Hello there,
After successfully overcoming problems I've been feeling like a true pro... until now... I've printed on lots of t-shirts, and thought I found my curing time of 2 1/2 mins with my tidderly flash dryer. Last week I started printing onto tea towels, so the image is much larger, therefore I wasn't able to fit it under the flash. I let the inks air dry for about 3 days and today i decided to flash dry them for the 2 1/2 mins but doing the image bit by bit. Now I've heard that when you over cure the inks they start to crack... this didn't happen, instead the inks started to bleed out. I'm using waterbased inks, permaset aqua. I presume I've over cured them, but can anyone confirm this for me?
Also, i need a larger curing unit, absolutly pennyless i figured a flash dryer can't be too difficult to make, does anyone have any instructions or advice?
And thats it, thanks for reading and any helpful comments will be much appreciated, Kind Regards, Becky
I dont know where you are, but it may be possible that ambient humidity had the towels slightly damp, leading to you warming up the inks and water and causing them to bleed.
Another thing to look at is the composure of your towels. They may be 100% poly or even 50/50, which is going to bleed differently than 100% cotton t's.
I'm not an expert on water-based by any means, but if you are going to cure them with a flash, might as well just do it right after print. Also, I see no reason why curing the print section by section with your flash would be a problem. I have also heard the rumors about cracking due to overcuring (mostly regarding plastisols), but have yet to see an example.
hi, the tea towels are 100% cotton. I'm in England, where it has been slightly muggy recently, so over the days I suppose they may have gotten a bit damp... I usually do flash directly after printing, but I was faffing and thought I could cure them another way. So you think it could be slight moisture in the cloth, maybe if I tumble them quickly and then try again? Cheers, Becky
over curing?? 
