# graphics screen PAINTING - ink vs. paint? (signs, stickers, posters, etc...)



## KatDaddy (Sep 16, 2008)

I read recently that graphics printing (signs, stickers, etc.) can be done using sign-writing/pin-striping paint. I also have some experience with offset printing (magazines, brochures, & so on), & have wondered how offset ink or paint would print through a screen, rather than using the "recommended" graphics printing ink & associated chemistry that is available from my local screen print supply joint... If the "pigmented material" has the correct consistency, & your substrate will accept the ink/paint, & DRY!?!? why not?- I figured I would just try a few things when I got a chance. Has anyone heard of, or have any experience with "screen-painting"? THANKS...


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

KatDaddy said:


> If the "pigmented material" has the correct consistency, & your substrate will accept the ink/paint, & DRY!?!? why not?-


Three possible reasons off the top of my head:

1) It dries in the screen (the most likely potential problem)
2) Is breaks down the emulsion
3) It reacts with the emulsion, locking it in (least likely)

If it prints fine and doesn't do those things, I can't currently think of a reason why it would be a problem.

If you use an appropriate base, then graphic printing can be done with a 50/50 mix of base and acrylic artists' paint. In other words, you can print with just about anything if you can keep it from drying out - which is what the base is for.

Even if you can't use the other inks/paints you want to try straight, you might be able to use them mixed with a screenprinting base. That said, offset ink probably costs more than cheap student acrylic (which creates a nice print).

Basically, I think working time is going to be an issue, but doing some experiments will tell you one way or the other.


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## KatDaddy (Sep 16, 2008)

I appreciate your thoughts... I am also curious how other _inks_ would dry (or not) in the screen - that's the problem with graphics printing as-is, wouldn't want the process to be any more difficult than it has to be. We have plenty of paint & offset ink around here for other processes, I'll just have to try so I can say "I did". THANKS...


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## mrvixx (Jan 13, 2009)

try using rubber base offset ink. oil base will dry on screen.


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## Squeegologist (Jan 25, 2010)

I have printed many strange ink substitutes over the years, including rustoleum, house paint, bondo, One-Shot sign paint among others. Offset inks are not very suitable, although you can use them as a pigment concentrate. The two problems you are likely to encounter are drying in the screen, mentioned earlier in the thread, and lack of proper adhesion to the substrate. I worked at a place where they always printed enamel on vinyl, no matter what. (they didn't last, the company or the printed materials!) I recommend using the proper ink for the substrate. Many manufacturers offer their inks in quarts, keeping your costs down. I am a Naz-Dar fan myself. The smell of the inks for printing on plastics and vinyl is pretty intense, and they require retarders to keep them from drying in the screen. 

There are companies out there that specialize in flat goods, and can offer printed product cheaper than I can print it in my own shop. I specialize in T-shirts, but I print my own coroplast signs, and I do some 2nd surface plexi and lexan work for architectural displays. But the vinyl decal and bumper sticker work I send out, and they do a better job than I can for a much better price than I can produce. I double my money on such orders, and the turnaround time is fast.


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## iCamefromEarth (Jan 14, 2009)

I've used a bunch of different kinds of paint as ink too. One-shot is decent, since it is enamel. house paint works well too, along with poster paint/ acrylic paint.

Mind you, I've never used that stuff for a customer's job, just fine-art type prints. 

as far as it drying in the screen, any good screen printer should learn how to print, flood, and keep the job moving so ink isn't drying in the screen. Even if you're using real screen printing ink with retarder you'll have problems if you just walk away from it or something. Plastisol is pretty much the only thing that won't dry out fast in a screen (it sure gets crappy after sitting in an old screen for half a year though!).


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## Squeegologist (Jan 25, 2010)

I am going to video myself making a screenprinter's sandwich, by printing peanut butter on one slice of bread and grape jelly on the other. I may flash cure it to toast the bread as well.... 

That opens up the other little known art of cooking with a t-shirt dryer.....


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## iCamefromEarth (Jan 14, 2009)

Haha! I've had some fine dryer food in my day.


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## studog79 (Jul 13, 2006)

Screen Printing & Pizza Parlor. Slogan... U have sauce on your shirt.... no problem we'll print you a new one while you eat....


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

let your frozen pizza de-thaw before you pass it through the dryer or it won't cook at all. Oh and get ready to catch it coming of the belt.. i was slow and it fell to the floor


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## Squeegologist (Jan 25, 2010)

I worked at a large shop where the printers all heated their food through the dryer. One of the Haitians tried to run a can of soup through, UNOPENED. That would have been no big deal, except for the fact that the can rolled off of the belt and came to rest right next to the gas combustion chamber. When the can failed to appear, the employee looked inside, didn't see anything, so he shrugged and didn't tell anyone. So, after about five minutes, the can exploded spewing FISH SOUP all over the inside of the dryer. The smell was awful. The cleanup shut two presses down for about four hours while we dismantled the dryer and scraped the blackened, fused fish mass off of the surfaces we could reach. The dryer smelled for about a month. Now, anyone care to guess if this guy was fired? He was not. The same guy caught the lint under the press on fire by lighting a cigarette on the flash, and some embers fell down into the massive Dust Buffalo which resides under there, which immediately caught fire. He did hose the press down with a fire extinguisher before he walked out, not waiting around to be fired for that one.


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

Oh man, that must have smelt awful!

I once saw a can of adhesive spray fall on to the dryer belt and go throw the oven, luckily it didn't explode!


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## iCamefromEarth (Jan 14, 2009)

I heard a story of an exploding adhesive can in a dryer once. Screw that!


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