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Screen printing, or silk screening, is a very old method of creating images on flat or relatively flat mediums. Screen printing is done in both industrial as well as private settings for a number of products, including clothes, posters, signs and other items. Silicone sprays are advertised for use in some screen printing operations, but they also can cause problems with the process.
Ink Contamination
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Silicone spray can be used to help seal in the ink design during a silk-screening process. However, if the silicone mixes with the ink while it's still wet, this contamination can lead to some unexpected and unwanted problems. The silicone can cause the ink to take longer to dry, or to "bubble out" or even change colors, depending on what other chemicals happen to be present. This can be disastrous for your printing.
Smeared Design
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Another difficulty with silicone spray is that it can lead to smearing and warping of the intended image. This problem can be common in industrial printing, according to the Pad Print website, because the oils in the silicone spray resist the ink and won't let it settle and dry. This leads to smudges and warping, ruining clear edges and destroying any text that was found in the original image, such as instructions printed on an object.
Corrections
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If you use a silicone spray to seal in the screen print by providing a resistant layer over the dry ink, then you're protecting the image that was printed. However, it's also impossible to add corrections to the image or to put additional prints on top of that layer because the silicone doesn't bond well with new ink. So make sure that you're completely done with the print and that the print is completely dry before you seal it with silicone.
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