A medium added to ink, diluting the pigment and reducing the ink deposit. With the addition of chino to plastisol inks, the print can achieve a lighter hand-feel.
Discharge printing
A process, best used on 100% cotton garments, by which a chemical removes the dye in the underlying fabric during printing. The benefit of this method is that the printing, unlike standard plastisol printing, has a very light and soft hand-feel.
Discharge base
A white base applied with discharge printing to color garments. Using this base with full-color process yields a softer ink deposit than standard screen printing, especially when chino inks are used for the colors.
Plastisol
Ink type used in most screen printing applications. Plastisol contains pigment and a PVC binder. Once the printed garment is heated to 230 degrees, the plastisol ink is cured, and the print is durable, pliable and colorfast.
Specialty inks
A variety of inks that contain special elements to give unique printing effects. Examples of specialty inks include metallic, crystalina, reflective, phosphor glow, suede, puffy, and more.
Spot colors
Colors in a printed image that appear in the original shade of ink. This is different from process colors, which use small dots in different colors to combine to create the visual illusion of specific colors.