I used a 95% Cotton and 5% Spandex, ladies "babydoll", t-shirt for a test. In the test, I used JET-OPAQUE transfer paper with Armur Ink from an Epson 1400.
After applying the transfer, the image was very plyable. I streached the t-shirt in different directions and no cracking accured.
Fast Forward 3-weeks, and 5 washes.
Now, after multiple washes/drying, wearing, etc...the image is very brittle. Lots of cracking and just overall a very poor transfer.
How can I avoid this? Are all transfer papers going to do this?
I used a 95% Cotton and 5% Spandex, ladies "babydoll", t-shirt for a test. In the test, I used JET-OPAQUE transfer paper with Armur Ink from an Epson 1400.
After applying the transfer, the image was very plyable. I streached the t-shirt in different directions and no cracking accured.
Fast Forward 3-weeks, and 5 washes.
Now, after multiple washes/drying, wearing, etc...the image is very brittle. Lots of cracking and just overall a very poor transfer.
How can I avoid this? Are all transfer papers going to do this?
That type of opaque has to be washed in cold water and hang dried. It does not survive harsh wash/dry condition.
Try Everlast, IronAll or Translution opaque. It is very thin, stretchy and does not crack.
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Luis CorelDRAW macro author Macro Website
Ok, so I "tried" to order some IronAll transfer paper. I placed my order for IronAll but received JET-OPAQUE II paper.
I called the company about this, and their response was, "well that's what we had in stock, and it's equivalent to the IronAll".
I'm new to this, so maybe this guy is right. But something is telling me there is a little BS mixed in there..... Can anyone confirm this before I return the paper?
Ok guys, I need some insight here. I'm using the following:
Epson 1400 Printer
Armur Ink with the Pro-Flo system at 300dpi
Jet Opaque transfer paper for darks
I'm printing the attached image for transfer. I'm pressing at 375* for 15 seconds with high pressure.
When the image is pressed, everything looks nice and feels good. I can stretch the image every-which-way and life is good...... But that's where it ends.
On my first try, I applied the image to a shirt that had a 5% spandex blend. After the wash test, once the image was stretched, it cracked all to pieces.
Second attempt. I applied the image to a 100% pre-shrunk cotton Gilden t-shirt. Again, everything looked nice until the wash. This time, the black ink blead all over everything and the transfer now feels like a piece of plastic glued to the shirt. It's not "nice" at all. It feels cheap and looks like crap.
I don't use JetOPAQUE. I use the Ironall Dark with the Durabrite inks. I don't have any issues. It does get dried out/brittle over time, but it took about a year of warm water wash/high heat dryer for ours to go.
JetOPAQUE and Ironall Dark are not equivalent. They are very different.
*JetOPAQUE is made by Neenah.
*Ironall Dark is made by IYA.
*JetOPAQUE is said to be less stretchy, but hold color better.
*Ironall Dark has a stretch, doesn't crack (hasn't for me), but some say it doesn't hold color as well as the JetOPAQUE. Ironall dark holds color A-OK for me, but I'm only one person. Results do vary.
I agree with MrDavid, the dark papers are the least evolved of the heat transfer products. If you really want to give them a shot, I would say a possible thing to try would be to order actual Ironall Dark, and maybe grab a C120 printer (comes with the Durabrite ink) off of the Epson.com clearance section for under $40, and see what happens. ? Good luck to you either way.
PS: 375*F and 15 seconds seems like a long, hot dwell time for dark paper. Maybe try 375*F for 6-10 seconds, see if the paper holds up better. I still think trying Ironall Dark is worth a shot to see if you like the paper better.
Cracking 
CorelDRAW macro author
