Plastisol Ink
Print method — one of 28 in the glossary
The standard screen printing ink, a PVC-based compound that sits on top of the fabric rather than soaking into it. Opaque, forgiving to print, vivid on dark garments, and durable once properly cured. The trade-off is hand: a heavy plastisol print is something you can feel, and a very large solid area can be stiff.
Ink that never dries
Plastisol is PVC particles suspended in a plasticiser. It does not dry — it can sit in a screen overnight and still print — and it does not set until it reaches temperature.
That is a genuine convenience and the reason it dominates screen printing. It is also why curing is a separate, critical step rather than something that happens on its own.
It sits on top of the fabric rather than soaking into it, which is what gives it opacity on dark garments.
Cure temperature is not optional
Plastisol fuses at around 300 to 330°F through the whole ink film, not just at the surface. Below that it looks perfectly printed and fails in the wash.
This is the most common cause of prints that crack or peel after a couple of washes, and it is invisible at the moment of printing.
Heavier fabric and a heavier deposit both need longer, which is why a heavyweight shirt slows a run down.
Opacity against hand
A thick plastisol deposit gives a bright, opaque print you can feel with a fingertip — the plasticky hand people associate with older printed tees.
Thinner deposits, softer formulations and additives reduce that at some cost to opacity.
Where hand matters more than opacity, water-based or discharge ink is the alternative — both soak into the fabric instead, and both are more demanding to print.
Common questions
- What is plastisol ink?
- A PVC-based screen printing ink suspended in plasticiser. It does not dry in the screen and sets only when heated, and it sits on top of the fabric rather than soaking in.
- What temperature does plastisol cure at?
- Around 300 to 330°F, measured through the whole ink film rather than at the surface. Under-curing is the usual reason a print cracks after a few washes.
- Why does a plastisol print feel plasticky?
- Because it sits on the fabric rather than in it. That is what makes it opaque on dark garments; thinner deposits and softer formulations reduce the hand at some cost to opacity.
Where this comes up
See also
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