Two years ago, I used a bit of my tax return to buy a screen, inks and a squeegee. A few months down the road, I realized I made a big mistake. I bought textile ink, plastisol inks, which I had never worked with. The are not water-soluble, are composed of PVC particles that are suspended in emulsion, and only dry when cured, about 350 degree Fahrenheit. To reclaim or clean your screen, you have to use solvents, horrible, solvents.
So I tried printing with it, at the time thinking it was water-soluble, like that I used at NAU. I was only doing a single reduction print on paper. I noticed that the paper was not taking the ink well, so assumed it was because of the paper type I was using. Then came the reclaiming of my screen. Everything came out, except the excess ink. So I cleaned it again, let it sit longer, still there. Then realized the ink could not be cleaned with my handy, dandy, 99 cent, Eco-friendly cleaner.
Thank God for the internet and a McLogan Catalog. I found the cleaning solvent I needed, drove to McLogan to get it, and became twenty dollars poorer. I felt so wonderful once I had that jug in my hand. But upon application, the ink was still in my screen. So what did I do? I put it to the side, and got a smaller less expensive screen, and tried again... cleaner still didn't work, especially with lighter inks, which makes no sense to me.
Why am I writing about this tonight, when it's been well over two years? Because, I have been reunited with these items, and attempting to clean them out again. I have been doing research online, to get any help I can with these problems. And now, I wonder if I should just trash it all and start over?
