Professional Screen Printing Supplies From People Who Actually Print

There's a difference between a company that catalogs products and a company that understands why those products matter. Buckets of Ink was founded in 1981 and has operated inside the screen printing and garment decoration industry for more than four decades. Our team has staffed print floors at Super Bowl events, World Series productions, and large concert tour runs. That experience doesn't just inform our recommendations — it shapes what we stock, how we advise, and why shops trust us when a run is on the line at 6 in the morning.

When a print shop calls asking why their emulsion is pinholes on the print side, or why their plastisol ink isn't curing correctly on a poly/cotton blend, or why they're getting ghosting on a dark discharge print — the answer requires real production knowledge. It can't come from a script. At Buckets of Ink, those conversations happen every day, and they're why shops stay with us for decades.

Why Supply Relationships Drive Print Quality

Most print failures aren't equipment failures — they're chemistry and materials failures. Using the wrong emulsion EOM for a halftone job, running a discharge ink through a screen coated for plastisol, applying pallet adhesive that breaks down under flash cure heat — these mismatches cause reprints, ruined garments, and lost clients. The right supply partnership prevents them before they happen.

We advise on mesh selection for specific ink types, appropriate emulsion systems for different exposure units, reclaim chemistry matched to ink chemistry, and squeegee durometer selection for different substrates. That's what separates a supply warehouse from a supply partner.

40+ Years of Industry Presence

Founded in Tempe, Arizona in 1981, Buckets of Ink has grown from a local supply house to a regional and national supplier serving print shops from Seattle to San Antonio. We operate four delivery vans for same-day and next-day service in the Phoenix metro area and ship nationwide with 1–2 day transit times to most western US markets. Our team of six carries a combined century-plus of hands-on print production experience.

What Are Screen Printing Supplies?

Screen printing is a stencil-based printing process where ink is pushed through a stretched mesh screen — itself masked by a hardened photographic emulsion stencil — onto a substrate below. Each color in a design requires its own screen and registration setup. The process produces vibrant, durable, opaque prints on garments and hard substrates, and it remains the most cost-effective decoration method for medium-to-large production runs.

The complete category of screen printing supplies encompasses every material, chemical, and tool involved in the production cycle:

• Inks — the pigment and carrier system that transfers the design
• Screens and mesh — the tensioned substrate that holds the stencil
• Emulsion — the light-sensitive coating that creates the stencil
• Film — the output medium for exposing the stencil
• Equipment — presses, dryers, exposure units, and flash units
• Chemicals — reclaim, cleaning, and maintenance chemistry
• Accessories — squeegees, blades, ink scoops, screen racks, cleaning tools
• Tapes and adhesives — pallet adhesive, masking, frame tape, blockout

Screen Printing Inks — Plastisol, Water-Based, Discharge, and Specialty

Ink selection is one of the most consequential decisions in garment decoration. The wrong formulation for a substrate can produce garments that crack after one wash, clog screens mid-run, or fail to cure correctly in a standard conveyor dryer. Buckets of Ink stocks multiple ink systems across multiple brands, and our team advises on ink selection for every substrate, application type, and production environment.

Plastisol Ink — The Commercial Standard

Plastisol ink is a PVC-based system that remains indefinitely workable at room temperature and cures only under heat (typically 320°F+). It's the dominant ink in commercial garment decoration for good reasons: it's opaque, durable, forgiving in production, and compatible with the full range of cotton and blend substrates. We stock Wilflex Epic Rio color systems alongside WM Plastics Midori High Opacity, fluorescent, and specialty formulations.

Water-Based and HSA Inks

Water-based inks absorb into fabric fibers rather than sitting on top, producing a significantly softer hand feel — a requirement for many fashion and retail clients. They're more demanding in production: screens must stay wet (water-based inks dry on-screen), curing requires higher temperatures and longer dwell times, and discharge inks react with fiberfill fiber in cotton to chemically remove the dye. High solids acrylic (HSA) inks bridge the gap — soft hand with more production flexibility than traditional water-based systems.

Specialty Inks — Metallic, Puff, Shimmer, and Polyester-Safe

Metallics and shimmer inks require coarser mesh (86–110) and lower squeegee pressure to preserve the reflective flake size. Puff inks expand under heat to create a raised tactile effect. Polyester-safe inks are formulated to resist dye migration on high-polyester-content fabrics — essential for athletic and performance wear. We stock specialty formulations and advise on system compatibility, cure requirements, and mesh selection for every specialty application.

Screen Printing Ink Types — Quick Reference

Screen Cleaning Chemicals — Reclaim, Degreasing, and Maintenance

The chemistry side of screen printing is where time and money disappear invisibly. Improper ink removal leaves residue that fouls the next emulsion coating. Under-powered haze removers leave ghost images that contaminate subsequent stencils. Skipping a degreaser step before coating causes emulsion adhesion failures. The right reclaim chemistry, used in the right sequence, extends screen life dramatically and reduces costly remakes.

Easiway Chemistry

Easiway Easisolv 701 is one of the most widely used screen wash and stain removers in commercial screen printing — a biodegradable formula that removes plastisol ink effectively without the hazardous volatility of traditional petroleum-based solvents. We stock Easiway emulsion removers and surface prep products that pair with Easisolv for a complete staged reclaim system.

Franmar Biodegradable Chemistry

Franmar D-Haze haze remover is the industry standard for eliminating ghost images (ink staining residue) that persist after standard reclaim. It penetrates the mesh fiber and removes embedded ink pigment that degradants alone can't reach. Franmar's soy-based chemistry is an environmentally responsible alternative to traditional petroleum solvents — fully effective without harsh odor or VOC concerns.

Kor-Chem and Hands Down

Hands Down citrus-based hand cleaner and degreaser is a press-side staple — effective for operator hand cleaning without the skin damage of solvent-based alternatives. Kor-Chem products cover specialty reclaim applications including water-based ink removal and biodegradable emulsion reclaim for shops with environmental compliance requirements.

Screens, Squeegees, Tapes & Shop Accessories

Aluminum Frames and Pre-Stretched Screens

Pre-stretched aluminum screens with polyester mesh are the production standard. We stock standard and custom frame sizes with mesh counts from 86 to 355 covering all commercial print applications. Shur-Loc retensionable frames allow shops to maintain mesh tension over extended use without replacing the entire screen. Wood frames are available for shops with legacy equipment requirements.

Squeegees and Replacement Blades

Squeegee durometer selection directly affects ink deposit and print clarity. Softer durometers (65–70 Shore A) push more ink through the mesh — appropriate for athletic prints and heavy ink deposits. Medium durometers (70–80) cover most general production. Harder durometers (80–90) suit fine halftone and four-color process work where minimal ink deposit is critical. We stock wood-handle squeegees in standard widths and polyurethane blade rolls in all durometers for shops that cut custom sizes.

Tapes and Pallet Adhesives

Tekmar TB-10 water-based pallet adhesive is our most-recommended pallet tack product — non-flammable, heat-stable, and repositionable. AlbaChem Premium Flash Adhesive provides aggressive flash tack for shops running high-speed automatics. PMI Tape frame and screen-blocking tape systems, Shurtape masking and poly tapes, and PMI self-adhesive foam complete the tape and adhesive category.

Shop Accessories

Ink scoops, mixing sticks, screen washing guns (Expert GD-2500 textile cleaning gun), screen racks, and ink storage containers are the daily consumables that keep a print floor operating efficiently. We stock these items in production-relevant quantities so shops don't make emergency supply runs mid-shift.