Humidity or lack therof

[ebscreen]

Now that summer's here I'm having to mist screens constantly to keep any kind
of fluidity in the ink. I even occasionally have to pull out all of the ink, add water and
stir and put it back in. PITA. Guess that's what I get for being Californian.

Anybody have any experience with any of the retarders or humectants or anything?

I'd prefer to not alter the way my ink prints or cures, got enough variables there.

How about plastic sheeting over the print heads?

[squeegee]

What brand do you use?

[ebscreen]

CCI base and Rutland pigments. To clarify it's not drying in, just starts gelling up.
1300 pieces. The 50 pieces printed afterwards had no issues.

[squeegee]

Well I think Rutland has a product, haven't looked at it, then Matsui has printgen mg.

[squeegee]

Ammonium sulfate mixed with water, I think but Wilflex could confirm that a 2 or 3% solution ammonium sulfate to water solution works well for smoothing out the ink (we add the solution to the ink at 2-3%).  We use it occasionally into inks that get gelatinous, although the Matsui Printgen MG could work for you too.

Have you ever used Matsui's RC waterbase?  I've never used the CCI base, but have used Oasis soft base which is not so good as far as staying smooth.  Matsui's RC which is the clear for transparent inks is really good stuff, it can go for hours on press without gelling or clumping.  I find Matsui's pigments and formulas to be annoying to use, so if you're doing eye-ball matches, you might want to give the Matsui 300C (clear base) a try with your Rutland pigments.

[ebscreen]

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I've got this:

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/2174-AA.shtml?lnav=techniques_tiedye.html

In stock. Would make sense sort of.

Also got some Alginate from them for doing the oppositeish.

[tonypep]

Nothin like some seaweed for your ink!

[ebscreen]

Care to divulge the basics of your homemade natural inks Tony? Just the basics.
Is it as simple as find something that works as a pigment add the seaweed and
water to consistency?

[squeegee]

Well the name Urea was only what my guy reffered to as what he knew, but the ammonium sulfate solution was recommend to me by Steve Hedge at Polyone, I bought mine here: http://www.soapgoods.com/Ammonium-Sulfate-p-714.html

What I can't remember is what percentage ammonium sulfate to and it is distilled water it's supposed to be, but it works.

[tonypep]

Well no secrets and no organics except the thickener really. To build a really good WB you must have a homogenizer. We would buy latex concentrate, anti foam (the water was free) and go to town. There is a certain sequence speed, and timing requirement to make the magic happen. Especially with discharge. There was a company called Organic Pigments and while some actually were a lot were not.

[inkbrigade]

Now that summer's here I'm having to mist screens constantly to keep any kind
of fluidity in the ink. I even occasionally have to pull out all of the ink, add water and
stir and put it back in. PITA. Guess that's what I get for being Californian.

Anybody have any experience with any of the retarders or humectants or anything?

I'd prefer to not alter the way my ink prints or cures, got enough variables there.

How about plastic sheeting over the print heads?

I've seen the graphic elephants put a humidifier under the press..