Ideally, what we all want from ink is a soft and lightweight print that achieves accurate color matching along with optimal levels of vibrancy, that is breathable enough, holds the details of a design, is versatile enough to print on a variety of garments, is durable enough to stand up to years of wearing and washing, is easy to use, cost-effective, and eco-friendly.
So the real question is not which ink is better, but rather: Which is best for which circumstance? There are many factors to consider, and for the purposes of this post, I’ve broken them down into the top eight. Keep in mind there will be different sets of sublimation 3d for different types of customers, and a different set if you’re a printer. Let’s quickly go through them.
Water-based ink has a softer hand (usually) In printer speak, “hand” is essentially the way a print feels, along with its weight. The hand can be soft and light (yes please), or rough and heavy (no thanks), or somewhere in between. Water-based ink inks can produce some of the softest and lightest T-shirt prints out there, and in the best cases, there is virtually no hand– which is a good thing.
Why does water-based ink have a softer hand?
The reason is the fundamental difference between these inks. Plastisol, as you might imagine, is plastic-based. It’s made up of PVC particles or other polymers suspended in plasticizer. It’s essentially liquid plastic. And when heated to a high temperature (or cured) it becomes a solid. So a Plastisol print is a layer of solidified plastic that sits on top of the fabric.