Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I was just reading about the us of sublimation inks on cotton and how it wasn't a good thing to do, what about a shirt that is 90% cotton and 10% polyester? How will it work on 100% polyester shirts? Thanks for your help.
100% poly is the way to go with dye sublimation. The ink will only sublimate to the polyester molecules therefore the higher the poly percentage the better the print.
In order for the sublimation ink to stay to the shirt, it will only stay to the portion of the shirt that is polyester. So in your example, the 10% of the shirt that is made out of polyester will keep the design / colors on it. The 90% of the shirt that is made out of polyester is going to have the design / colors wash out.
There are a lot of companies that go with a 50/50 shirt to give you the vintage look since only 50% of the design stays on the shirt. Hope this helps.
Hi there ... are you guys saying that cotton tees do not work well for heat transfer - or just for sublimation inks ... we have an epson with pigment ultrachrome inks - do they work OK for heat transfer process?
Cotton t's work great for pigmentd ink transfers, but not for sublimation ink. As stated there is paper that will sublimate on cotton, but in my experience it does not hold up well............ Good luck ....JB
Hi there ... are you guys saying that cotton tees do not work well for heat transfer - or just for sublimation inks ... we have an epson with pigment ultrachrome inks - do they work OK for heat transfer process?
just for sublimation inks.
Your pigment inkjet printer is OK to use with inkjet transfer paper.
I find this PDF from Hix corp useful for general info:
Hi there ... are you guys saying that cotton tees do not work well for heat transfer - or just for sublimation inks ... we have an epson with pigment ultrachrome inks - do they work OK for heat transfer process?
Sublimation inks dont work for cotton.
The other folks are letting you know that there is a transfer paper out there that will take sulimation inks and the paper and ink will transfer onto cotton. This isnt sublimation onto cotton tees...the inks are sublimating to the coating on the transfer paper which you can then press onto cotton tees. Since sublimation inks are rather expensive you might as well just use pigmented inks and transfer paper.
The idea of sublimating onto a coated transfer sheet and pressing the whole thing onto the shirt defeats the whole purpose of dye sublimation in the first place.
Dye sublimation on light colored 65-100% poly garments only transfers the ink which leaves super lasting designs with zero hand. The process because of the transparent nature of the inks and lack of any white inks to date leaves dark gear and 100% cotton out of the picture for now. Unless you want to go the coated paper route. If you do...just print with durabrite pigmented inks...its cheaper.
Yes, I agree, it sort of, defeats the whole purpose of dye-sub. I'm just saying that it's out there. It could be useful, at least for sampling purposes.
Hi there ... are you guys saying that cotton tees do not work well for heat transfer - or just for sublimation inks ... we have an epson with pigment ultrachrome inks - do they work OK for heat transfer process?
"regular" inkjet printed heat transfers are fine with 100% cotton.
Dye sublimation (a form of heat transfer) is not fine with 100% cotton.
I think sometimes the two terms get intermingled, but they are different processes.
Rodney, Conde, a forum sponsor sell the "hybrid" subli-dark product. I think it will be nice if we can hear some testimonials from them, so that we can make good evaluations of the pros & cons of this product. I found this on their site:
sublimation inks on cotton 
www.busyPrinting.com
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