georgeosagie

After printing on a few T-shirts with my water base ink,I realize that what remains of the ink on the scree becomes thicker than as it was with my first print.My subsequent prints would become patchy and this compells me to increase the number of strokes of the sqeegee in order to get a good print.How do I arrest this situation? Any advice would be apprecreciated.

 

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zagadka

well, water based inks are acrylic, they dry when exposed to the air.

your ink gets thick and prints patchy because its drying on the screen and clogging the holes. unfortunately, that is one of the down falls to using water based ink.

maybe there is an ink prolonger? i'm not sure though.

sorry!

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etctees

There are print retarders available, usually from the ink manufacturer themselves.

I use Permaset, which *may* be an Australian company, it at least has a very big Australian presence. They sell a print retarder, it just means that the ink takes longer to dry out. It does mean that it takes longer to dry on the shirt too, which means I need to use a hair dryer rather than just letting it sit there for 5 mins. I love it though, as I sometimes don't get to a screen to clean it for a good 5-10 mins after the last print.

 

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garrison81

I live in the states and am trying to locate an online site to buy this Permaset retarder. Do you happen to know of one? I've been searching all day.

 

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forward dc

you could get some waterbase retarder here if you choose:

Speedball Retarder Base

if you want some cheap quick fixes to make you ink stay wet longer, here is my list:

1) close doors and windows, turn off fans. air flow sucks the water out of your ink.

2) keep a fine misting spray bottle filled with water on-hand. finely mist the screens every dozen prints or so.

3) go get some glycerin and add a few drops of it to your ink and mix very well. you can also add some water into the ink at the same time before you start printing.


keep in mind that adding retarder, water or glycerin all prolong the drying time of the ink so it takes longer in your dryer to cure as well.

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dan corcoran :: Forward Printing, Oakland CA
http://www.forwardprinting.com

 

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garrison81

I appreciate the advice.

The weather here is extremely dry this time of year. This means that our ink usually starts drying on the edges of the screen after just a few minutes. We can get by reasonably well will diligent flooding, but I'd like to relieve some of the stress of rapidly drying ink with some retarder.

We are printing in a closed garage with no fans. Drying time is not an issue to me.

Have you used the Speedball Retarder with Permaset inks? I've read on here that you should not mix brands of inks and retarders.

 

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forward dc

i have used neither of those products so i can't be sure it will work. i have used products from various waterbase systems together with very little problem but this doesn't mean that everything will be compatible.

i looked around at permaset products and i can't find their brand of retarder listed anywhere. in some of their literature they claim that their ink doesn't need any additives. it seems like one of the most comprehensive suppliers of permaset products in the states is Armadillo Art:

Armadillo Art: Permaset Aqua Fabric Printing Ink

otherwise if the weather is really dry you can try to set up a humidifier near or on top of the press. you may also want to start with WAY more ink in the screen then you will use and then keep the useable remainder for later. some ink will still dry on the edges but there will be much more in the middle that isn't drying.

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dan corcoran :: Forward Printing, Oakland CA
http://www.forwardprinting.com

 

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garrison81

I could only find one place on the web that carries the Permaset Retarder. That was a company out of Australia called GJS Machinery.

We've resorted to using a lot of extra ink to start. It is getting us by for now.

I'll check out Armadillo Art.

I do have a humidifier. I'll get into the attic before my next run.

This is my first winter of printing, so maybe this is just something that I'll have to get used to.

 

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