IT CREEPS...IT CRAWLS...IT EATS YOU ALIVE!

Did you ever see the movie "THE BLOB"?  It's about an alien creature that resembles a blob of jelly.  It eats everything in its path as it keeps growing and growing.  A tag line for the movie reads, "It creeps...It crawls...It eats you alive!"  The same tag line can be used when talking about plastisol ink.  :)

Plastisol ink is very easy to work with but there is one fact you need to remember.  Plastisol ink DOES NOT air dry.  It must reach 320 degrees before it is cured.  If you are not careful, one little drop of ink can spread through your shop in an instant especially if you move your ink containers around the whole shop.  I learned that lesson the hard way.  I missed a few drops of spilt ink and next thing I knew it is everywhere.  I have also forgotten to check my hands before grabbing a new shirt for printing.  If I did not catch it before curing the shirt was ruined.

Because of this, I wanted to share a few things I now do in my shop.  The first suggestion is to designate an INK ZONE and NEVER move it out of that are.  Do all of your ink mixing and screen loading in that area.  It's a good idea to have your press close enough to your INK ZONE so you can rotate a screen over and load the ink into the screen.  That way ink never leaves the zone and it limits the chance of it going everywhere.

The next suggestion is to get in the habit of cleaning your hands BEFORE you start a printing job.  Get all your supplies ready, screens registered and test printing completed.  When you know the job is ready to go, clean your hands with a good cleaner.  I use ProChem Hand Pro hand cleaner.  It works great and you don't need to use very much.  If you make a habit of this it will limit the chance of getting ink on a new shirt and ruining it.

I hope you found these suggestions helpful!
Jeanette