How to use Heatset light fabric ink

Heatset is a water-based textile ink made in New Zealand, designed for printing onto white or light fabrics. Follow these six steps for a clean print that lasts through the wash.

Is Heatset right for your project?

Heatset colours are transparent, so they show best on white or light fabrics. On coloured fabric, the result is a blend of the fabric colour and the ink colour. Heatset is best applied by screenprinting, roller or hand painting. It is not suitable as a dye bath, so if you want to dye fabric, take a look at Silhouette instead.

What you'll need

• Heatset ink in your chosen colours
• A roller, screen or hand-painting tools, and your design
• White or light fabric, washed before use
• A way to apply dry heat: a hand iron, tumble dryer or tunnel dryer
• Water for cleaning up
• Print Paste if you want pastel shades

Step 1: Prepare the ink

For screenprinting, use Heatset straight from the pot. Our colours are intermixable, so you can mix different colours from our range to create your own shades. For pastel shades, mix your colour with Print Paste.

Tips for mixing pastels:

• Add colour to the paste, not paste to the colour. Start with the Print Paste in a cup and add your Heatset ink to it a little at a time. Doing it the other way round means you'll use a lot of paste trying to lighten the colour.
• Experiment and test. We encourage you to try different combinations of our colours and paste to create unique results. Everyone wants slightly different results, so test your mixes on scrap fabric and let each one dry completely before a full run, as ink can dry a slightly different shade from how it looks wet.
• Keep a record. Each time you get a result you like, note how much paste and ink you used. Weighing them on a small digital scale and writing the amounts down makes the shade easy to repeat.

Pastels will fade into dark fabric, so keep them for white or light fabrics. For dark fabrics, try Heatset Hi Opaque White, which shows on both light and dark fabric. A new range of inks designed for dark fabrics is coming soon.=

Step 2: Prepare the design

Get your screen, block or design ready before you start applying ink.

Tip: wash new fabric first. New fabric often contains "dressing", which can cause uneven colour uptake or colour loss when washed. Wash the fabric thoroughly before decorating, and don't print onto dressed fabric until all the dressing is removed.

Step 3: Apply colour

Roll, print or paint your design onto the fabric. How much ink you need depends on the fabric and the colour you're using, so test on a scrap of the same fabric to find what works for you.

Step 4: Air dry first

Let the colour dry completely. At this stage the ink is not fixed yet, and the colour must be dry before heat fixing. Leave the fabric somewhere safe while you work on the next piece.

Step 5: Heat-set to fix the ink

Heatset needs heat fixing to give the best colourfastness when laundered. Any form of dry heat will fix it, including a hand iron, tumble dryer or tunnel dryer.

If you're using a hand iron, use no steam, and for large areas, iron small sections at a time.

Recommended fixing times:

The best time and temperature can vary, so wash test to find what works for your fabric and equipment.

Step 6: Ready to wear

Once fixed, your fabric is ready to wear, sew or sell.

Test first

Before batch printing, test your fixing procedure by washing and rubbing a test print. It takes a few minutes and can save a whole batch.

Common mistakes

• Fixing before the ink is dry. The colour must be completely dry first.
• Skipping the wash test. Always test before a full run.
• Printing on dressed fabric. Wash new fabric thoroughly first.
• Expecting solid colour on dark fabric. Heatset is transparent, so it works best on white or light fabrics.
• Using steam on the iron. Use a dry iron.

Clean-up

Heatset cleans up with water.

Which ink should I use?

Use Heatset for printing onto white or light fabrics. If you want to dye fabric using brush, sponge, immersion or spray, try Silhouette fabric dye ink

If you want to print onto dark fabric, try Heatset Hi Opaque White. Our new range of dark fabric inks is also coming soon.