20 Best Emulsion For Screen Printing (2023 Updated)

Speedball makes a great water based ink which is great for a DIY project. I am a teacher and my students are printing using speedball inks, squeegees and screens in the art lab. There have been a couple of learning curves but successful prints for club t-shirts.

Students do need to flood the screen in between prints to prevent clogging. The smaller front pocket image has great consistency with one pass. The back club logo is a bit challenging to get in one pass.

Next time for this larger image on back of shirts, we are going to try to first flood the screen then push the squeegee for the screen prints. This will hopefully get even coverage in one pass. Other than that it has been a successful Art Club project!.

I had never used this product before and thought, why not give it a try. I really love to paint and wanted to explore hand-painting with this product. I was able to change the consistency using water and hand-paint the most beautiful designs on cotton.

It dries extremely fast and the only feedback I will share is to not paint it on too thick if you are hand-painting. I did paint one part too thick and it didn’t ever dry. Even when I removed the excess, it was still tacky.

All a learning opportunity 🙂 I went back after trying the red and blue and then purchased the black and white. Absolutely recommend.

I’ve been using speedball products for years and this screen printing ink is great quality and long lasting on fabric. The small size container is a convenient and affordable option when you don’t need a lot of one colour or don’t do a large volume of prints.

The ink is water washable and easy to clean up. No strong odour or solvents. Vibrant colours and wash fast when heat set with an iron. I highly recommend this product.

I am a first time user and this ink worked well while printing on a fairly rough surface. Definately covered very well also. Drying with a heat gun was easy too. I have bought more already.

We love this product!! Looks awesome on Black and Blue shirts!! It don’t stand out as much on White

I’m not sure what the deal is with some of the “canned” rating scales amazon fired at me: Warmth? Okay… not really relevant. But here’s the scoop:

Its a good product. The problem was, i bought the same product a year ago and took for ever to get here and was liking, gave them another shot and took for ever to get delivered. but good product. Recomended.

yes.

This photo emulsion sucks. This is my first time order this kind and I will not order any again. Bad quality! It washes right off after I burned my image onto the screen. Literally everything come off.

It feel like its glue!.

This was terrible stuff!!! I wasted several screens trying to get the exposure time correct and finally just gave up. It would not expose the design and the emulsion came off the screen when sprayed with water.

Save your money and buy Speedball emulsion!!!!.

The paint was blue like a summer sky, Like Cookie Monster or Sinatra’s eyes. Smooth as butter on a summer day, Dried like perfect bale of hay. Would I get again? The price was right. It’s vivid hue was crisp and bright.

So text them, write them, make a call, And get screen printing ink only from Speedball.

I needed this particular yellow for a shirt that I needed to do. I had considered using regular fabric paint but I’m so glad I didn’t. This yellow had the perfect pop on my navy blue shirt. Super happy with Speedball Inks.

They’ve never disappointed.

I can’t say it enough. I hope DickBlick carries Speedball screen printing emulsion and diazi forever. I have used at least 10 other brands in my 6 years of screen printing. THIS is the only one I trust.

I don’t think I will ever use another brand! I use it for making texture screen prints for costumes that I make. Burn it using a LED UV black light at 15 inches for 5 min 50 seconds. Soak for 1-2 min.

Wash it out with a wide spray nozzle. Post burn for extra strength for 5 min.

I’ve used this before and it was okay, but this time my screens were ruined due to the emulsion just sort of glooping (technical term) off the screen when I wash them out. First time I exposed for 4-5 minutes as suggested and the next time, I did my usual 10 minutes.

Both times, I got the same result. Trying my old screenprint direct emulsion that’s been lying around for about 9 months to see if that works.

please note. if you are new to the process of prepping a screen and burning it, please read ALL of the directions several times Before starting. In the directions for applying the emulsion to the screen it never says how thick or thin to coat the screen.

When you get to the directions for exposing the screen with the light the directions say “you should have used a Thin coat of emulsion”. this information would have been great in the instructions for using the emulsion to coat the screen! As the saying goes, the information was ” A Day late and a dollar short”.

I have been through a few different emulsions in the past year to figure out which one I like best. Diazo is alright but the short shelf life does not make it very economically feasable for me to use, I have a small shop.

The 12 month shelf life of this emulsion is excellent. It is a bit more light sensitive than the dual cure emulsions so extra care should be taken in that regard, but I have purchased several containers of this one and I really like using it.

I would recommend it to anyone.

Excellent. Easy to use. Gave great details. 30 seconds to perfect

I used to get my supplies from another company. When their shipping rates almost doubled, I decided to do a search on Google. I’m glad I did. the emulsion is of the same or better quality and the price was 25% cheaper.

Also the shipping rate was very affordable! Screen Print Direct is my future supplier!!!.

Works great. Lasts much longer than the stated shelf life. Ecotex is my go to now for everything silkscreen related.

First time buying this brand, and absolutely love it!!! It applies to the screen so much better then other brands I have used. Great stuff will be ordering more when I need it!!!

This emulsion goes on smooth , easy to control , spreads nicely and is easy to work with. The out come is superior and gives a great sharp edged look when burned to your design. I recommend trying this emulsion you will be happy with the results.

Reacts very well with light as it should. This product is true to its function and for the price I can accomplish my work printing shirts with flawless effort. A+quality

We ordered 14 jars of 6 colors for a school screen printing project. 3 of the colors leaked in all the jars ordered for each color (8 of the 14 jars). One color was taped shut around the top and didn’t leak, two other colors simply didn’t leak and weren’t taped shut.

The success of shipping without leaking seemed to depend on the color ordered which is random and inconsistent.

i bought the opaque white. the instructions state that this product can be used for block printing. i used it with a linoleum block onto black fabric. i stand on the block since i don’t have a press, get off, and voila! less than a fading whisper of an image! in fact only the very edge of the last corner that i inked up even attempted to appear.

99% of the image did not transfer. i can tell that what happened was that it dried in the minute that it took me to ink up the block. i should have known this would happen because when i got some ink on my fingers when opening the jar it dried up like gesso in some seconds.

this is so bad that i have to figure i must be doing something wrong? it cannot be that a product that blick sold me is this bad? but still i am super discouraged. i am possibly going to try screen printing it and see if it is any better.

will update review if it works in that capacity. i hope i’m not wasting money running around different techniques to get my project done >. <.

As an art student, these were great for my budget, especially for fabric ink. I bought a full set of colors–red, yellow, blue, black, white, and semi-opaque white (CMY not available at my Blick store so I went with red, yellow, blue).

So far I have only used the semi-opaque white, and I’m not sure that I want to take a chance on the others and see if they are better. I will probably just return the rest, because they have given me nothing but trouble.

So this review is only about my experience with semi-opaque white, but for me, that was enough to completely turn me off to this brand. The viscosity of the ink is very thick. At first I was pleased with this, because I find that better for printing on fabric, but after a few minutes of use, I realized that it is not just thick, it’s clumpy.

After one pull of the squeegee, all of the ink sticks to the squeegee, and I have to scrape it off and lay it back on the screen. So for each pull of my squeegee, I have to stop, scrape the ink off, and put the ink back down.

Talk about inefficiency! It dries very, very quickly compared to Speedball ink. I realize this is an issue with waterbased ink, but this is worse than it should be. After about five minutes of printing, I had problems with some spots being clogged, and this is while printing with a fairly large mesh (around 140–not exactly sure because of the weird way Blick labels their screens.

) and without stopping. And don’t even get me started about washing the ink out of the screen. If the things I just talked about were my only issues, I could probably just add a little water to the ink, and it would be better.

But washing this ink out is almost impossible. My screen might be ruined after only printing with the white ink on it twice, because of spots that simply will not wash out. With Speedball ink, I normally spend only about five minutes washing my screen, and all I need is a sponge and water.

For this ink I had to get out a scouring pad and dish soap, and even after half an hour of scrubbing, some of it will not budge. I tried bleach after that (which obviously took off my emulsion before I was ready to do that), and that did not even help.

It’s kind of ridiculous for water based ink, which is supposed to be easier to handle and clean up after. I do not recommend this ink. Spend a little more money and get Speedball. You won’t regret it.

I use this every time and it is honestly the best emulsion I have worked with yet!

Jacquard consistently has high quality water based screen printing ink and is constantly looking to improve their product. I love that you technically don’t need to heat cure, which is one less worry when you are working with clients.

(I still do out of paranoia and habit) wide range of color options and I love, love love the opaque options. Two passes of any opaque color with a flash heat in between each layer will cover pretty much any dark color.

For paper I do find the ink to be a little thick but with a little extender base added that’s no problem. Would highly recommend to any level of screen printer. Worth the couple extra dollars for consistency!.

After researching many brands I landed on this one by recommendation from other silkscreeners. First I’ll tell you what it did NOT do for me. I REALLY wanted to give it a solid try but after applying the ink to my screens to print posters I was so disappointed.

Not only was it hard to push through the 110 mesh of my screen but the image it left on the paper even after 5-6 attempts was blotchy, inconsistent and to my awful surprise, not opaque at all! It’s possible that I was using the product the wrong way BUT I did not water it down at all, did not find any warnings against what kind of emulsion to use, and even did a wet ‘float coat’ each time to try and extend dry time.

Yet after all this, an ink should not clog your screen and dry out within 60 seconds of applying it! Ultimately I had to throw out my attempt and use a whole other brand instead. So I would love to learn more about the product and why it wasn’t working but for now, I can’t trust it until further testing.

A shame too because I bought 8 containers of it and planned to do a full limited edition poster series using this brand of ink. Anyone out there who can help me – I’d be appreciative. And I would still recommend the brand to others, just that it failed me.

This expensive ink is virtually unusable. The label reads “production runs are facilitated by slow dry time in screen”–the exact opposite is true. The ink dries and starts clogging the screen within one or two prints.

I can’t help but think that Jacquard got some discount or past-due-date medium to mix these inks with. I have tried using reducer and water, because I bought a lot of these inks with grant money to do workshops with youth.

Unfortunately, a complete waste of money and time. Sorry, kids.

my only problem with this is that you have to mix up the whole jar at once – unlike in the past. It doesn’t say but I’m guessing that one jar will coat 5 or so 10×14 screens and I just don’t need to sensitize that many at once.

It says it keeps in the fridge for 3 months or so but I don’t even anticipate needing that many screens that soon so most of it will go to waste. With the old system you just measured out some emulsion and 2 teaspoons or so of sensitizer and mixed as much as you needed.

I couldn’t find that anywhere and my old emulsion finally dried out (after 10 years or so)- that was a great system – I feel bad wasting all of this activated emulsion but I’m sure that’s what’s going to happen so that rather negates the good price.

I wish Speedball would go back to the old system (I’m capable of measuring). I would recommend it because it’s good emulsion but would hesitate because of the waste. It would be fabulous if you’re making a half dozen screens at one time.

PS – I haven’t ever tried the emulsion remover so I can’t really comment on that.

I am a high school art teacher and I had an advanced student that really wanted to try screen printing with the emulsion. I was a little hesitant seeing I had never done the emulsion myself, just the printing.

We watched a video online and followed the directions that come in the kit box and everything came out great! I was so happy and relieved. Just watching the student follow and learn the process was awesome too! We simply used a 150 watt clear lightbulb, a desk lamp, and a timer.

We had the picture on transparency paper and filled it in with sharpie for double resistance. We based the timing off the chart in the kit. The lines came out sharp and the it did the job it said it would.

Make sure you a have all other materials needed and this product does actually what it’s intended for.

I purchased this ink because I wanted a single formula that would work on both paper and fabric, and was also interested in the lightfastness & extended drying time. Found the Jacquard inks to be very stiff and also fast-drying in the screen.

On fabric, I could only print 2-3 times in quick succession before the screen became clogged with ink, requiring excessive scrubbing to remove (and extra time wasted on cleaning & drying screens). Open time was slightly better on paper.

I tried adding water and extender to different batches, and nothing helped. This held true with multiple colors. The coverage on fabric was poor, leaving blotchy and bare areas despite sufficient pressure and ink.

On paper the coverage was almost TOO good: the layer of ink printed was so thick and stiff that it would hold marks from the screen being lifted off, even with minimal amounts of ink being applied. It is also very glossy when dry, something not noted in the product description.

I did not have any of these problems with the same screens when using the Speedball inks– those printed beautifully on my fabric, and had a much longer open time (a run of 50+ prints on paper, could have kept going if I hadn’t run out of paper!).

I was a little skeptical about this product. I was buying this to create a glowing background on paper. The ink is very slimy when going onto paper. The ink needs a couple coats, but spreads well. Drying time is a little long.

I think it was a few hours before almost completely dry. I used soft graphite on the dry glowing ink. The graphite felt smooth when applying. I tested the glowing effect, and the results where simply awesome.

I plan on using this in the classroom. The kids will love how their art glows.

I bought this to use in my own studio since I don’t have access to space/equipment to emulsion and expose screens, and I try to work solvent free because of I don’t have proper ventilation either- usually I’m a fan of the gum arabic method when it comes to drawing directly into a screen, but since I use water-based inks the gum arabic dissolves before anything can really be printed.

Speedball’s screen filler has been a really great solution so far! The only issue I’ve had is a slight problem getting really fine detail using a brush, but that’s not a deal breaker and is to be expected.

My biggest problem with it is that speedball’s packaging is TERRIBLE. I don’t know if it was because they sat in a box in the heat all day before they were delivered, or because they got jostled or dropped on the way, but the drawing fluid was leaking out of the container when it got here and has continued to leak.

The lids often get stuck on the jars because the filler and drawing fluid dry and glue the containers shut, and there’s no good way to really control how much of the filler comes out when you pour unless you’re really careful.

I put the screen filler in an old dish soap bottle to squirt out the amount that I needed, and so far that’s worked much, much better. I’m planning to transfer the drawing fluid into another empty squirt bottle when I have one.

I’m not sure how the overall value of this product compares to others, because I haven’t tried similar products from other suppliers, but all in all I think this is good product, and Ido think it’s worth the money, especially if you’re starting to set up your own studio.

Just beware of the packaging!.

Oddly, the screen filler instructions are only on the drawing fluid jar. Can’t stress enough the fact that if you try to squeegee two swipes across the screen, the drawing fluid will dissolve and you’ll cover up your design.

Also, it’s best to accept that the screen filler is permanent once it dries and just make a new screen for new designs.

I am used to using photo-sensitive emulsions for screen printing, so drawing fluid is something I am just learning about. I was worried that it would not really rinse out in cold water and that I might have to scrub and weaken the surrounding blockout, but it rinsed out beautifully, as well as repelling the blockout well and cleaning out of my brushes easily.

Will definitely buy it again.

Great kit!!!! This kit got me into screenprinting and now I can’t stop creating. It took me a couple of times to get the emulsion set on the screen correctly but now I’m confident I can create amazing graphics on tshirts and art projects.

I definitely recommend this kit for beginners and intermediates alike.

I used this to screenprint paper bags for my shop. The ink is great to work with – no runny. Be sure to flood the screen with lowest pressure – otherwise it tends to dry on screen quickly. We got some great looking paper prints.

I have also used this on moleskine notebooks. Comes out great. I discard all unused ink from the screen – because the consistency changes after it’s been out. Be sure to close the ink container after dispensing! The ink dries on paper pretty quickly.

For me, it was 5 to 10 mins.

It’s a fun cheap way to try out screen printing. I have only made a couple projects but it was simple and they turned out great. I would suggest watching YouTube videos to learn the best methods just to give yourself the best chances of success.

I am just starting out and using a simplified method of screen printing–just a screen on a shirt, nothing fancy. (I’m using EZScreenPrint stencils) I purchased the Permaset Aqua Supercover White to use on dark shirts.

I found it hard to work with, too thick, riding up my squeegee. I wasn’t able to get good coverage with it at all–lots of transparent areas. I can’t tell if the ink is too thick to go through my screen (110) or if it’s being lifted off by the screen when I take the stencil off the shirt.

I had a much easier time and far superior coverage with the Jacquard Super Opaque White, even though I know that’s supposed to be lower quality. I also had great success with the Blick ink in black on my lighter shirts.

Neither of those inks rode up my squeegee either. Permaset Aqua must just not work well with my method of screen printing.

I’ve decided to move from fabric painting to screen printing. I bought white Permaset Aqua SuperCover Textile Printing Ink after researching fabric inks. I chose to go with this eco friendly, water-based product instead of a plastisol for a few reasons.

These reasons include the fact that it’s easy — but very time-consuming — to heat set the ink with a clothes iron. (Note: I usually let t-shirts air dry overnight or up to 24 hours before heat setting.

) My wash tests have all been good, even when I’ve tested tees in hot water without turning them inside out first. I’m able to get excellent coverage with this ink. However, the white is well-known for its thickness.

I have run into issues with ink creeping up the squeegee and also have had occasional issues with bleeding. Most likely, i was pressing the squeegee too hard. That said, the solid coverage outweighs any minor hassles.

I would definitely recommend this product.

This is the best paint I’ve used, and I’ve tried a bunch of brands. I prefer water-based ink but was disappointed that I couldn’t find ones that were opaque enough (white & yellow were the worst). I tried plastisol, but that was way too messy for home use.

This stuff was the solution. My specific observations. Still has SOFT HAND, but more of a plastisol feel in how it covers. The OPAQUE COMPLETELY COVERS the fabric color, very slightly raised, stretchy/rubbery feel that doesn’t crack.

In my experience, it DOESN’T DRY IN THE SCREEN ANYWHERE NEAR AS FAST AS OTHERS (like Speedball and Jacquard, which have their merits, particularly in some colors). I do almost all darker colors, so I use mostly super-cover; but I have tried standard cover on white or light color shirts and that works well, too.

You DO NEED THE EXTENDER, not so much b/c of fast drying, but because some of the opaque colors are VERY THICK and needed to be “watered” down for best results (white and yellow, especially). Also, I tend to use mostly 220 & 156 screens, both work well as long as you dilute it to a consistency that works.

As it came, the white in particular would have “clogged” up a 110 screen even. So, just experiment; it didn’t take long to figure out. (And this isn’t a complaint. Too thick I can work with; too thin I cannot.

) I’ve used it on polyester (like under armour) and it works great. In sum, this stuff is totally worth the extra few bucks-fewer mistakes, EASY/FAST CURING (relative to others). And Blick is cheaper than every other place I have checked.