20 Best Plastisol Ink For Screen Printing (2023 Updated)

Sister: So I’m barely learning about silk screen printing. I wanted to test with an embroidery hoop, but I don’t think it was pulled tight enough. I used frisco stencil vinyl mirrored since I don’t want to get into emulsion yet.

First attempt was on the pink tank and I put tape on the inside of the hoop which turned out to be a bad idea since the paint went under my tape and there were some spots I couldn’t tape since it’s a hoop.

Then on the tote, i put tape on the outside with the vinyl and it was much better. Did both without cleaning anything. I could’ve done more but I ran out of stuff to try on. Ok now for the cleaning. get the advised cleaning stuff! And wear gloves.

I got a little on my hand and ended up spreading it everywhere. I can wash my hands with soap but I still see some random paints on my hand. My squeegee. I scrubbed like 3x with soap. There’s a comparison picture of how it looked new vs now.

I didn’t even want to try the screen so I threw it away since it was supposed to be a test run anyways. I just used a curtain fabric and cut them up.

Seems like an important feature of any shelf stable ink would be to come with a quality seal protecting the ink when stored for long term. All of the ink I ordered had the seals broken or poorly adhered, and as a result the ink took vigorous stirring/working to even get into usable shape.

This will also slowly separate from whatever additive they use to make it “rapid”. Also the customer service from this company is laughably bad. I’d recommend a different company altogether tbh.

The ink is very short bodied & not stringy and messy. It cures extremely fast and even. This ink holds high opacity as a highlight white or as an underbase with only 2 hits. It also seems to have a little more durability and flexibility than the standard all purpose white plastisol inks on the market.

This ink stretches as if it has additive already in the ink. I am very pleased with this product. I would be more than willing to do some product reviews via instagram posts @abstractlabs1 for you guys if you’d like.

I am also looking to buy a new conveyor dryer and upgrade my press this year so equipment reviews would be ideal. Please send me out anything you’d like an honest review of. I’ve been printing for many years and understand what to look for in most products.

Speedball makes a great water based ink which is great for a DIY project. I am a teacher and my students are printing using speedball inks, squeegees and screens in the art lab. There have been a couple of learning curves but successful prints for club t-shirts.

Students do need to flood the screen in between prints to prevent clogging. The smaller front pocket image has great consistency with one pass. The back club logo is a bit challenging to get in one pass.

Next time for this larger image on back of shirts, we are going to try to first flood the screen then push the squeegee for the screen prints. This will hopefully get even coverage in one pass. Other than that it has been a successful Art Club project!.

I had never used this product before and thought, why not give it a try. I really love to paint and wanted to explore hand-painting with this product. I was able to change the consistency using water and hand-paint the most beautiful designs on cotton.

It dries extremely fast and the only feedback I will share is to not paint it on too thick if you are hand-painting. I did paint one part too thick and it didn’t ever dry. Even when I removed the excess, it was still tacky.

All a learning opportunity 🙂 I went back after trying the red and blue and then purchased the black and white. Absolutely recommend.

I’ve been using speedball products for years and this screen printing ink is great quality and long lasting on fabric. The small size container is a convenient and affordable option when you don’t need a lot of one colour or don’t do a large volume of prints.

The ink is water washable and easy to clean up. No strong odour or solvents. Vibrant colours and wash fast when heat set with an iron. I highly recommend this product.

Great kit!!!! This kit got me into screenprinting and now I can’t stop creating. It took me a couple of times to get the emulsion set on the screen correctly but now I’m confident I can create amazing graphics on tshirts and art projects.

I definitely recommend this kit for beginners and intermediates alike.

I used this to screenprint paper bags for my shop. The ink is great to work with – no runny. Be sure to flood the screen with lowest pressure – otherwise it tends to dry on screen quickly. We got some great looking paper prints.

I have also used this on moleskine notebooks. Comes out great. I discard all unused ink from the screen – because the consistency changes after it’s been out. Be sure to close the ink container after dispensing! The ink dries on paper pretty quickly.

For me, it was 5 to 10 mins.

It’s a fun cheap way to try out screen printing. I have only made a couple projects but it was simple and they turned out great. I would suggest watching YouTube videos to learn the best methods just to give yourself the best chances of success.

Jacquard consistently has high quality water based screen printing ink and is constantly looking to improve their product. I love that you technically don’t need to heat cure, which is one less worry when you are working with clients.

(I still do out of paranoia and habit) wide range of color options and I love, love love the opaque options. Two passes of any opaque color with a flash heat in between each layer will cover pretty much any dark color.

For paper I do find the ink to be a little thick but with a little extender base added that’s no problem. Would highly recommend to any level of screen printer. Worth the couple extra dollars for consistency!.

After researching many brands I landed on this one by recommendation from other silkscreeners. First I’ll tell you what it did NOT do for me. I REALLY wanted to give it a solid try but after applying the ink to my screens to print posters I was so disappointed.

Not only was it hard to push through the 110 mesh of my screen but the image it left on the paper even after 5-6 attempts was blotchy, inconsistent and to my awful surprise, not opaque at all! It’s possible that I was using the product the wrong way BUT I did not water it down at all, did not find any warnings against what kind of emulsion to use, and even did a wet ‘float coat’ each time to try and extend dry time.

Yet after all this, an ink should not clog your screen and dry out within 60 seconds of applying it! Ultimately I had to throw out my attempt and use a whole other brand instead. So I would love to learn more about the product and why it wasn’t working but for now, I can’t trust it until further testing.

A shame too because I bought 8 containers of it and planned to do a full limited edition poster series using this brand of ink. Anyone out there who can help me – I’d be appreciative. And I would still recommend the brand to others, just that it failed me.

I purchased this ink because I wanted a single formula that would work on both paper and fabric, and was also interested in the lightfastness & extended drying time. Found the Jacquard inks to be very stiff and also fast-drying in the screen.

On fabric, I could only print 2-3 times in quick succession before the screen became clogged with ink, requiring excessive scrubbing to remove (and extra time wasted on cleaning & drying screens). Open time was slightly better on paper.

I tried adding water and extender to different batches, and nothing helped. This held true with multiple colors. The coverage on fabric was poor, leaving blotchy and bare areas despite sufficient pressure and ink.

On paper the coverage was almost TOO good: the layer of ink printed was so thick and stiff that it would hold marks from the screen being lifted off, even with minimal amounts of ink being applied. It is also very glossy when dry, something not noted in the product description.

I did not have any of these problems with the same screens when using the Speedball inks– those printed beautifully on my fabric, and had a much longer open time (a run of 50+ prints on paper, could have kept going if I hadn’t run out of paper!).

Horrible. It cracks like crazy. I couldnt get it to cure, and I tried all different temps and times. I even bought qnd easy press because i thought it was my iron. I waisted close to 30 shirts trying to get it right.

Never again will use speed ball. Will be returning all of the unopened ones.

Speed ball is the best paint for fabric that I’ve used. I’ve used it for screen printing, sponging, stencils, and with brushes. Other than the price, not unreasonable for a good product, i’d buy it more frequently.

I’ve done several screen prints on fabric and the colors are just amazing. Dries fast and setting is extremely easy to do. I’ve never had any problems with cracking or early fading. I definitely need more colors and recommend to anyone that wants to start off with water based ink.

I was a little skeptical about this product. I was buying this to create a glowing background on paper. The ink is very slimy when going onto paper. The ink needs a couple coats, but spreads well. Drying time is a little long.

I think it was a few hours before almost completely dry. I used soft graphite on the dry glowing ink. The graphite felt smooth when applying. I tested the glowing effect, and the results where simply awesome.

I plan on using this in the classroom. The kids will love how their art glows.

I bought this just two months ago and finally around to opening the box… It is almost a solid component in the container. I’ve tried to stir it around, but it’s no where near the consistency of speedball paints.

I’m not sure if this is how it’s supposed to be. Is there any recommendation from anyone before I attempt to use it? I can’t return it now and don’t want to waste it.

Hi. The truth is, your product is unique. And I have never dealt with such an excellent product. Easy to operate, high quality and reasonable price. Nice to buy from your store the products that I need for uncle.

For me, my products help me to provide Customer’s best product. And the people who work for me do not find it difficult to work thanks to your products. Thank you, and I hope that my work will take place and open a store for printing supplies.

And I will be an agent for your products in my country.

Every screen printer is constantly on the hunt for the holy grail of white plastisol ink. Well if you’re reading this, you found it! First off, the price. $25 for a quart. You can’t beat it! Super creamy right out of the container.

Normally I stir around my white ink to loosen it before I start printing. No need with this stuff. My only complaint is that the container comes with a foil type seal under the lid similar to what’s on peanut butter jars.

Opening it up was a bit messy, ended up using a razor blade to open it. But that’s a very small burden for the quality! Will definitely be purchasing more.

I USED THIS IN MY POP UP MUG HUT FOR UNDER COATING FOR GLOW INK AND TRANSFERS ON FABRIC SOME TIME ON SOME OF MY BUSINESS ADVENTURE IN MUG AND FRAMING AND PLACE HEADS ON JEW. AND PLATES FOR THE MANTLE I USE SUBLIMATION , SCREEN PRINTED TRANSFER AND VINYL HEAT TRANSFERS FOR PARKING LOT BUSINESS ADVERTISEMENT AND SEASONAL, PERSONAL ADVENTS SOME TIME I PUT AWAY THE SCOOP COATER AND USE MY VINYAL CUTTER AND SCREENS I USE A COMBO IN SCREEN PRINTING AND USING AN AIR BRUSH I BOUGHT FOR SPOT REMOVAL AIR BRUSHED THE SCREENS AND WHEN THE SCREEN RAISE UP SOME I AIR BRUSH AND LEAVES A GOAST OVER SPRAY GOOD UNDER BASE FOR MY PROJECTS IN HOBBY PERSONAL GIFT AND BUSINESS ADVENTURES.

This is great ink for the price! Nice and smooth and opaque. My only qualm is that when it gets thick, it gets glossy and it’s advertised as matte. One hit with a light amount of ink is matte though.

Overall great product. The white is great too!.

I was a bit hesitant because of some of the negative reviews, but price is great and some of their other products work well for me, so I gave it a shot. 1st try on a screen that had been used, washed and sun dried several times.

Did not work – but then neither did the speedball remover I’m trying to replace. Emailed their customer service. They were quick to respond and helpful. Then tried it on screens as I would normally use the remover: burn a screen, not liking the results and wanting a second go, or some one off projects.

the remover worked quite well and was very easy Work to reclaim the screens. Saving a fair amount of coin Compared to other removers and will definitely reorder!.

I taught screen printing for 30 years. After 16 years of retirement I’m trying to get back into it, but many things have changed! I’m having to understand how the new chemical processes works. I appreciate your company in spelling out how it all works.

So far so good. It’s easier than how I used to do it and with less mess. Thank you!.

I am a newbie printer and build all of my own screens. I decided to try this remover because it seemed less toxic and had great reviews. I kept putting off trying because I thought it would be an ordeal, but finally tried an this product is truly amazing! The emulsion literally melts off the screen, and I had used two different emulsions! The only drawback is not having a sprayer nozzle, so I feel I use a bit more, although I applied w a sponge.

Literally dissolved emulsion in seconds. No odor, no irritaion, easy and unbelievably effective. I will absolutely use this product and again and highly recommend.

I love this stuff for all my high-mesh poster printing. It’s the perfect consistency right from the jar, the process colors are true process colors (color theory works here!), it doesn’t dry out super fast in high mesh screens and even if it does you can rescue the screen as long as it hasn’t completely cured.

Plus, the smell is fantastic and paint-y without being headache-inducing like an oil based would be.

I had written a review about these before. and this was before trying out other oil washable printing inks. I’m finding the Akua are a bit more professional for printing. Thought those were only good for intaglio, but they’re also good for relief too.

This one is the lowest quality water (sort of) based relief printing ink I would recommend. they’re a bit inconsistent, sometimes need to squeeze mix before opening and applying some to your palette.

I really like them because they lay well for the irregular hand printing that I do directly onto fabric, paper or mylar. It takes a slightly heavier inking of the block, but then they print pretty clear.

If you have a press and are printing on paper, go with Akua if you’re not willing to go full oil (which is even more professional, but not as nice if you’re working in a home studio) This ink also doesn’t wash out of fabric which is Great! So I could recommend it for fabric printing too.

After dry, remember to iron.

I purchased this ink because I would like to be able to print from linoleum carvings onto apparel and textiles. However, I’m very accustomed to working with oil-based inks, and I find switching back to acrylics to just be pretty unworkable.

I print very slowly, using multiple blocks, and I find that the ink dries on my blocks and clogs the fine details within 10-15 minutes. It also arrived with chunky dried bits at the top of the bottle and I had to dig them out.

The colors are mediocre, and so is the consistency. Speedball makes perfectly find screen printing inks and other tools and supplies, but many of their projects are more affordable than high-quality.

I really want an ink company to work on making better oil-based block printing inks for textiles!!!!.

This ink performs well and cleans up easily with warm soap and water. It is not as tacky as other inks so printing is a little trickier. It should be used in a well-ventilated space, and be sure to wait at least a week before using the printed fabric because the ink must oxidize in order to be fixed to the cloth.

The biggest disappointment is the color. I ordered a range of colors as well as transparent extender. I hoped that the magenta and turquoise inks would mix well with each other and other colors to create vibrant inks.

They don’t. The magenta is just a mid-range pink. Turquoise is a nice yellowish blue with white. Other reviews indicate that it’s difficult mix a purple from red & blue or magenta & turquoise, or any combination.

I agree. Mixing these create more of a burgundy or a gray-purple. If you want purple, buy the purple ink. Other colors are fine. The yellow and opaque white have great coverage. The transparent extender is helpful but it makes the ink even wetter.

I bought two tubes of extender but wish I had purchased more.

I’ve worked with letterpress ink before but this was my first time using block printing ink, but it was absolutely perfect for my project. I was adding a lace imprint to invitations for my baby’s baptism and using the ink was the perfect result.

I really needed to go heavy on the ink and let the lace get very saturated with it to have it show up on the paper. A little taxing for me since when I’ve letterpressed before, you don’t really want too much ink and it felt counter-intuitive.

I’m not sure if this is because of the medium or the color, but the end result was just amazing! Added bonus that it dried with some texture, which was unexpected, but I’m so in love with how it turned out.

I cannot wait for my guests to receive their invitations. They really look professional.

Disclaimer: I am new to printmaking. That being said, this ink was easy to use and produced a fairly clean image. I’m sure that professional artists have opinions on how thick or thin they like their ink, but as a beginner it’s a good choice.

Love this stuff! Smooths out great and applies evenly to any surface you carve. Rich color and leaves a nice texture. Comes in a variety of colors so you’ll never be scrambling to find the right one or mixing last minute.

I am just starting out and using a simplified method of screen printing–just a screen on a shirt, nothing fancy. (I’m using EZScreenPrint stencils) I purchased the Permaset Aqua Supercover White to use on dark shirts.

I found it hard to work with, too thick, riding up my squeegee. I wasn’t able to get good coverage with it at all–lots of transparent areas. I can’t tell if the ink is too thick to go through my screen (110) or if it’s being lifted off by the screen when I take the stencil off the shirt.

I had a much easier time and far superior coverage with the Jacquard Super Opaque White, even though I know that’s supposed to be lower quality. I also had great success with the Blick ink in black on my lighter shirts.

Neither of those inks rode up my squeegee either. Permaset Aqua must just not work well with my method of screen printing.

I’ve decided to move from fabric painting to screen printing. I bought white Permaset Aqua SuperCover Textile Printing Ink after researching fabric inks. I chose to go with this eco friendly, water-based product instead of a plastisol for a few reasons.

These reasons include the fact that it’s easy — but very time-consuming — to heat set the ink with a clothes iron. (Note: I usually let t-shirts air dry overnight or up to 24 hours before heat setting.

) My wash tests have all been good, even when I’ve tested tees in hot water without turning them inside out first. I’m able to get excellent coverage with this ink. However, the white is well-known for its thickness.

I have run into issues with ink creeping up the squeegee and also have had occasional issues with bleeding. Most likely, i was pressing the squeegee too hard. That said, the solid coverage outweighs any minor hassles.

I would definitely recommend this product.

This is the best paint I’ve used, and I’ve tried a bunch of brands. I prefer water-based ink but was disappointed that I couldn’t find ones that were opaque enough (white & yellow were the worst). I tried plastisol, but that was way too messy for home use.

This stuff was the solution. My specific observations. Still has SOFT HAND, but more of a plastisol feel in how it covers. The OPAQUE COMPLETELY COVERS the fabric color, very slightly raised, stretchy/rubbery feel that doesn’t crack.

In my experience, it DOESN’T DRY IN THE SCREEN ANYWHERE NEAR AS FAST AS OTHERS (like Speedball and Jacquard, which have their merits, particularly in some colors). I do almost all darker colors, so I use mostly super-cover; but I have tried standard cover on white or light color shirts and that works well, too.

You DO NEED THE EXTENDER, not so much b/c of fast drying, but because some of the opaque colors are VERY THICK and needed to be “watered” down for best results (white and yellow, especially). Also, I tend to use mostly 220 & 156 screens, both work well as long as you dilute it to a consistency that works.

As it came, the white in particular would have “clogged” up a 110 screen even. So, just experiment; it didn’t take long to figure out. (And this isn’t a complaint. Too thick I can work with; too thin I cannot.

) I’ve used it on polyester (like under armour) and it works great. In sum, this stuff is totally worth the extra few bucks-fewer mistakes, EASY/FAST CURING (relative to others). And Blick is cheaper than every other place I have checked.