Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I wondering who's working with the new Coastal paper. I don't see good things for my sweatshirts with this paper. 80/20 blend. I see white between the ribbing. (the image is a little rough like lightsandpaper, I don't prefer that to the ironall.) Anyone having any issue like these? I'd like the white between ribbing to go away, and try to get the image softer.
I prepressed 20 secs, pressed at 375, 30 seconds, med/high pressure, c88+ ink.
Stretched and repressed 6 secs.
Anyone else seeing anything like this? Is there a better way to press this?
Any advice, I'd be so grateful...
PS: Tests on 50/50 hw jerzees (I use that b/c ironall does not have a fade issue on those) went super dee duper - but the ironall test shirt I did side by side did great too, so no knocking the ironall on the above shirt for me. again, image sandpaper'y for sofstretch, did not change after wash much. Also did my usual 2nd test with warm water/med high heat dryer for 25 minutes and both did excellent again. no change. only difference was ironall shirt has light white fiber raising through image giving it a slight aged look. little bit.
more concerned how to use sofstretch on sweatshirts. may stick with ironall for them but I hope someone can give insight. thanks!!!!
I do not use the transfer paper but you can try the technique I use for pressing on heavy knit fabric material.
1) Lower the upper platten but do not lock it. Just enough to hold down the shirt.
2) Stretch the shirt (entire length of printed area) on its sides
3) Lock down the upper platten and press for 2 to 3 seconds to keep the shirt stretched, remove wrinkle and moisture
4) Open the upper platten
5) Locate and position the transfer then press as you would normally do.
6) Post stretch the shirt after peeling the transfer
7) Cover the shirt with Teflon or parchment paper and press again for 5 seconds
8) Peel hot
What pre-stretching does is expose the material between ribs to improve transfer
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Luis MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2 Digital Artist. My canvas is t-shirt and my paintbrush is heat press.
Thank you, Luis. I very much appreciate your help. I really like your technique of stretching the shirt with the platen down, I'm going to try it that way, thanks.
I did stretch it side to side - but - before I laid it down for the prepress.
Do you think that is not as effective as stretching your way? I will have alot more to do tonight. I am going to try your way with drying it with the ribbing open.
I post stretched too, and repressed, I have a bad feeling.
Have not seen your garment, but my experience has been if there is ribbing, you will not get ink into the crevices..because it is not a liquid to flow down..so you will get the result you describe I think
Charles nailed it. That is an issue with all ink jet transfer paper. It is not a liquid so it does not flow. Luis did a great job showing how to do it.
Sorry guys, newbie goof, it's not ribbed, it's just a Hanes sweatshirt. What I inaccurately called ribbing, is just regular mini tiny weaves. I started out with Avery paper doing this as a fun home thing. Then moved to the Ironall for selling, and I didn't see this with either of those papers with the same exact sweatshirts. Just the coastal paper is doing this. You know when you press a tee and stretch it after, have you ever had it where you can see the fabric pop out in slivers, then repress and that goes away (OR am I totally screwing this all up and that;s not normal either??!! haha-- i think), well, it's like that, except I can't get it to go away. sorry for the wrong terminology. I am starting in this the last 5 months and haven't studied about fabrics yet (want to-too busy) I owe it to myself to and to you guys so you don't graciously spend your time answering a question I asked incorrectly. so sorry...
I hope no one else has this problem, but if anyone has or can tell me more now that (I hope) I explained it better, I'd be so grateful....
Sorry guys, newbie goof, it's not ribbed, it's just a Hanes sweatshirt. What I inaccurately called ribbing, is just regular mini tiny weaves. I started out with Avery paper doing this as a fun home thing. Then moved to the Ironall for selling, and I didn't see this with either of those papers with the same exact sweatshirts. Just the coastal paper is doing this. You know when you press a tee and stretch it after, have you ever had it where you can see the fabric pop out in slivers, then repress and that goes away (OR am I totally screwing this all up and that;s not normal either??!! haha-- i think), well, it's like that, except I can't get it to go away. sorry for the wrong terminology. I am starting in this the last 5 months and haven't studied about fabrics yet (want to-too busy) I owe it to myself to and to you guys so you don't graciously spend your time answering a question I asked incorrectly. so sorry...
I hope no one else has this problem, but if anyone has or can tell me more now that (I hope) I explained it better, I'd be so grateful....
However Kelly.. even an incorrect questions get us thinking about the answer and like trying to discover one thing you discover another. Had you not asked the question then an answer like LUIS had would not have happened. We learned from it.
Odd thing...I did my first sweatshirts (50/50) with Jet pro SofStretch - last night and had EXACTLY the opposite results. With ironall... when you stretch the fabric- you see the white between the 'weave'... with the JPro... the image area retained the fabric looks and feel..less plastic-y look and JP was softer.
Amazing how results can vary.
I also did 375* for 30 secs... heavy pressure...no pre stretch.
LEO
Odd thing...I did my first sweatshirts (50/50) with Jet pro SofStretch - last night and had EXACTLY the opposite results. With ironall... when you stretch the fabric- you see the white between the 'weave'... with the JPro... the image area retained the fabric looks and feel..less plastic-y look and JP was softer.
Amazing how results can vary.
I also did 375* for 30 secs... heavy pressure...no pre stretch.
LEO
I know that if you take a transfer paper, any paper, and apply it to different substrates you will have different results. Same thing about photos. Print on different papers and you get different results. it is to be expected. The other thing is presses. I say I print at 375 and you say you did also. Then we check real temps and we find my press is actually 378 and yours is 368. Lots of things come in to play with the process. Variables are
fabric type
paper type
pre press time
press time
press temp
pressure
and probably about 10 other things..
People ask me here all the time how I got it right and they can't. Sometimes I don't. But for me that's how I learn.. and as I have said here a hundred times I try to pass it on to you.Lou
Yup, after reading Leo and Lou's responses, I am immediately going to switch to 50/50 sweatshirts to try to get Leo's result. For me - in my tests here - since my ink and press are constants in each test - it seems fabric content is producing the most varied results even with the different paper tests. Same paper - different shirts - the results run the gammut. Different paper - same shirts - not too much variance. Makes me thing fabric is hugely important. I like the sofstretch on the 50/50 t shirt, so my first attempt to fix this is to switch my sweatshirt to the same blend. Didn't test sofstretch on 100 cotton as I am out of unwashed test shirts at the moment. Too many tests last week!
Thanks to all for the help and direction, it's invaluable!!!
I will try to remember to post my new findings here after the switch - let you know if it worked.
About the prestretch prior to prepressing, what's everyone general feelings on that with sweatshirts?
However Kelly.. even an incorrect questions get us thinking about the answer and like trying to discover one thing you discover another. Had you not asked the question then an answer like LUIS had would not have happened. We learned from it.
I just looked at a shirt I did with Coastal paper and Epson c88+ ink.
It's possible the blue ink has smeared onto the sleeve. I do not know how, or any other way the ink could get there. It was perfect when it was finished. I took the other sleeve and rubbed it across the image (shirts ruined anyway) and the lightest blue shows up on the sleeve. SCARY!
Did I do something wrong when I pressed this?
I stretched, prepressed, pressed 375 for 25 seconds (paper is small - afraid to really cook it), post stretched, repress 5 seconds.
The original smear is alot darker, I am wondering if it is a "drying" issue. Does that happen with heat transfers? Do they need to "dry" or cure to be set? Is there anyway to 'set' the color better?
Is ANY one experiencing anything like this with JPro SS?
I'd love any thougths, comments or suggestions - I'm just too new to have any idea. Thanks so much!
Odd thing...I did my first sweatshirts (50/50) with Jet pro SofStretch - last night and had EXACTLY the opposite results. With ironall... when you stretch the fabric- you see the white between the 'weave'... with the JPro... the image area retained the fabric looks and feel..less plastic-y look and JP was softer.
Amazing how results can vary.
I also did 375* for 30 secs... heavy pressure...no pre stretch.
LEO
I wonder, too, if batch to batch the paper might behave differently. I remember reading a thread where it was discovered later on some people receive different batches of Ironall and we're not sharing the glee...
The original smear is alot darker, I am wondering if it is a "drying" issue. Does that happen with heat transfers? Do they need to "dry" or cure to be set? Is there anyway to 'set' the color better?
First let me say that I haven't NOT used the SofStretch yet. However, I usually print the transfer (any brand being used), and let it dry about 10-15 minutes before cutting and pressing. I have even heard others say they leave their press open and put the sheet on the bottom platen for a minute or so to "set" the ink before pressing. How long did you wait between printing and pressing?
Maybe you should press the whole 30 seconds instead of 25 to make sure you're getting enough heat and pressure?
Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but trying to help anyway. I will be trying out the new SofStretch tonight (hopefully!). Will report on my experience tomorrow...
SofStretch Coastal Paper Question 
MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2
