With “normal” litho type/lino block inks, they tend to be a lot stickier and, being oil based, dry more slowly so that:

  1. You’d generally use a brayer (hard rubber roller) to spread the ink out on the lino block and
  2. The ink stays wet until printed, so you get quite a long time to get organised after rolling it out

As PERMASET Inks are primarily designed for screen printing and are 100% solvent free (water-based):

  • You will need to use a soft SPONGE ROLLER to spread the ink out (a normal brayer would just skid all over the lino block) and
  • You need to get well set up before you put the ink on, as the thin film will dry out a lot more quickly (though you can’t smell it, water actually evaporates faster than many solvents at room temperature).
  • As PERMASET Ink is quite intensely coloured, you may need to cut the strength back by mixing it with PERMASET Print Paste (clear ink/reducer). However, you’ll only know how much after some experimentation.

If you can modify your work practices to accommodate the above, then you can fully exploit the superior technical performance of PERMASET Inks for textile printing; soft handle, brilliant colours, excellent wash and dry clean resistance (after heat curing).

There are other methods of getting ink onto fabric via block printing. There are many people all over the world who love using PERMASET Inks for block printing. This blog outlines how to use PERMASET Ink for block printing