Thickening waterbased ink

[vwyob]

Is there a way?
It is for jute bags. The weave is so open and its hard to fill the holes. We use an SC white which manages to plug the gaps for the most. It is slightly thicker ink than the other waterbased inks. If we could thicken up the other colours  we may be able to fill the gaps in the weave (there is a plastic sheet beneath the jute thread).
This is the weave. Its really inconsistent too, in both height and spacing. Not easy printing on thin air 

[sqslabs]

The trick to thickening WB ink is to eliminate some of the water in it.  I'm sure there are some creative ways to do that, but I've always just left the ink out for a few days uncapped and let the water begin to evaporate itself.  Keep in mind that as the ink does get thicker, it will also become a bit more of a PITA to work with.  And depending on how large those holes are, it may not even make a difference.  In my experience, most WB ink doesn't fuse together like plastisol does, and requires a substrate to hold on to the pigments (whites and metallics being the exception).  So even if you were able to fill the gaps, those areas may break apart in the wash and you'd be left with the holes again.  Most people don't wash bags though, so you may be okay on that side of things if you can manage to make it work.

[Frog]

I would also question if you should try to fill the holes.
These things have a rustic, artisan look to them, and the surface and texture are what they are.

[noortrd]

Usa ammonia or synthetic thickener.

[Underbase37]

Every time I've done this kind of material I tell the customer that they need to except that the holes will not be filled. I can't remember this ever being a problem besides, now having a bunch of ink on my pallet that I now have to make sure its not get allover the next one. Oh but I always use plastisol on this kind of stuff thou.

[Rockers]

The Permaset Supercover inks are kind of thick.

[vwyob]

Frog (sorry buddy I don't know your name) I agree. But, unfortunately, the customer wants the holes filled. They are giving us more and more fine detail jobs, which is ridiculous for such material. I've been on the line to our ink supplier about some kind of puff additive but for WB. That will help the single colour jobs and the larger are coverage ones too. For fine detail its just not going to happen, I feel.
Many thanks for all the other info guys. I appreciate it. Best forum out there by miles.

[TCT]

Can you use transfers?

[Colin]

Have you looked at the HSA inks?

[vwyob]

No transfers, only eco friendly ink i'm afraid.

HSA? from Rutland? No we've not tried that at all. I will chat to our rep. Does it yield a matt finish? Sounds really interesting thanks.

[Colin]

It does yield a matte finish.  It prints best when it has thickened up a little bit from running (water evaporation).  It is designed to be printed with high heat/lots of flashing.

But if you are printing high detail designs... I am afraid you may not be able to create a smooth enough surface.

Have you tried Rubber Base inks?  Or potentially Silicone?

[tonypep]

Sodium alginate=seaweed

[vwyob]

The bags warp and distort under flash but cheers for the info buddy.

I'm looking at Sodium alginate now, can it be used with water based? Its 4.50am (UK) so I cant phone my ink rep lol
Holy crap I need to get a life

[noortrd]

Use stretch ink from matsui.