What are water based inks for screen printing?
Water-based inks for t-shirt printing are becoming more popular and more readily available because of their benefits towards the environment. They bond to the fabric well and do this without any environmentally damaging chemicals mixed into the ink.
Besides being environmentally friendly, water-based inks are commonly used because they have a soft feel to the touch. This gives the design t-shirt a less intrusive feel when it is worn and can also be used to simulate a vintage look.
Another major benefit that is often overlooked for water-based inks is being able to use them on towels or other fabrics that need the ink to settle in to the fabric. This is good because it makes the print much harder to crack when stretching the fabric after a print.
A major disadvantage of using water-based inks is having to acquire equipment that can handle the curing at much higher temperatures. It takes much longer and more heat to dry than standard plastisol inks. They have also been known to ruin screens and block up the mesh when the ink has set too long on a screen. Another disadvantage to water-based inks is the lack of ability to reclaim the ink and use it again. It can be done but it can also be very difficult and time-consuming.
At the time of this writing, You Design It exclusively uses plastisol ink for all screen printing on t-shirts.
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