Benefits of water based screen printing
Water based inks are very useful because of their versatility and ability to print a wide range of items. They can be used to print onto non-textile items like stickers, stationary, and canvas, as well as garments such as t-shirts, polo’s, hoodies, sweatshirts, caps, tote bags, jackets, aprons and virtually any other garment that can be placed on a platen to be screen printed. Water based inks work well with cotton, polyester, and poly-cotton blends.
In the screen printing industry, the term “hand” refers to how soft a print feels to the touch. Plastisol inks, for example, are well known for the maximum or hard hand that they provide. Water based inks result with minimal or soft hand onto printed garments, much like direct to garment (DTG) digital printing that is practically seamless to the touch. An added benefit with water based inks is that they can be ironed over, while plastisol prints cannot because the iron can easily melt the PVC in the ink.
Water based prints produce colours that are often much more vibrant than plastisol prints. After proper curing, a t-shirt or other printed garment with a water based print will be likely to outlast the fabric on which it was printed. Due to the minimal hand of water based prints, very large and detailed designs printed onto a garment will feel light and thin, while the same design printed with plastisol inks will be much heavier because of the thickness of ink layers.
Garments printed using water based inks are also likely to be much more comfortable to wear. Since water based inks penetrate the printed fabric, rather than sit on top like with plastisol inks, skin under the printed garment can breathe easier.
Water based ink is an environmentally friendly printing option. After a printing run, screens and printing equipment can be washed off using conventional water, and it is safe to go down the drain unfiltered. Water based inks are non-toxic and do contain any lead or heavy metals, nor do they contain ozone-depleting chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) or other volatile solvents.
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