Splotchy Ink

[Ochtees]

Hi, I've always had this issue, and it really gets under my skin. For some reason my ink is just not "smooth" it always seems splotchy. If you look at the picture; see how the words BELMONT COUNTY is just not smooth and bright. It's almost as if you can still see the shirt/shirt fibers. I even hit it, flashed and hit again.

Here is my setup:

Screen - 110
Ink - Tech Support Gold (http://techsupportsps.com/store/inks/te ... -3033.html)
Garment - 29M Jerzees 50/50
Squeegee - 70 durometer

Here is a picture of what I mean:

[Catspit Productions]

This might be caused by the ink. What you are seeing there seems to be a small amount of Fibrillation along with opacity issues. But fibrillation most often occurs when you wash a printed garment and the underlying fibers of the shirt come through the print. They appear fuzzy and tend to make the print look faded.

The raised fibers I see here is an indication that this may happen after washing. And it may not. This could be caused by using a poor quality ink or it could be too much working of the ink during printing. Using the least amount of action and motion to print the ink will result in a clearer, sharper print. It will also prevent the fabric fibers form lifting up into the ink layer.

The opacity of the ink may be in question too. How is this printed? A “putty” job or a double hit with flash?

But I am guessing this could be solved with better ink.

[OffsetnScreen]

Could this poor result have been caused by the stencil being washed too long causing non-sharp type edges which, if the stencil were examined it may have the same issues even before the printing took place?...just askin.