Printing Puff

[XG Print]

Well I have been doing this 7 years and believe it or not I have never printed Puff inks.  Anything in particular I should know before we do this.  I think it is pretty simple 1 and 2 color stuff...What brands seem to work the best as far as inks or additives?  Mesh count?  Thanks guys!!

[Underbase37]

Lower mesh counts....don't over cook it.....whatever your preferred Ink manufacturer, most all have a good product.

Murphy

[Printficient]

Mesh counts should be 110 or 86.  Art cannot be butt registered as the ink expands (puffs).  Try not to flash them.  If you have to flash, flash just enough to dry but not puff them.  One of the first jobs I had in this industry was a 7 puff and 1 black for an 8 color print.  Fun stuff.  I also would do a straight puff over a puff additive if possible.  Love printing puffs.  Also be wary of using an under base.  When matching the color ona puff the wet ink in the bucket will be much darker than the finished ink at the end of the dryer.

[Colin]

Yea, puff will expand differently on a base plate than when printed directly on the shirt.  Its a nice look, but it is different.

What are the design elements for your puff?

[Frog]

Well I have been doing this 7 years and believe it or not I have never printed Puff inks.

Not too hard to believe as it is not one of the current trends. Now, twenty years ago, it wowed 'em!
I liked incorporating it into designs in a very restrained way, never overdoing it. My absolute favorite was the simple addition of puff to the eraser on the end of the pencil being held by our local elementary school's bulldog mascot. In this instance the shift to a pastel pink was perfect.

Take some time, and run some puffs through a screen that you already have to see the "spread" and help gauge how you then want to size these elements.
This way you can also observe the color shift.

As a side note, it's a favorite additive in some whites as it's expansion also aides in opacity.
I know of at least one old-timer who loves mixing his own to produce a "controlled puff" to avoid p/f/p in the right circumstances.

[Wildcard]

I saw a tee in a retail store with a touch of puff just yesterday and snapped a detail pic as a reminder to self to try this effect. It looked great.

[jvanick]

we've been playing with waterbase puff from matsui...

on a base == suede like effect
by itself on the shirt == puffing effect.

I second the low mesh suggestion, however do try higher S mesh screens... our suede prints are a 160S base, 160S puff, 160S top colors.

[Frog]

For their Plastipuff, and Plastipuff additive, Union recommends really coarse meshes of 35-76
I pretty much stuck with 110

http://www.unionink.co.uk/media/111134/plpe_plastipuff_tds.v15.pdf

[abchung]

we've been playing with waterbase puff from matsui...

on a base == suede like effect
by itself on the shirt == puffing effect.

I second the low mesh suggestion, however do try higher S mesh screens... our suede prints are a 160S base, 160S puff, 160S top colors.

I tried Matsui puff many years ago. I did not realise we had to put Matsui stretch in it. So after when we were done. The puff came off like mashmallow after 4 or 5 washes..... I don't know about their quality these days.

[jvanick]

we've been playing with waterbase puff from matsui...

on a base == suede like effect
by itself on the shirt == puffing effect.

I second the low mesh suggestion, however do try higher S mesh screens... our suede prints are a 160S base, 160S puff, 160S top colors.

I tried Matsui puff many years ago. I did not realise we had to put Matsui stretch in it. So after when we were done. The puff came off like mashmallow after 4 or 5 washes..... I don't know about their quality these days.

we run 60/40 stretch base + puff.

100% puff is too 'open' and will contribute to the poor wash fastness.

[abchung]

we run 60/40 stretch base + puff.

100% puff is too 'open' and will contribute to the poor wash fastness.

Yes. 100% agree and learnt it the hard way.

[MrBreeze]

Hey Frog...who you calling an old timer? 

[Frog]

Hey Frog...who you calling an old timer? 

Apparently you if you are a "controlled white puffer" 

[Doug B]

  Another thing I have found is that temperature (ambient shop temp) and
humidity will have an effect. Sometimes I will print in the morning and everything's
fine and later in the afternoon (same job, same ink) you can hardly get it to puff
at all. Of course in Florida we can have some pretty drastic swings in heat & humidity.

Also, If you have a two-sided print where one side is not puff, do it first. Running a
shirt through multiple times can make the puff "fall" like a cake in the oven.