any tricks for keeping the color vibrent?

[ericheartsu]

We've been using Sericol's red for our red, with 3% activator, and after one wash it goes from bright red to a dull pink.

Anything we can do to stop the pigment from washing out?

[Colin]

Sounds like a cure issue with the ink?  Potential also for the ink not binding the pigment properly.  Are you certain it is fully cured?  If you have any "binder" in the shop try adding some, also try cutting the ink with 25% base and seeing if it washes any better.

[ZooCity]

Ruh roh.  That shouldn't be happening significantly with Texcharge.  Sericol's discharge inks are complete, there's no fixative additive in the line, just a retarder, so it comes down to substrate, penetration and curing. 

Can you see a significant amount of red through the back of the shirt?  Did the red get stepped on in production? 

What's your cure info?  The further you get away from 350˚F for 3 min (in one journey, not two/three trips) and the less volume of air flow you have, the more likely you'll need to modify the ink with another brands fixer or catalyst.  IMHO, if you are under 2min for chamber time and/or have minimal airflow, you need a fixative or a base like Rutland's "Quick Cure Base".   Other have said adding matsui's fixer N works across some other brands but test it!

All that said, I was never super satisfied with Texcharge reds and we ran them at 3% too.  Some have loved them but our best reds so far have involved either adding pc's to the Sericol or using the CCI base + pc system.  The red's just seem to need a heavier pigment load.

[ericheartsu]

Ruh roh.  That shouldn't be happening significantly with Texcharge.  Sericol's discharge inks are complete, there's no fixative additive in the line, just a retarder, so it comes down to substrate, penetration and curing. 

Can you see a significant amount of red through the back of the shirt?  Did the red get stepped on in production? 

What's your cure info?  The further you get away from 350˚F for 3 min (in one journey, not two/three trips) and the less volume of air flow you have, the more likely you'll need to modify the ink with another brands fixer or catalyst.  IMHO, if you are under 2min for chamber time and/or have minimal airflow, you need a fixative or a base like Rutland's "Quick Cure Base".   Other have said adding matsui's fixer N works across some other brands but test it!

All that said, I was never super satisfied with Texcharge reds and we ran them at 3% too.  Some have loved them but our best reds so far have involved either adding pc's to the Sericol or using the CCI base + pc system.  The red's just seem to need a heavier pigment load.

we've been using our gas dryer at a belt speed of around 8-9 at 335degrees. We've never had a curing issue before with these settings.

and i was just informed that it's sericol's red, mixed with one or two other colors to form a darker red. but it's still changing color.

This is for a tultex shirt that gets a red and white print. Usually with our print order we always print white discharge last, one because it's the tackiest of the discharge/wb inks, and 2. it keeps the white looking super vibrent. and what's weird is the white looks great.

Would it help to flash in between? I feel like flashing helps make zombie skin.

Trying to get a client to send a picture as i only saw it in person.

[ZooCity]

Sounds like the too much red picked up on screen 2 and the top fibers are fading out after washing, totally have seen this before on ringspun.  This is tough b/c something will have to be stepped on and yes, flashing can bring out the "zombie skin" and also is robbing the flashed DC ink of the water that it needs to have present in the dryer to do it's thing. 

My first fix would be drop that mesh count on the red and try to really soak the shirt, not so much in terms of driving it in any further, just more volume of ink in the hopes that, after being stepped on by the white screen, it has more ink left on the print.  That's rough man. Hope you can smooth it out.

[ericheartsu]

on this particular project we used a 156 screen for both the red and the white.

Should i up the white to a 200, or even a 230?

[ZooCity]

I meant drop the count on the red, go for a more open mesh.  I default to 150 s mesh which has open area like a standard 110 mesh for most of our wb/dc prints.  Double stroke as needed. 

[dirkdiggler]

Never gonna look as good as they do before the wash, its a fact.  That's the trade off of not printing plastisol.  You just have to find a happy medium.