Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I just thought I'd post a t-shirt that I just did with an opaque inkjet transfer and my plotter.
The black on the closeup is the shirt itself. There's no black ink in on this transfer...anywhere.
Oh, and it was a single press.
Enjoy!
That looks really great Chani, good job it looks like all of your experimenting is paying off well. I have been reading all of your posts with the steps you have been taking. Keep up the good work
It seems I'm trying to push the limits of what you can achieve with various printing processes.
I'm really happy with the way this one turned out, other than the fact that I don't have anymore professional opaque transfer paper left so I had to use some Avery paper that we got quite a while ago. This was just an experiment anyway to see if we could do what I wanted to do, so I'm not too worried about it.
I'm ordering some JetDark tomorrow, so I'll try it again with that paper and see if it will work with that.
It seems I'm trying to push the limits of what various printing processes will do.
I'm really happy with the way this one turned out, other than the fact that I don't have anymore professional opaque transfer paper left so I had to use some Avery paper that we got quite a while ago. This was just an experiment anyway to see if we could do what I wanted to do, so I'm not too worried about it.
I'm ordering some JetDark tomorrow, so I'll try it again with that paper and see if it will work with that.
Usually that is how you do something amazing is by pushing past the limits of what others can do.
Thanks for the post. Maybe you coul explain exactly what you did, so people can have a better understanding. Also, do you think it might have been better to use vinyl for the white part. I know that you wouldn't find it in the colors that are there, but at least the white.
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The original Thread Killah!™ Heavy Metal Art and more @ www.deathisgain.com
That is it . My biggest problem is the dark (I'm turning down business), and I'm still experimenting w/transfers. The roland is giving me hell too! Any advise on equipment , inks, or transfer (plain and opaque) would be a godsend.
Hi Robert. Sorry, that was just my attempt at creating some suspense.
I've included the file that I printed and the what I cut. You can see I didn't print anything for the white (or any of the black that surrounds it).
I printed that out with solid circles for the rings and the grey stripe minus any white areas. What I did to set it up was to take the original file with the 13 Rings Chainmaille Supplies and the rings with a black background, created slightly larger circles centered on the rings and gave them the same color as the rings, then turned the rings white and sent them to the back layer. Then I did the same with the grey stripe and subtracted the "g" and welded the original grey strip with the shape of the "g". I combined all white shapes in the design (the words and rings) and sent them all to the back layer so they wouldn't print.
I loaded the printed page into our plotter. Then I selected the white shapes and hit "Cut/Plot" in CorelDRAW and used the option to cut only the selected shapes. Then, obviously, I cut the file.
Here's the important part: because it's opaque paper, you need to weed out everything that you don't want on your shirt. Make sure that when you cut your file you ONLY cut through the transfer itself and NOT through the backing paper. Weed your design, then the key to this whole process: Magic Mask from Stahls (or Beacon). Basically what Magic Mask is is a plastic sheet with adhesive on it that can be heat pressed.
Lay the Magic Mask over your design (on the face sie, not the backing side), and CAREFULLY peel the backing paper off your design. With this Avery paper it was pretty difficult, and prolly even more difficult because I cut a little too deep. Make sure you get all of the backing paper off of your design elements (or they won't stick to your shirt).
Press and peel COLD!
With this method you can press all of your unconnected design elements and letters at the same time without needing to align each and every element. It also allows you not to have any sort of box or border at all.
To be honest, I didn't use vinyl for the white because then I would have: had two different feels of two different materials...had to align and press in two different steps...wasted more money (I had to use a whole piece of paper anyway, so I may as well use it for the entire design and not use extra materials (the vinyl)).
If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them.
That is it . My biggest problem is the dark (I'm turning down business), and I'm still experimenting w/transfers. The roland is giving me hell too! Any advise on equipment , inks, or transfer (plain and opaque) would be a godsend.
Hi Nelson,
To be honest, I've only had about a week's experience with transfers, and just about everything know I learned here.
Just make sure if you're using an inkjet transfer that you're using PIGMENT inks, not dye inks. Your transfers won't fade as fast if you do. Most Epson printers use pigment ink.
As for transfers for lights, I think I've given up on them for now. I'm not going to use them.
I take it you have a GX-24? I'm sorry, I can't give you any advice with that plotter because we have a Graphtec CE5000-60, and I only have a little more than a month's experience with plotters, period.
Otherwise, just read my previous post to see what I did with that particular file.
Oops, I attached the wrong print file. The extra space to allow for the distance between our cutter's rollers and its optical eye shout be on the RIGHT of that image, not the left.
I made a mistake at first and had the space to the left of my image, loaded it up in our plotter, and didn't pay attention to the orientation of the actual image on either my paper or in Cutting Master 2, so it cut it rotated 180 degrees.
That's one thing I'm a little disappointed with in Cutting Master 2. When you're using registration marks it only allows you to rotate your cutting paths 90 degrees in ONE direction (I forget which way), whereas when you're just cutting, you can rotate a full 180 in either direction.
The biggest problem with that would come if I'd printed a bunch of them off and went to cut and they couldn't be used. If I could rotate 180, they could be.
Oh, and just as a note, I used 40g dowwnforce on this shirt when I was cutting the image. I should have used 20g or 30g. Hey, still experimenting!
What problems have you had with opaque transfers washing?
I have an old version of this shirt with that ugly box around it, and the colors have survived very well, tho there is quite a bit of puckering.
The other thing is that this is an Avery transfer...not the best quality. It's already started to crack, even before washing it (the grey stripe under "Rings").
What problems have you had with opaque transfers washing?
I have an old version of this shirt with that ugly box around it, and the colors have survived very well, tho there is quite a bit of puckering.
The other thing is that this is an Avery transfer...not the best quality. It's already started to crack, even before washing it (the grey stripe under "Rings").
Thanks!
Just cracking and fading.
__________________
The original Thread Killah!™ Heavy Metal Art and more @ www.deathisgain.com
I just thought I'd post a t-shirt that I just did with an opaque inkjet transfer and my plotter.
The black on the closeup is the shirt itself. There's no black ink in on this transfer...anywhere.
Oh, and it was a single press.
Enjoy!
Hey Chani, what a ROCKIN' idea for a thread (and a perfect title)
Thanks for the photographs and the process used.
We could use a whole series of threads like this so people could see the different printing types very clearly.
"This is an ironall inkjet transfer on white t-shirts"
"This is a vinyl transfer"
"This is a dye sub transfer"
"This is a DTG (Direct to Garment) printed black t-shirt", etc.
Back to the topic here...what kind of feel did you get with the avery dark paper? Would you use it again or would you definitely opt for the professional stuff?
what kind of printer do I need to print on this transfer, and would this be the best paper to use if you don't won't your tranfer sheet background to be showing please reply.
This Is An Opaque Inkjet Transfer 
Heavy Metal Art and more @ 
Re: This Is An Inkjet Transfer 
