Versatex Screen Printing Inks by Jacquard Products

I discovered Versatex screen printing inks in 2005 when I started teaching surface design classes at California Design College. Block printing on fabric was one of the techniques on our class syllabus — and out of all the products I tested for that purpose, Versatex was the one I liked best.

I have used Versatex for different purposes, but most of my experience with this material comes from block printing with Versatex on fabric. For this purpose, I can say that Versatex is an outstanding product. It goes on semi-opaque, and is a little on the thin side — so if you are hoping to achieve dense, totally opaque coverage in your block prints, this might not be the product you want to use. But the upside is that it is really easy to apply; it rolls on smoothly, and you can get super even coverage with it once you’ve practiced applying it. My students all enjoyed relatively good success with it too, and all of them were total beginners to textile arts.

Aside from block printing, you can also use Versatex like a fabric paint; you can apply it to fabric using ordinary paintbrushes or sponge brushes.

Either way, you can achieve beautiful results with Versatex.

I think the best thing about Versatex is that it hasn’t noticeably changed the hand of the fabrics I’ve worked with. I was mostly using it to print ordinary t-shirts, t-shirt fabrics and lightweight woven apparel fabrics; I haven’t attempted to use it on any luxury fabrics or delicate fabrics. If your goal is to print t-shirts or inexpensive apparel fabrics, I think you are likely to be satisfied with the results you get from Versatex. A lot of competing products make the fabric stiff or adversely affect the softness. In this regard, I found Versatex to be better than every other similar product I tested.

These inks are permanent, but only if you heat-set your printed fabric first according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

I highly recommend Versatex screen printing inks to other crafters.