When working with water-based inks, prevention is always the best solution: the ink should never be allowed to dry on the screen, it needs to be cleaned away whilst still wet.

The retardant can help, but it’s the screen printing technique and the speed of the screen printer that are key.

In any case, an abrasive sponge soaked with water can help to remove the dry ink:  even if it washes away some emulsion, this will only help the liquid stripper to work better.

Make sure you soak the sponge with water, not with solvent: with water-based inks the solvent just creates a sludge that’s impossible to manage.

The retardant gel that’s added to the ink doesn’t go off or go bad, so, in theory, you can add it all at once, up to a maximum of 3%.

Higher percentages would slow down the drying process too much, including on the mesh.
Having said that, since it isn’t always necessary to add gel, because it’s all dependent on the room temperature and the air humidity, we recommend adding gel only to the amount of ink you plan to use and only when necessary.

Any leftover ink, even if it contains gel, can be poured back into the jar.

The number of prints always depends on the size of the design and the way the squeegee is used to apply the ink.

Usually, with one kilo of ink, you can expect to get about 500 prints.

The Texprint catalyst comes included with the ink itself and 5% should be added in relation to the total weight of the ink (e.g. 1kg of ink, add 50g of catalyst). Whilst it isn’t absolutely necessary to add the catalyst, it is strongly recommended, especially in certain weather conditions.

The transparent Amex Texprint Mono screen printing ink is transparent.

It’s usually used as a base for adding other products to, such as pigments or gold/silver powders to achieve a metallic effect.