[acanvas]

so i decide to do old school poster printing for a client. we're printing with latex house paint as recommended by numerous diy printers. Should we use our emulsion for plastisol or for water based???? any ideas?

 

[JeridHill]

That should be fine.

Typically, waterbased paints and inks would need a water resistant emulsion. A Latex ink should be fine with a plastisol emulsion.

 

[acanvas]

that's what I figured but i wanted to make sure there is not something i didn't know about the make up of lates paint

 

[RichardGreaves]

we're printing with latex house paint as recommended by numerous diy printers.

I suggest you use real screen printing ink rather than latex house paint - it dries too fast in the mesh. Keep the water spray bottle and rags at the ready.

 

[acanvas]

hi richard, how have you been?

we decided that the promotional posters in mass would be printed via a "printer" but for the sponsors of the event we are hand printing reminisent to the warhol days a limited edition print with the feel and texture we will receive from the house paint.

 

[Solmu]

I'd echo Richard's recommendation of using screenprinting ink. There are great paper printing inks out there. They're beautiful to work with, and give great results.

Either way, I would have thought the water resistant emulsion would be the way to go. I don't know anything about latex house paint, but I would have thought it would be more akin to using waterbased ink than plastisol, both in terms of ink composition in the screen, and cleanup.

 

[JeridHill]

Either way, I would have thought the water resistant emulsion would be the way to go. I don't know anything about latex house paint, but I would have thought it would be more akin to using waterbased ink than plastisol, both in terms of ink composition in the screen, and cleanup.

I think you are right. I was doing a little more research and found out that you should have a waterbased latex paint, so a water resistant emulsion WOULD BE needed. Sorry for the misinformation....

I did think that it would be more of a problem to print with since it would dry quicker. I found that a lot of people are using Floetrol, which is a latex paint conditioner. It will slow down the drying time on your latex paints. That should help.

 

[acanvas]

i saw the floetrol usage. I'm excited to do these. we have only printed on textiles and with the luxury of our equipment, nice inks etc. I've always wanted the time to play with some of the techniques used by our diy printing friends. I'll be gathering supplies today. will post pics when the limited edition prints are done.

 

[Solmu]

I'm excited to do these. we have only printed on textiles and with the luxury of our equipment, nice inks etc.

Paper printing is great. I generally prefer it to textile printing.

I've always wanted the time to play with some of the techniques used by our diy printing friends.

Occasionally the DIY world will come up with a really cool innovative idea that the entrenched business world is too inflexible to embrace. But most of the time the DIYers are needlessly tight on saving money, have a fundamental lack of background that makes them not realise how badly they're screwing up, &c.

I'm aware that writing them off completely would be rigid thinking and a huge mistake, but taking DIY suggestions too seriously is also a bad idea.

My experience is that for just a little more money you can get far better outcomes than most DIY solutions. It's worth the money. You need to know when to penny pinch and when to invest - someone with training and experience has a much better idea of which is which, than a DIYer who doesn't know any better.

Personally, I think the best time to pay attention is when they come up with alternatives to very expensive equipment (e.g. printing on a table instead of using a belt printer), not when they come up with cheap alternatives for cheap processes (e.g. glue instead of emulsion).

 

[acanvas]

I couldn't agree more. I'm just amused with what folks have done for themselves! I love seeing how many are printing sellable tees on their kitchen table. Then there are of course the tees i see that retailers NEVER should have put in their stores...clearly a home printer who has that famous delusion that "anyone" can do this!

 

[JeridHill]

I don't knock DIY'ers.....

My buddy started his business with a few screens, a pool table and his mother's kitchen oven.

Today, he's pretty successful!!

Solmu, of course I wasn't saying you were knocking on DIY'ers.

 

[Solmu]

Solmu, of course I wasn't saying you were knocking on DIY'ers.

It's a thin line - I sort of am, I'm sort of not. Being resourceful is great, and that's the DIY spirit. On the other hand, being tight with money is the DIY spirit too. Some people lean more towards the resourceful end, others are just cheap

In other words, some DIYers deserve a slap on the back, a "well done", and I'll steal their ideas. Others... well, let's not go there.

It's also a thin line because most of us are DIYers to some extent. Printing is so often about problem solving, and you don't just do that by throwing money at the problem.

There's nothing wrong with building your own equipment, cutting corners when possible, etc. etc.

I think we're all just aware that there's a line in there somewhere that shouldn't be crossed, where all you're going to do is end up with a shoddy product. But when you can do things on the cheap without compromising quality, great.

So yeah... I'm kind of negative, but at the same time... not It depends on the DIYer

 

[acanvas]

it's the oh anyone can do this mentality that not only puts shoddy products into local crafters stores but also has us hear ALOT can I have a discount if we help you print our order...hell no...keep out of our shop and our companies reputation! The last thing we need is shoddy work being promoted as the work of American Canvas!
But it's the inspiring attitude of figuring out how to do things w/o the usual equipment that I think rocks!
O.K. i have too many tees waiting to be printed...i have got to turn the computer off!

Nice chat with everyone on the spirit of entrepenuers!