Discharge Inks | Deep Dive with Colin

Tremendous information as always! It was sooo long ago I did discharge printing but would love to get back into it. How do you clean out that screen once it’s dried up? Is it just spraying it with water and/or some on-press and wiping it out? Or do you spray with water and then let your squeegee drive it through on a couple of test substrates?

Just curious why you chose Aquarius for this? I noticed it’s not currently available on the site. Thanks!

What about hazards of Discharge printing? Effect of formaldehyde and VOC's on health?

Non stampo questa tipologia di inchiostri da più di 25 anni. Ricordo il mal di testa e il mal di denti durante la lavorazione (nonostante cappe di aspirazione su forno essicatore e banco da stampa). I clienti (tutti) volevano stampe belle, economiche ed eseguite molto velocemente.
Ma a quel tempo sulla scheda tecnica dell'inchiostro era scritto: "per evitare allergie alla pelle, prima dell'utilizzo lavare il capo stampato".
E dopo il lavaggio si rendeva indispensabile anche la stiratura. Questo rendeva la stampa a scarico anti-economica e rovinava il sonno dei clienti (tutti).
Non ho più stampato questo tipo di inchiostro, ma ricordo lo stupore e la meraviglia nel vedere uscire dal forno a tunnel stampe a 5 colori, "BAGNATO SU BAGNATO", su tessuto nero, belle, brillanti, MORBIDE e resistenti a qualsiasi lavaggio.
Però non ho più avuto mal di denti e mal di testa. E mi va bene così.
Grazie per questo video, mi ha risvegliato bei ricordi.

Thank you Colin, I love these videos. I work as acreenprinter since almost four years and I made a hobby out of it: at home I print shirts for myself or for friends. I've only used water-based inks so far, I find it easy to clean; as I only make one print the ink doesn't have time to dry in the mesh.

I'm experimenting with discharge red, so it's not a clear like Colin's using. First, I did a single-stroke print with normal water-based, red coloured ink on a blue-dyed shirt which came out too dark. I did a print-let it dry for an hour-print, which came out nice, but lays too thick on the shirt. I did a white ink-let it dry for an hour-red ink, but the red starts to crackle after many wash-cycles and the white shines through. So far, the best I've seen was a double-stroke print with the discharge red after waving a heatgun at it.

Discharge ink and activator really stink up the place, Colin does not exaggerate. If you can, open a window while printing, or use a mask (the one you would use during reclaiming or de-hazing).

About my drying process; I don't have space for a conveyor dryer, so that's simply out of the question. A flash unit might be in my future, but since I only print one-offs how useful would that be? Using a heatgun or flatiron to cure prints might take more time, but works just as well. For me it's purely hobby, hobbies shouldn't be rushed.

Would be great to get a deep dive on printing across chest of zipper hoodies for manuel printers. Help 😫 lol