The most ingredients in a printing paste are the coloring matter and the thickener, besides these ,a number

of auxilaries are used in the paste. However the paste used for white discharge or for white resist or for printing white Damask.Print does not contain any colouring matter. Smilarly in foam printing or in batik printing,no thickener is used.But in general a printing paste is prepared by mixing various ingredients and dye and thickened with a thickener.The essential ingredients are selected from the following: Dyestuff or pigment : A suitable dyestuff is used as a colouring matter depending on the nature of the fibre e.g. an acid dye for silk,a disperse dye for polyester and soon. Lumps of the dyestuff . are broken and a smooth paste is made by using a wetting agent. Solvents : In preparing a paste. the dyestuff has to be dissolved in a small amont of water; therefore, solvents are used to prevent agglomeration or precipitation of the dyestuff in a paste Solvents which are commonalene (tettre hydro naphthalene) Decalene (deca hydro naphthalene), Ethylene glycol, Diethylene glyco and thiodiethylene glycol (Glycine A and Glyodate B) which have hydroscopic and solvent action for acid dyes, solubilised vat dyes and leuco vat dyes. Solution salt B, solution Salt SB etc, are used for making paste of powder brand vat dyes and for preventing the sudden oxidation of leuco vat in the paste; they increase the solubility of vat and solubilized vat dyes and incease their colour yield. Tetracarmit is used for dissolving Rapid Fast colours Hygroscopic Agent : Urea and glycerin are usually used as hgroscopic agents . Urea acts both as a aol,...ent and a hygroscopic agent; it assists fixation of the dye and facilities subsequent washing off of the thickne .They absorb subsequent amount of water during steaming and enable the dye molecules to dif Ise into the fibre;they have to be used in correct quantities; if too much of the substance is used; it leads to spreading the dye beyond the boundaries in the design; if too little of it is used, it results in lighter prients. Urea and cresylic acid are used in Indigosol printing: cresylic acid helps penetration of the Indigosol colour. Acetain (acetyl glycerin) is for fixing acid and basic colours: it splits up during steaming giving acetic acid arid glycerin. Wetting Agents : Turkey Red Oil , Monopol, Brillient Oil etc are used as wetting agent to obtain a smooth paste of the dyestuff without formation of any lumps which; if allowed to remain , get deposited on the cloth during printing producing dark spotsf In case of insoluble dyestuff like vat and naphthols, wetting agent are use d to facilitate wetting of the dyestuff and its subsequent dissolution. In case of direct, acid, basic, and reactive dyes which are water soluble, a wetting agent is not normally required. Thickeners : These are used in printing in the form of a emulsion in order to spreading of the dye beyond the boundaries of the design and hold particles in the printed portions until they paste or are fixed into the fabric.The thickener has to be computable with other ingredients of the paste and should have no affinity for the dye . It should be capable Of being removed easily during washing. The paste should be fairly stable. Thickeners which are commonly used are : starches and gums, sodium alginate.carboxy methyl cellulose, methyl celluiose,ethyl cellulose, emulsion thickeners etc.