Reddit reviews Speedball Acrylic Screen Printing Ink, 8-Ounce, Black
We found 3 Reddit comments about Speedball Acrylic Screen Printing Ink, 8-Ounce, Black. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SCREEN PRINTING INKS - The brand of choice for professional screen printers available across a broad range of colorsEXCELLENT WORKING PROPERTIES - Offers artists vibrant colors, great coverage, and consistent workability every timePRINT WITH EASE – Unrivaled working time allows artists the ability to print without worryWATER-BASED, ACRYLIC SCREEN PRINTING INKS - Ideal for printing paper, wood, and cardboard. Not recommended for use on fabricsSAFE FOR THE STUDIO OR CLASSROOM - Carries the AP Seal; easy soap and water cleanup
I can chime in here... I have done DIY silk screen enclosures in the past with pretty good results.
Personally I just used speedball acrylic from amazon and applied a good clear-coat over it once it dried.
Screen Print Example 1
Screen Print Example 2
The acrylic ink was pretty easy to apply, but I had issues with it smudging and not transferring properly. It dries well, but is slightly chalky and could flake off without a topcoat.
That being said, I would HIGHLY recommend looking into water-slide decals. I have found them to be much easier to apply and they have a much more professional look assuming you account for their limitations.
Water-slide Example Here
Last time I printed business cards it was with a 405 yellow and a 300 yellow screen with Speedball acylics. Printed 8up on a letter sized 110# smooth cover (Classic Crest ). You need to air dry the sheets but you can set up a fan to speed that along. Pretty straight forward but also pretty expensive when you can get 500 cards printed for under $20 USD now a days.
Firstly I would strongly suggest you not print flatstock on a garment press, use a vacuum table. While it is possible and I've seen a lot of folks do it, printing this way is a massive pain and you will need to use adhesive on your paper to hold it down. Vacuum is far easier and won't make your sheets stick together. For less than $100 you can build a vacuum table with a small shop vac. If you do it smart you should still be able to use the shop vac for normal stuff as well.
As to inks the standard is water based acrylics like Speedball. While their fabric inks are meh, their acrylics are really good. Smooth, evenly drying, and excellent viscosity for a variety of mesh counts. For an even cheaper option you can try acrylic house paint. (Bonus punk cred for buying only off-tints at a discount.) Make sure it's water based acrylic or you will have a bad time. Personally I've had some issues with house paint on occasion but those are pretty rare and this is a common cheap alternative.
You can print pretty much on any paper but uncoated cover stock is generally the best place to start. Strongly suggest not starting with coated stock, it's trickier to get right. In the gigposter world, Mr. French Paper is the gold standard and with good reason, it's f'ing awesome paper. Smooth tooth, even grain, lovely colors, and a nice selection of weights. It is expensive though. For a cheaper alternative you can start with what I did, Exact Index 110# Cover. It's not as fancy as other options but it'll get the job done. I used this paper for many of my early gigposters and it never let me down. The only real issue it has is a bit of ink spread where the ink, if it's thin enough, will tend to spread into the sheet more than in the nicer papers but this is a minor issue really and easily fixed by not watering down your ink too much (a common practice to deal with very high mesh counts).
If you have any other questions post 'em and welcome to the wonderful world of flatstock!