 Re: Sublimation Inks & Heat Press inquiry
Greetings Again Jerry,
I think I may have given you too much information in my previous post and confused you.
In the Epson line and in the $300 range, the Epson 1400, with a CISS (bulk) unit and regular ink, is your best option.
If you mean $300 total price, then you need to go to an Epson C88+. The deciding primary factor is size. The C88+ only prints 8.5x11. The 1400 prints 8.5x11 and 11x17 heat transfers.
From the tone and tenor of your post I’m guessing that your primary interest is in T-shirts. If that is true, then I suggest that you put sublimation on the back burner; at least until you learn much more about it.
As a supplier I can’t give you specifics on the "best", but I can offer the gist of what we teach our clients: think of “best suited” rather than best. “Best” is often a very amorphous word.
Heat transfer papers are tools and there are different types to accomplish different tasks. The two major types are papers to use with colored fabrics and those to use with white fabrics.
With varying degrees of effectiveness, opaque papers (to be used for colored fabrics) are designed to accomplish the main task of blocking out the color of the fabric. The finish is similar with many. The most differences are in color retention and robustness of the film after washing.
Transfer papers for white fabrics can offer more differences in the finished look. This is primarily due to film type, thickness and when the backer is peeled off the shirt.
As a measurement of time, these papers are generally referred to as “hot peel”, “warm peel” and “cold peel”. Again as a general rule, hot peel paper usually has a flat finish and rougher feel, but often has a softer feel (hand).
Warm peel papers will have a slight sheen and smoother finish, but there is more hand and untrimmed film is more noticeable.
Cold peel papers have the smoothest finish and usually a semi-gloss appearance. These characteristics invariably make it have the heaviest hand and untrimmed film is most noticeable.
Even this brief description of the different paper types often pulls folks towards thinking of only one type as “best”. But remember, they are just tools. Each has a potential use. Here are three brief examples-
I would use a good hot peel paper if I wanted as soft a feel as possible and I was pressing an image that was impossible to trim closely.
I might favor a warm peel if I needed a more “photographic look” and my image was easy to trim.
The cold peel I might use on rougher fabrics or items where I wanted the colors to pop a bit more and washability was not such a big factor (like tote bags).
Insofar as specific papers are concerned my discussion has only been about general characteristics. There can be major differences in durability and longevity.
I’ll stop here (have to get back to work again) but this forum has a great number of smart, experienced decorators and I’m sure you’ll get more feed-back. In addition, if you search around you'll find about a "bazillion" comments on the subject of best :-)
Good Luck! |