YUDU screen printing ink contains lead

[#1]

Hey folks, I just finished up another batch of testing for various stores here on Etsy and decided to test my new YUDU screen printing inks (before I start printing tees for kids) and they are 700ppm - 800ppm! I'm glad I tested them before making up some tees! Does anyone know about Speedball inks?

[Former_Member]

I am confused about the Cricut. Cricut is a cutting machine, it has no ink. I am confused.

[Former_Member]

Apparently we can use ink cartridges with the Cricut, I don't know much about it yet. I just started reading about the Cricut on their forum.

http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tt.aspx?forumid=73

There is all kinds of Info on the Cricut that I want to study before I spend the money.

[Former_Member]

...the "other inks" that they used are probably not special screen printing inks.

These screens are the same screens used in "good-old-regular" screen-printing.

As long as you use SCREEN-PRINTING WATER BASED inks, you will be ok.
DO NOT use inks that you find in the "craft" stores.....fabric paint and such.

USE SCREEN-PRINTING Water based inks only!!!

Check out these great screen-printing videos ...... lots of wonderful "to-the-point" information!!!!
http://www.screenprintingvideo.com/Site_6/Main_Page.html

Scroll down to “specialty printing” and look under the “water based” pages 1,2 &3….there are 11 videos.

One of the most important things in water based screen printing is: DO NOT let the inks dry in the screens!!!!
(….but , screenprintingvideo.com has a video for that too!!!) :)
You can buy “ink retarder” and other things that will help with this.

I will be using “SCREEN-PRINTING water based ink” from an Australian company.
They are called “PERMASET AQUA”and I purchased them online at dickblick.com.
Later, I will try “EnviroLine Water Based Ink” from http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/site/799934/page/1068835

I will try all of this out as soon as I receive my new “T8 15 watt unfiltered UV black lights”…..I am replacing the yudu’s regular florescent lights because I would like to burn my screens in 1-3 minutes instead of 8-10 minutes.

I am also waiting on my “scoop-coater” to come in the mail so I can coat my own screens with “pre-sensitized liquid emulsion”….this saves A LOT of money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.and takes only a few seconds to do!

[Former_Member]

Thanks for letting us know!

[NineRed]

WHOAH is this waterbase ink or plastisol?

[Former_Member]

Does anyone know about Speedball water-based inks?

[babymoon]

Why then, does it say on the provocraft website here:

http://www.provocraft.com/products/detail.php?cl=yudu&scl=inks&cat=&item=62-5005 (and on every page of the ink descriptions)

that the ink is non-toxic?

[steppie]

marking!

[Former_Member]

marking!!!

[Former_Member]

marking thanks for all the great links, CBacon

[Former_Member]

Apparently all standard International Coatings Inks are CPSIA compliant. They have water based inks as well as plastisol.

I don't know what inks are usable with the Yudu, but thought I'd post in case someone found this useful :)

http://www.iccink.com/phthalates.htm

[dressurdolly2]

I'm pretty confused, too. I own a cricut and it cuts. There are no ink cartridges in any of the models. Am I missing something new?

[Former_Member]

I used speedball ink last night, it washed out of the screen fine. No problems here.

[Former_Member]

Great to know! Thanks longoriagirls!

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone!. I wanted to respond to the comment from Superflykidz that many of you have commented on regarding lead in the yudu inks. If you have any questions, you can direct them to me at toniasarah at gmail.com. Please mind the formal language. When talking about compliance and safety acts there is no way around it.

When we, at Provo Craft, saw Superflykidz post we were surprised by the test results. All Yudu inks are manufactured in the U.S. and are formulated and manufactured in compliance with the Consumer Products Safety Act, Title 16, Part 1303 regarding lead products, the recent Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, CPSC HR 4040 regarding lead content and in conformance with the Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act. The Yudu product is not subject to regulation under each of these regulations but Provo Craft has, nevertheless, complied with them out of an abundance of caution.

You may also be interested to know that Provo Craft’s inks are water based and they are not manufactured with Class I or Class II ozone depleting substances, nor are they developed or tested using animals. Provo Craft uses third party independent testing to verify that its products meet and, in most cases, exceed safety requirements. We take the safety of our products and our consumers very seriously. We vigorously test all of our products for compliance and more importantly overall safety.

It must be understood that lead, although never intentionally added during the ink manufacturing process, is a common element and as such may occur in trace amounts in everyday products. We audit our manufacturing process and have not identified any lead contamination sources, nor have third-party independent tests indicated lead exists in the Yudu inks even approaching regulation thresholds. The reason we have third party testing is that they are able to conduct unbiased testing in a controlled, contaminant free testing environment. We welcome any detailed information Superflykidz can provide to us that we can further test against to insure that our products remain in compliance.

[Former_Member]

Was the lead identified by XRF testing or by some other means? 700-800ppm is not, in my opinion, just trace amounts.

I'd love more information on this as I am exploring the yudu for future use.

[Former_Member]

This is a quote from http://fashion-incubator.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=32 which I would highly recommend folks here tune in to.
"FYI, we had one of our red fabrics come up 300 ppm for lead with XRF tesing by a certified lead tester. We took it to a lab and had more expensive/sensitive testing done and it came out below 10 ppm! I'm not sure why. it was the same exact peice of fabric. I am guessing that the red dye was all on the surface of the fabric and testing the fabric as a whole made all the difference. This fabric was made in China. The moral is to second-guess your positive results!"

[LaurieRyan]

screen print, is that like a transfer that you iron on?

[Former_Member]

No, screen printing is ink that goes directly onto something. Iron-on transfers are a different thing.

[Superflykidz]

JuliaChicken, maybe my testing is resulting in the same dilemma that you've spoken about - I'm really confused why the testing with the XRF would show 600-800 ppm for me and nothing for you..... We tried testing it through the bottle itself, then through the top of the bottle, then a blob on a non-leaded surface, then a thin coat on a non-leaded surface. The readings were all the same... The person doing the testing is trained by the Niton company so it's not me doing the testing.

[Former_Member]

superflykidz,

The testing results were not my own, but by a forum participant of the link I provided.

I do know (from following this subject) that the XRF guns do not provide accurate results - despite their $30k-$50k price tags!

At best, the XRF testing produces results that show that MORE testing needs to be done -- doesn't that just beat all LOL

Just another monkey wrench in the law. It is virtually impossible to comply.

[Superflykidz]

I guess the XRF just alerts us to items that are questionable - at least that's a start, right?

[Former_Member]

apparently the XRF will rarely if ever give a false negative (saying no lead when there is lead), but quite OFTEN give false positives (saying there IS lead or more lead, when there is significantly less.)

[Former_Member]

superflykidz says:
"I guess the XRF just alerts us to items that are questionable - at least that's a start, right?"

Yes, it's the start of going broke, and then having to charge more than any customer would ever pay.

So, it really is the start of going out of business too.

Or.... we can just make everything from yarn or plain wood.

Baskin Robbins we would not be.

[Former_Member]

marking