What is the best water base inks out there for 100% cotton?

[Shawn (EIP)]

What is the best water base inks out there for 100% cotton?

[Hegemone]

Matsui works excellent for me. Silkscreeningsupplies.com rebrands matsui for their waterbased line as far as I know. 

[Shawn (EIP)]

Matsui works excellent for me. Silkscreeningsupplies.com rebrands matsui for their waterbased line as far as I know.

Second question, how do I jugde the shade of the print if waterbase dries darker out of the bucket? Do I need a retarder so the inks do not dry in my screens, it's a long run of 300 shirts on yellow Gildan Soft Style. Any tips?

Thanks!

[ZooCity]

Matsui's RCs won't need any retarder unless your shop is very dry.  That ink is very easy to get along with, not nearly as aggressive to the stencil as some other wb's out there.   Post expose and dry the screen thoroughly.  Keep a little mister bottle of water around and hit it with that on occasion.

I might even suggest having a little thickener around as I've found some Matsui blues to be too damn runny for me making it difficult to get a consistent print across a wide image area. 

[ebscreen]

Keep in mind that regular waterbase takes as long to dry as discharge.
Rutland has a quick cure base that speeds it up a bit, though on
a manual, you're probably going to want a bit of retarder depending on how
hot/dry your shop is, and that would negate the quick cure.

Pay attention to the fluidity of your screen. If your squeegee is missing certain
spots etc, it'll start to dry in a bit. A spray bottle of water will get things flowing again.

[Shawn (EIP)]

Ok cool and thanks! I had some Excalibure waterbase samples at one time, I printed a light blue and it dried to an almost royal blue, how do I keep that from happening? Should I use light inks to compensate for the ink drying to a darker shade? BTW im printing white,blue,red,white and black

[ebscreen]

With regular waterbase we haven't had that much of a shade change from front
of dryer to rear. Stick with the major players.

5 colors is kind of a lot manually. When you get back to that first color it's been
sitting awhile. You'll probably want some retarder, and you'll have to hustle.
Phat phluds.

White on yellow may give you fits as well. I don't have experience with non-discharge waterbase
whites, but from what I know they tend to be a thicker rubber type consistency. I'd
probably just discharge it to be sure.

[Shawn (EIP)]

With regular waterbase we haven't had that much of a shade change from front
of dryer to rear. Stick with the major players.

5 colors is kind of a lot manually. When you get back to that first color it's been
sitting awhile. You'll probably want some retarder, and you'll have to hustle.
Phat phluds.

White on yellow may give you fits as well. I don't have experience with non-discharge waterbase
whites, but from what I know they tend to be a thicker rubber type consistency. I'd
probably just discharge it to be sure.

It probably wouldnt be that much more of a PITA I soppose to discharge all the colors and use pigments instead... It is a light yellow though, it's Gildan Dasiy Yellow.

[Colin]

A not on retarders and fast cure additives.

Fast cure additives: A fast curing resin that will actually cure at room temperatures over a given period of time - 12 to 48 hours - depending on the amount added.  What it also does is speed up the "in screen" drying time.  I.e. the ink will dry up in your screen faster.  Makes it really tough to do multicolor prints on a manual press.

Retarders:  They slow down the in screen drying time of your waterbase inks.  They also make the cure time longer as well.  Yes, you can add to much and not be able to fully cure your ink. 

Combined together, they will counter act a bit, not giving you the results you are really looking for.

On a 5-6 color manual print run, just use the retarder as needed at recomended levels.  Be prepared to run shirts through again though, probably will not need to, but you definitely want to be aware of it.

As for the inks drying/curing at a darker shade.  Welcome to water base inks   Waterbase inks are much more transparent that plastisols.  As a result, when the ink/medium the pigments are in begins to evaporate/disapear the color will become more concentrated.  I.e. will become visually darker.

You can also see this happen when you compare a single stroke print to a double stroke print of certain color shades.  Usually colors that are very clean and bright like blues and greens.

Good luck with your waterbase prints!

[Hegemone]

Put enough ink in your screens to lightly pull it over the entire image area after you lift your screen from a print stroke. Not a flood stroke just a solid smudge of ink over the screen. Keeps the mesh from drying between pulls. Do your flood stroke and then print stroke. I just used the rc blue today and it was almost too soupy on 156 mesh. But it worked like a charm.

[ZooCity]

The RC blue is super soupy, I wanted to thicken it last time I ran it actually.  I love the way the other matsui RCs print though, they're almost somehow creamy.

[MagnaTechOfficial]

MagnaPrint® ND Extra is a non drying ready-made pigment paste suitable for printing on white (light) backgrounds.
It has been developed specifically for high mesh count screens and gives super sharp print mark, ultra soft handle with excellent wash durability.
No need to add any retardars as this ink will run and run in the screen!

Get in contact with Nazdar for a sample

[Tagless Threads]

We use the Neo pigments from Matsui and get great results

[RICK STEFANICK]

My recommendation is the sericol line of waterbase inks. they are all press ready waterbase standards and they all have been formulated to match any pantone color stocking no more than 14 colors.the formula guide is downloadable directly from the website. they also make a really good emulsion called dirasol 916 that works great without hardner.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Hey Rick, the Sericol line can be used straight out of the bucket or with discharge agent, correct?