Over the weekend I was able to do some experimentation with t-shirt screen printing. I wanted to see what kind of effects could be achieved by mixing bleach into normal screen printing ink.
Getting Started
Not knowing what the bleach might do to my equipment, I used the crappiest stuff I had. After doing it, everything seemed to be in good shape and unaffected by the bleach.
** I just wanted to note that the bleach isn’t as harmless as I thought. I burned a screen and used it with the bleached ink all in the same day. I let some of the ink sit on the screen for about 20 minutes and when I picked it up there were streaks where the photo-emulsion had been completely removed. With little effort I was able to remove the entire design. So, don’t expect to get a lot of uses out a single design when using a freshly burned screen and this type of ink!
I would suggest working in a well ventilated area as the ink’s ingredients are not listed. Also, work quickly because the bleach’s power will be lessened if it sits out too long.
The Setup
- Hanes 50/50 Heavyweight t-shirt
- Wegmans Liquid Bleach
- Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Ink
- Speedball 110 Count Mesh Screen
- Cheap Plastic Squeegee
Test #1
In this test I used a mixture of one Tbsp ink to two drops of bleach. The effect was nonexistent, but the bleach didn’t seem to alter the ink’s properties.
*You’ll notice there are quite a few “pinholes” that the ink came through. It’s extremely important to close them before printing, especially with the bleach.
Test #2
The ink in this test had the consistency of watery hair gel. The effect can only be seen in the areas where the ink was spotty. However, it did give a slightly vintage look.
Test #3
In this test, the ink had consistency of india ink, calligraphy ink, or cream. After being printed, the ink was still fairly dark black and a halo effect was achieved around the design.
Test #4
For this test I kept the residue ink from the previous tests and pulled a bead of bleach. The bleach and ink blended, visually, on the shirt and gave the print a fairly cohesive appearance.
Test #5
The screen was cleaned and dried before this test. I pulled a bead of bleach (no ink) very quickly three or four times to make sure the fabric was saturated enough
The Conclusion
Overall, tests 3-5 were my favorite. I can see test three having the most practical application and being the most reproducible. The ink was still thick enough to maintain most of the design’s integrity and the creep effect of the bleach wasn’t overly pronounced.
I could also see test five being used as a ghost/background image before any hits of ink are applied.
I will still be testing how the quality holds up when printing line art using the ink from test three.