American Flag made in the USA - by me

[Screened Gear]

3 color discharge print on Gildan 2000. Wet on wet, All CCI bases and pigments. (colors not Pantones all custom mixes that I have been working on for many hours) I love the wrinkled photo. It really shows the soft feel you get with Discharge.

I think I am finally getting this stuff. I have gone from no discharge to about 50-75 percent of my jobs having some sort of discharge in the last 3 months.

[ebscreen]

Nice job man. And for an offset press company if I'm not mistaken?

[Screened Gear]

Nice job man. And for an offset press company if I'm not mistaken?

Its a local offset printer. They just but Heidelberg on the back of their shirts because they use that brand of press.

This shirt was soaked in very hot water for over an hour and then washed hard. I was trying to make sure the colors would not dull or come off. I can't see anyone putting it through what I did. Still looks great.

[jsheridan]

Prints look great bro! Just the way Discharge should look 

I was trying to make sure the colors would not dull or come off.

Get some binder and it will never be a problem. Then you can play with pigment overload and get some reds and blues to explode off the shirt.

[Screened Gear]

Get some binder and it will never be a problem. Then you can play with pigment overload and get some reds and blues to explode off the shirt.

The red is a pigment overload. I learned that from you. I used some Fix'en from Matsui. I may have used to much. How much do you use? I did 3 percent.

[jsheridan]

same, 3-4%.. it does have a pot life so make a 'parent' gallon mix then pour off what you need to print and add binder and activator to that cup.

[Screened Gear]

good to know. Would water or extender take away from the pigment overload? I know sounds like a dumb question. I figure adding extender or water will give you more penetration and fully soak the top fibers so it would help with color.

[JBLUE]

Nice print Jon. You gonna make it out next week?

[ZooCity]

Looks tight, especially for a G2000.  I've had much better luck discharging the ring or "soft" spun cotton than the carded. 

If I'm following you all on this conversation- you guys are overloading with pig and then balancing it out with fixer to prevent crocking issues/ensure proper cure?

^that's what I've been leaning toward.  Using this method with PCs for those colors I just can't get out of RFUs or just boosting the RFUs with PCs or some combo thereof.  A bright, basic red, like 185c, is a tough one with RFUs.  You can get a real nice Red blue shade and a real nice warm red ys but that classic, bright, basic red is hard. 

[Screened Gear]

Nice print Jon. You gonna make it out next week?

really wish I could make it out.  just not a good time with the new baby. I shouldnt say the new baby I should say the baby bills.

[jsheridan]

good to know. Would water or extender take away from the pigment overload? I know sounds like a dumb question. I figure adding extender or water will give you more penetration and fully soak the top fibers so it would help with color.

The thinner the ink, the better penetration into the fibers. Use the extender to thin it out, water dries out to quick and leaves a sludgy mess behind that tends to clog the screen.

Most reds that I use, Jantex inks, are very thin, almost water as is. I like to step up to a 200-270 mesh as the ink will run through the image area and make all kinds of a mess on a 160.

[screenxpress]

Can someone elaborate a bit on -

1) Pigment overload

2) Crocking

3) Binder

TIA

[mk162]

We used to do a ton of work for H-berg.  Around the turn of the century though things really started to shift with them and our contacts there were mostly canned.  It's amazing how consolidated that industry is becoming.

Some of the few contacts we have left there though said that somehow the cockroaches have managed to survive.

[Screened Gear]

Can someone elaborate a bit on -

1) Pigment overload

2) Crocking

3) Binder

TIA

I will try to field these.

1) Pigment overload: This is when you use more than 10 percent pigment to base. I have used up to 15 percent.

2) Crocking: Got this off the internet, I'm lazy. Definition: Crocking occurs when excess dye rubs off of one dry fabric onto another dry fabric. Crocking is usually more of a problem with dark and vivid colors.
Bleeding is a similar problem, but occurs when dyes transfer from one fabric to another when fabrics are wet.

3) Binder: This is the glue that makes the pigment load stay on the fabric. Its also called fixer. Many bases have binder in them but not enough or not enough for Pigment over loads.

I have all of 3 months of real Waterbase experience (did testing for 2 years when time allowed) so I hope someone (brandon, tony or John) will chime in to expand on this. Waterbase is not as easy as some say. Its like Photoshop you can use the program for 10 years and only understand about 10 percent of its capabilities.

[tonypep]

Many companies interchange the terms base and binder. For us laymen they are one in the same although technically  yes bases contain binding agents usually latex in  foundation. Crockfastness is relatable to cure. There are crockmeters that can accurately measure this. I am different from many as I only require a bit of water now and then as an additive and I have used every manufactures products. The additives are confusing and unnecessary. I believe many use them out of lack of education (Believe me I do not mean to offend, this is aimed at the manufacturers and distributors whom often are not trained in application of these products)