# Newbie with Bleeding Issues : /



## TheFriz (Mar 12, 2016)

Hi Everybody! New to the screen printing world. Pretty excited and jumped right in after watching a few online tutorials...probably not a good thing. lol 

I'm trying to print a shirt with block letters. My first pass looked alright--except not enough ink. It was a patchy print. So I flooded it...maybe too much. Now, all the letters and lines bleed. Am I pressing too hard? Flooded too much? I assume it's a screen issue because I can see bleeding on the screen.

Maybe used the wrong mesh count screen? I'm not sure the thread count--it's not marked. I want to say 110? Is that a good count for block letters and a small picture? I didn't have much luck with the higher thread counts during the emulsion process.

I used Ryonet Dual Cure Emulsion. Exposed it for 4:50. I am using an old flexible ink that was given to me. I thought I'd use the old stuff for my first attempt; I have some Ryonet Plastisol on it's way. Working with both 50/50 and 100 for test prints.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!


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## jeron (Jul 16, 2012)

You're probably flooding to hard and pushing to hard when you print. you want to flood just enough to cover the image, not to push ink through the image. Then when you print you want to push just hard enough to make the screen come down and touch the shirt to deposit the ink.

When you push to hard during the flood it pushes ink through the image area. then when you put the screen down to print there is to much ink and it can only go outwards. that's why it is blurred on all the edges.

If you push to hard during your print it can pump ink outside of the stencil. Normally this causes blurring at the top or bottom of the image in the direction of you print. So that's why I think it is to much pressure on your flood.


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## jeron (Jul 16, 2012)

Here are the images you linked to to make it easier for other members to see..


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## chuckh (Mar 22, 2008)

I'm guessing that you have too much ink going down and not enough tension on your screen. If your first print stroke doesn't clear the screen, print again without flooding. 
Looks like you are only printing in one direction, which is the proper way to print. Too much ink and too many print strokes will cause this.


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## TheFriz (Mar 12, 2016)

jeron said:


> You're probably flooding to hard and pushing to hard when you print. you want to flood just enough to cover the image, not to push ink through the image. Then when you print you want to push just hard enough to make the screen come down and touch the shirt to deposit the ink.
> 
> When you push to hard during the flood it pushes ink through the image area. then when you put the screen down to print there is to much ink and it can only go outwards. that's why it is blurred on all the edges.
> 
> If you push to hard during your print it can pump ink outside of the stencil. Normally this causes blurring at the top or bottom of the image in the direction of you print. So that's why I think it is to much pressure on your flood.


Thank you for the advice!!!! Yeah--I could of easy pushed too hard. I was trying to smear the ink. It's really hard, gunky ink. If I hose down the screen and wash it, can I reuse it? Or did the bleeding damage the stencil?


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## TheFriz (Mar 12, 2016)

jeron said:


> Here are the images you linked to to make it easier for other members to see..


Thank you for this too! It would not allow me to upload the pics for some reason...I had to link them.


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## TheFriz (Mar 12, 2016)

chuckh said:


> I'm guessing that you have too much ink going down and not enough tension on your screen. If your first print stroke doesn't clear the screen, print again without flooding.
> Looks like you are only printing in one direction, which is the proper way to print. Too much ink and too many print strokes will cause this.


Ah! Yeah. I did a few passes because the ink was not spreading evenly over the stencil. That must of flooded it like crazy. The stencil should still be ok, right? Just have to clean off the ink?


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## jeron (Jul 16, 2012)

Yes you can still use the stencil. Just wipe it clean with a rag and some press wash. When it does this in the future you can wipe the shirt side clean and keep printing. Keep cleaning it until you figure out what is causing it.


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## prathap (Aug 20, 2015)

I feel you are feeding to hard. dont fleed to much if not there might be some issue with ink mixing or yor ink just have a check


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