Metallic Silver Shimmer Ink

[cattees]

I saw the earlier post about Silver Shimmer Ink and noticed most of you recommend the Union or the Wilflex.  I received a sample from One Stroke Ink and its their Metallic Silver Sparkle - just wondering if anyone has ever tried it.  Is it better or worse than the other brands?  Was told to use low mesh and you don't need underbase.  Would be printing on a navy shirt.  Any thoughts on this product?  Thanks..

[Frog]

One Stroke shimmers and sparkles are great! I broke in with them as an alternative to true metallic years ago when they were still distributed out here in the Western world.

I don't know how they are priced, but I know that they offer a variety of golds (as well as copper). My present IC has one Gold, and it is greenish, and works better in some designs, on some color shirts, than others.

WE do have a section devoted to ink and related chems, and I'm moving this.

[Shawn (EIP)]

Last week I was printing with Excalubur's Quick Silver ink , ran my belt 1/2 the speed as I normally would , smoked the shop up... completed the print run and found that the silver ink had tranfered onto unprinted areas of the shirt as well as other shirts. I ran them through again at a craw really smoking up the shop and then had to spot gun out spots for a few hours. Yesterday I had a print run with the same ink but this time I ws printing on Hanes Nano shirts, ran the shirt through at the same speed at a crawl and all the shirts were burnt and brittle and tore like paper. I can't get this ink to cure without burning the shirt.

Anyone else having such a hard time with this ink?

110 mesh 1 hit

[Frog]

Never used it, but see in their Printing Instructions  that they recommend a dryer of at least 14'. That would mean 6' of heat I figure.
They also say that this stuff can be cured in a heat press, so perhaps you need a combination here.
Run 'em through your dryer at a temp and speed safe for the shirts, have someone carefull catch and stack lightly, and finish the cure following their heat press suggestion.

[Shawn (EIP)]

Never used it, but see in their Printing Instructions  that they recommend a dryer of at least 14'. That would mean 6' of heat I figure.
They also say that this stuff can be cured in a heat press, so perhaps you need a combination here.
Run 'em through your dryer at a temp and speed safe for the shirts, have someone carefull catch and stack lightly, and finish the cure following their heat press suggestion.

Thanks frog, heat pressing actually did cross my mind this morning as good ideas always seem to come to me AFTER the fact lol. My immediate concern was would heat pressing dull the ink? Should I have an extra charge for pressing? I was once told by my local screen printing supplies rep that heat pressing would also work for discharge ink for those who have smaller dryers (I send em through twice just fine)?

[Frog]

They suggest using a teflon cover sheet, which most find actually leaves a gloss (though slightly textured) finish with plastisol. I usually use brown craft paper for it's smoother, matte finish.
I suggest a little experimentation.

As for charging extra. If you find that an ink costs more, or another needed extra procedure takes longer, it is not unreasonable to charge for that service or product.

Also, this ink may be similar to the "liquid" gold and silver from Wilflex. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[Colin]

Last week I was printing with Excalubur's Quick Silver ink , ran my belt 1/2 the speed as I normally would , smoked the shop up... completed the print run and found that the silver ink had tranfered onto unprinted areas of the shirt as well as other shirts. I ran them through again at a craw really smoking up the shop and then had to spot gun out spots for a few hours. Yesterday I had a print run with the same ink but this time I ws printing on Hanes Nano shirts, ran the shirt through at the same speed at a crawl and all the shirts were burnt and brittle and tore like paper. I can't get this ink to cure without burning the shirt.

Anyone else having such a hard time with this ink?

110 mesh 1 hit

The "Liquid Silver", "Platinum Metallics", etc are actually an alluminum powder mixed into a clear plastisol base.

Since it is real metal it will reflect the heat even more than tradition shimmers and sparkling inks that are a poly flake.

The few times I printed it I had to treat it like reflective ink in terms of flashing and cure times.  It can easily take twice as long (sometimes longer depending on dryer efficiency) as regular plastisol to reach a FULL cure temp all the way through the ink layer.  It really does reflect THAT MUCH heat.

Heat pressing may dull the print, I have never tried to heat press a platinum ink.  If you have already destroyed some shirts it's worth it to give it a shot.

As an aside, it will also tarnish with washing.

Good Luck!

[Shawn (EIP)]

I have printed with International Coatings version and it was cured at a slower belt speed and washed just fine. After about 3 or 4 washings though the print will become battle ship grey. 

[RICK STEFANICK]

In my humble opinion PLASTOMERIC metalic silver is the best  as far as printability and it gives amazing results and almost normal cure times. The one stroke is right up there with it but way to pricey for my budget..  i love the liquid silvers also but those are a whole other animal.

[ErinAllenLamb]

Hello!

The PLASTOMERIC line of inks has been discontinued for well over 2 years. 

Wilflex has Liquid Silver and Liquid Gold. They are the smallest particles of our metallics and they do tend to reflect the heat, like all metallics.  The cure on them is 350 F and you should not have a problem reaching that in a dryer.

Of course Wilflex has SIlver Shimmer, Gold Shimmer and Ultra Gold Shimmer. The partiles are larger, but they are the most popular metallic we offer.

Erin

[Frog]

You say metallic, but are these really metallics, or the plastic flakes (that actually seem to have advantages)?

[tonypep]

I believe most ink companies shimmer inks are poly flake while the products like liquid silver are truly metallic by definition. It's an industry wide misnomer to refer to shimmers as metallics but I don't think anyone cares.

[thinkdesign]

I just used the one stoke silver sparkle. It is just a clear base with the silver glitter in it. Got it to go through a 60 mesh but I think they recommend an even lower mesh size. It needed an underbase. Since I wanted to make it look silver I used a gray underbase and it looked good. I thought the sparkle would be the same as a shimmer but with bigger flakes, but it is a different beast entirely.

[ErinAllenLamb]

Tony has got it correct!

[Frog]

Well, for the last fifteen or so years, I've steered many clients towards the shimmers when they mentioned metallics, but every now and then, I find one who knows the difference and knows what they want, tarnish and all (unless they want to spring for a clear overcoat)

The other thing about old school metallics is the wide range of colors available of the "Bronzing Powders" (metal dust) available for mixing one's own inks. In fact, I remember when Union's clear base was called "Clear for Gold".

Not needed usually, but very cool to have a powder which can be mixed in any clear medium for entire product lines, paper, signage, and apparel.

Erin, I have a sample of Liquid Gold that I am going to have to dig out 

Bottom line for me, shimmers are a lot less hassle and usually fit the bill though I understand the resurgence of the
"Liquid" and " Platinum" true metallics as being a little closer to foil.

And of course as mentioned, all of these require a little extra heat to compensate for the refectivity.