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Flooding gets too sloppy

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 9:26 pm
by mamawildbear
I've just gotten started with screen printing and have only made one shirt using a basic Speedball kit that comes with 110 mesh screen and Speedball fabric ink. I was watching these videos on how to do it so I built a little wooden press to help me out and then lifted the screen, flooded it with ink and then lowered it and printed my shirt. My problem is that flooding seemed to allow way too much ink through the screen ahead of time and then when I put the screen down, it leaked around the edges of the image and was very sloppy. I actually had better luck not flooding at all and just putting the clean screen down and then wiping ink across it a few times. That led to a much crisper image. What do you think is the issue? That ink seems pretty soft, is 110 mesh too big? Am I flooding with too much pressure? Any tips?

Examples:
Blurry - flooded first
Crisp - no flooding

Re: Flooding gets too sloppy

Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 3:48 pm
by Catspit Productions
It's most likely that the ink is very thin and on a 110 mesh it can easily blur out. Sou you could try less pressure or a higher mesh count. Or just print without a flood if you can keep it going without the ink drying up on you.

Re: Flooding gets too sloppy

Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:20 am
by mamawildbear
Thanks for your response. What mesh count do you recommend for basic cheap fabric ink like the Speedball fabric ink?

Re: Flooding gets too sloppy

Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2017 5:06 pm
by Catspit Productions
You're very welcome. Perhaps a 160 or a 200 mesh.