[kurt28]

I like the look of some of these t-shirts that have black or white ink on them that has been toned down, or lightened up some, so that the ink isn't so dark or stand outish. I'm sure it can probably be done with other colors too, but how do they do that with water based ink anyway.

I've heard that you can lighten up the colors by adding 'curable reducer' if you're using plastisol ink, but how would you do it with water based ink?

 

[tlpe548b]

There are a couple of options, you can actually water down the ink, or add more base. But it can also be done by adding pigment, for example if i want to make a grey, i start with white ink and add black pigment to it, same goes if i wanted a darker red or blue, i would add black to it.

If i wanted to lighten something i would add white. You can play around with all kinds of combinations to make different shades, or water down the ink to achieve different effects.

 

[mimic]

In the sericol brand they have a extender. Its about half the cost of ink and is used for thinning I guess.

I havn't tried it yet.

 

[Rico Menor]

i just add a little bit of water.