Don’t underestimate the power of good materials to enhance your artwork.
What if you could change the quality of your screen print work, go from so-so to pro, by just changing materials? Improve the hand feel, the washability, the coverage and the colour vibrancy all by switching your inks. And be a bit more environmentally friendly on top of all that? If you’re anything like me I bet you’ll do it.
For years I worked with a pure pigment + extender base system. The pigments came from one of three companies ranging from student grade to pro quality depending on where I lived and what was available. I would mix them into the extender base I was using at that time. I had never considered using premix pigments until I heard people raving about this new pigment system ‘Permaset’. So I tried the pigments and I was an instant convert.
I had underestimated how nice it was to be able to use so many great colours straight from the bottle. I can still customize my colours as needed by adding the premixes together or adding in white, black or extender base.
Heat setting them is easy and the washability is unsurpassed. Before, I accepted the fact that sometimes the pigments would wash well but have the odd bit of fading. Not with permaset. and the hand feel is really soft- even with their opaques. Sometimes I think you would swear the print feels like it’s dye not pigment.
You can buy Permaset in better art supply stores or you can buy them here. Check out my other posts with demo’s of the inks so you can see for yourself!
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
For your CMYK prints, do you use the permaset process cyan, maganta, yellow and black?
Yes I do.
your answers are so short and sweet.
I am going to buy a set.
Thanks.
Hi, I was wondering what extender base is and what it does? I am startin out small in my garage. Am planning to use Permaset inks. Jodie
When you mix colours for printing you never use white to make a lighter shade- you always use extender base. It’s a clear base that you mix to make lighter colours, for example you could take your red, mix in extender base and make pink. Only use white to make pastel shades or for white applications. Often you will find colours with a lot of white pigment in them will dry DARKER than they first appear.
it’s been my experience that an extender base is just that, to extend a colour if you do not have enough to finish a print run and cannot mix anymore of that same colour. ink companies caution not to mix too much or you will end up with a transparent ink. also do not mistake an extender for a retarder.
No, that’s not the intention for extender base at all. Perhaps with solvent based inks- but definitely not for water based inks. Water based inks are transparent to start with anyhow.
thanks for that information about extender base. i thought the same as nigel actually.
For many years I made my pigment inks from scratch. Basically the recipe is: pure pigment + extender base + binders= your colour. In stores many colours are pre-made to a certain intensity. So if you want a lighter hue of that colour you would add in more extender base. You don’t often have to worry about adding in more binders because the pre-made colours have enough in them already. When making it from scratch you simply start out with a smaller amount of pigment colour and you add more pigment as you wish for the colour to intensify.
Well Ill keep you informed. Have just moved to a place with a big double garage. Am going to start out with a two carousel screenprinter, and permaset aqua inks. I am also wanting to do fabric lengths. And so am looking at my what i need for a printing table. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated. or even on studio set up, thanks, Jodie
Hi again Michelle! I have been using some Permaset inks that I got from my local Blick for some test runs. The plan is to start printing on yardage and make household goods from that. How durable are these inks over time when say you use them on a pillow case or kitchen towel that’s bound to see a lot of use? Do they hold up well after several rubs and washes? Also, I’ve heard about fixers, would you recommend them over a good ole ironing? Fabric will be linen. Thanks, Tosin
PS: Where can I find your online shop? Your link takes me to a one page website
Your really need to heat set your inks properly. The inks from Permaset don’t need to have fixers and binders added but if they are not set properly they won’t stay regardless. Even if you use fixers they need to be heat set. Permaset already has fixers in them- fixers are not a replacement for heating. They will hold up well but you are going to have to find a better way than ironing to fix them. I would suggest putting them in a dryer cycle for 45 minutes on hot TWICE. Make certain that your dryer doesn’t have an eco feature that will make it turn off if the clothes are dry. You need to heat set for that long at high temperate.