SCREEN PRINTING
Capabilities
Single Ink can print up to 10 colors on a wide variety of garments, from t-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, to bags and other promotional products. We specialize in and are the Wabash Valleys #1 provider of water based and discharge ink printing. We also offer Plastisol and other specialty type of inks.
Water Based Screen Printing
Waterbased ink is pressed into the garment. This results in a modern lightweight print with little or no feel. This ink type works best on light colored garments. Being transparent in nature, the color of the fabric beneath will show through.
Discharge Ink Printing
Discharge ink is a type of waterbased ink that includes a discharging agent. The discharge agent removes the manufacturer’s color dye, leaving the natural color of the garment where applied.
There are several types of discharge ink that can be used for various end results in your artwork.
Plain Discharge Ink
This is a discharge ink base that contains no pigments. This will remove the existing garment color and mostly leaves an off white or cream color. Some garment colors do not discharge well such as royal blues, greens, and purple. These will discharge to a yellow or Gray color. These shirt colors are therefor troublesome and are not recommeded for discharge printing.
Colored Discharge Ink
This is a clear discharge ink base with added color pigments mixed in to generate almost any color desired. Once ran through our special dryer, the Discharge agent removes the factory color and replaces it with the pigment mix
Discharge White Ink- This is a White based discharge ink that is used to achieve bright whites.
Things to consider about Discharge Screen Printing
Screen Printed Discharge ink works best on 100% cotton fabrics. When used on Tri-blend or cotton/synthetic blends, only the cotton fibers will discharge. This leaves the garment with a vintage or faded look. Discharge ink does not work with any fully synthetic fibers like Nylon, polyester, or spandex.
Combining Water Based and Discharge Ink
This method is similar to plastisol printing, but with a softer feel in the finished product. In this method we print the image in a clear discharge base, and then print the color water based top coat. This will whiten the shirt under the artwork and leave bright vibrant colors on dark garments.
Plastisol Ink
Plastisols are the most commonly used inks for printing designs on to garments, and are particularly useful for printing opaque (solid) graphics on dark fabrics. While printing very opaque and having greater longevity, they are a much thicker feeling ink on the garment compared to water based and discharge inks.
