Here you can discuss any issues related to working with water based screen printing inks. This would include curing, heat setting, mixing colors, additives, brands, usages and much more.
I got my new screen (230 mesh) and it's doing a better job than my 110 but I have another problem that I'm hoping you can help me with please!?
For some reason, I can only do like 3 or 4 prints/passes of my screen - printing on card - and then my prints become really blurry...shouldn't I be able to get more prints than that?? Or is that normal for WB inks?
(Anyone else ever feel like screen printing isn't going your way?!)
(Anyone else ever feel like screen printing isn't going your way?!)
Oh yeah. Been there, done that... actually I go there quite often, but then I remind myself that I'm already into it and the feeling of a successful run is so rewarding once it's done.
As for your issue with blurriness on multiple passes: If you're seeing a loss of detail/increased blurriness with each pass, it's likely that you're getting a build-up of ink on the underside of your screen and that's transferring to the edges of your design and causing it to smudge & blur. When you do a print stroke, are you lifting the screen when you flood the ink over your design again, or are you flooding in the lowered position? Also, how much off-contact are you using, and are you sure that it's level and even? Also, after you so a print with multiple passes and it goes blurry, if you put a fresh piece of paper underneath the screen and print once, is it blurry or does it always take multiple passes for the blurring to appear?
There's definitely a curve with screen printing, and video guides and such like Jonathan's definitely make it a more approachable art. But there's always little things that can go wrong that you'll only learn about once you do them and learn from them. It's all part of learning the ropes
Thanks SO much for your reply, really appreciate it!
When I'm 're-flooding' it's with the screen lifted up but the off contact could be an issue as I just put my screen down on a flat surface and it was wobbly so I'll have to adjust it to make it perfect on all sides.
When I print with multiple passes and then put a fresh piece of paper, the blurriness is there straightaway.
I've been watching some of the Catspit videos (thanks Jonathan - they're really helpful) and adjusting the way I flood and stroke has definitely helped with the quality of my prints.
This may sound stupid but as well as flooding the screen to keep the stencil from drying out, can you use a spray bottle of water to do the same kind of thing?!
You *can* use a spray bottle - I always keep one with some cool water in it by the press just in case. But, it should ideally be a last resort. Back-flooding will keep it good for the most part. Putting some fresh ink on the screen and mixing it all together with your squeegee will help too. I only use a spray of water across the screen (not directly onto it or into the ink) when the ink is REALLY starting to gum up and I don't want to mix any more fresh ink into it (or if I'm running low).
It sounds like off contact could be a possible issue for you. Here's my usual process:
Before I put ink in the screen or anything, I place a shirt (or whatever I'm printing onto) on the platen. I then place a large piece of cardboard on top of that (the thinner the better). I then loosen the adjustments on my press and lower the screen until it's sitting flat and level on top of the cardboard. I then re-tighten everything (with the screen still lowered) and remove the cardboard. I then press down in random spots on the screen to make sure the amount of "give" is about equal all the way around the screen. If it still seems like there's too much tilt or height, I'll re-adjust and try again. Sometimes I have to re-adjust 3 or 4 times with my tools and such, but it's worth it to get it right. Once that's all set, I then tape a quarter or a couple small cardboard squares to the underside of the screen to make sure that off-contact stays there as I'm printing.
If you're still seeing blurriness after that, it may be that as you're lowering your screen it's not coming down in the exact same spot each time. The only thing you can do at that point it to check and make sure everything's tight and not moving around as you raise & lower. If it *is* moving and you can't fix it, you may just have to do a "double hit" without lifting the screen to get the coverage you're looking for. Fo a print stroke, then without lifting the screen, backflood and print again.
so I'll have to adjust it to make it perfect on all sides. 