# Wet on wet plastisol printing?



## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

I just started playing with plastisol today. Previously I had only done water-based printing so far. I was wondering what is the procedure for doing multiple color, wet on wet printing? I have an order coming up that I need to do a 3 color print on a dark shirt, and I think if I can figure out wet-on-wet printing with plastisol quickly, then that order will take way less time. Can someone suggest certain plastisol brands or types to use for wet on wet, and any process I should know? 
Earlier I tried 2 color print, doing white then flash, white then flash, grey then flash, grey. Can you not do ink on top of ink if you're doing a multiple color wet-on-wet print? Thanks in advance.


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

No wet on wet per say. 
Print your white, Flash then your top colors wet on wet. If printing manually keep the flash over the platens and do a courtesy flash.
You will need to flash the underbase before printing the top colors. If the art is prepared correctly you should be able to print wet on wet after the underbase flash.
Union, Rutland and Wilflex inks I would say are the best.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

My initial prints with the white plastisol today, the ink was very faint and uneven on the first layer. I had to press pretty hard on following prints to get better coverage, but it was still not uniform. Should I add a curable reducer, would that help it spread and lay down well? Is there something else I should be doing?


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

adding any modifier to white ink is not the best practice. The modifier will change the opacity of the ink. 
What mesh are you using?
What ink?
off contact?

Good decent amount of pressure for the first hit and decent pressure on the second hit. Making saure your using the most optimum mesh for the desing.
If lots of solid areas use a 110 mesh (manuall printing).

White prints on darks will take a bit to master. Keep on pluggin away.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

I'll play with plastisol again soon, tomorrow if I have time. How long should I flash for after print, and how high should the temperature get? Not sure of the mesh count, it's an old speedball brand screen...


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

with flashing you want to gel the top layer of ink only. do not cure the print. you should be able to lightly touch the print and only get a slight haze on your finger. I believe the temp for gelling occurs around 180-190 depending on ink being printed. You ink specs should give you an exact temp.


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

Multi-colors that touch, on a dark shirt, is the hardest print to achieve, for me at least. I've tried a lot of things that didn't work. I've found that 110 mesh allows too much ink through and causes the colors to blur where they touch. And sometimes flashing doesn't help much with the blurring, and can also cause the flashed ink to stick to the underside of the next screen.

Here's what I've found that works for me. I always reduce my white. I use the Triangle Phoenix White and it's almost impossible to get it consistently through a 156 mesh in it's original thickness. But a 110 is just too much ink.

You'll probably just have to play with the different mesh counts and flashing to figure out what works for you. Screen making is also very important when printing this type of job.


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