Limitations of Water Based Screen Printing

Water base screen printing has a few limitations over plastisol ink. The reason for this is that we use this ink in conjunction with a process called discharge. A special discharge product is used to essentially bleach the product back to its original color so you can lay the color of the ink over top. Traditional screen printing uses a white printed under base plus the color over top. That creates a heavier hand, which we are trying to avoid with water based inks. This process only works on natural fibers such as cotton and bamboo and does not work on synthetic fibers such as polyester and rayon. Broken Arrow requires that garments are at least 80% cotton for water based screen printing. The other main limitation is the garment color. Some colors are dyed with really stubborn dyes and the discharge process will not work on them. T-Shirt colors that do not work for water based screen printing inks include but are not limited to Kelly green, purple and royal blue. As your customer service representative if your project is a good candidate for water based inks.

Waterbased Inks vs. Plastisol Inks

Although water based inks do have many great advantages, it is not always the best ink to use for your project. Water based inks are more thin and therefore do not hold color vibrancy as well. If you are looking for a vintage, worn look, it is a great choice. If you are looking for a bright design that really pops off the shirt, water based screen printing might not be the best choice for you. If you are unsure how to achieve the design that you are looking for, let our experts help you in making the choice.