that the ink is thinner now and a thinner layer of ink may be laid down. But the pigment itself is not reduced.
If you're wanting to soften the ink, you should use the soft hand clear. That's what it's for. It is basically a soft plastisol with no pigment, so when you add it, it will decrease opacity. But many inks have so much pigment out of the bucket that you can add quite a bit of soft hand clear without any noticeable decrease in opacity. With some inks you can use as much as 50% ink and 50% soft hand clear and still get a good color. It's something you have to test with trial and error. I like the soft hand clear. It gives the prints a softer hand, which is what it's purpose is. But many people confuse this with curable reducer. They are not the same thing.
And Richard is right. Use the right ink in the first place, and you'll be better off.
Questions about Inks for screening 
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