printing vinyl, bleeding even on 300 mesh?

[JESSE@SWIMBAIT.COM]

Hey guys, ive been doing stickers for a little while, im still on the learning curve for sure but I have made some decent stickers so far.

I am printing a 2 color run, i did the first color on a 200 mesh, it was bleeding so I then re burned that onto 300 mesh and I am still getting bleeding in the fine detail areas. I have good off contact, maybe its something in my technique? this sticker does have more fine detail than ive done but i have no idea where to go now, is there a higher mesh than 300?

thanks in advance.

[JESSE@SWIMBAIT.COM]

Just had a thought, As i was looking at the bad areas it looks like the bleed is more translucent than the ink is, i can clearly see the heavy ink where it is supposed to be but then there is a smear of thin ink. Could this be from not mixing the ink enough? i am using water based ink and i have never really thought to stir it up before use, could this be it? it is red int by the way if that may have any value here.

[Iron Canvas Studios]

What ink are you using?! What is it's consistency?

[PedalPrinting]

We don't run stickers on anything lower than a 355... But it really depends on the ink, and design. I wouldn't say its impossible to get something to come out on a 305 if your ink is thick enough. Maybe you added too much thinner or retarder?

Keeping a nice sharp stiff squeegee is always a good idea as well with small details. So your not pushing excess ink through your stencil which could lead to bleeding.

[Andymac]

stir the fucking ink.

your ink is blurring.

you should be able to print a sharp image (as sharp as the stencil anyway) on anything above 200, but for this you need

1. the ink to be a decent consistency - the higher the mesh count, the runnier the ink

2 stir your fucking ink

3. sharp squeegee

4. sharp even flood (once - people do shitty multiple thick floods, this drives ink through the screen and caused blurs)

5. Nice print stroke, angle up, don't fold the blade with too much pressure.

6. If you fuck up and it bleeds, try printing without flooding once or twice, or printing off on newsprint. If you don't flood, it might clear up a blur, but it also might dry in.

also...if you are printing WB through 300 mesh, I would wet the screen down first and expect some blurring, but it should go away.

and....hand printing through mesh higher than 300/305....it can be done, but you have to work fast. much easier to use higher meshes on an auto, plus you can control flood angle and pressure way easier.

[JESSE@SWIMBAIT.COM]

"stir the fucking ink" hahaha, i like that.

thanks for the info Andy, i will try it all. i think the sharp flood might be my problem, ive been doing light thick flood passes so maybe thats it too. ive been using a medium squeegee too, maybe i will try a hard squeegee.

thanks guys.