BSApparel

I'm making my own transfers but they're not transferring to the shirt when I use a heat press, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've tried tons of different dwell times on the heat press and it doesn't make a difference - the transfer is just not transferring all the way.

I have a two color design - red and white. The red is the top color after it is transferred, which means it's the first color I print on the transfer. After transferring it to a shirt, the red appears almost pink, and the white is clearly showing through it. In places where it's just white, the white itself is also not fully transferring, it looks pitted, grainy and faded.

Do you think this is a problem with how I'm making the transfers (maybe letting the ink cure too much?) or a heat pressing error?

Thanks alot, I appreciate any insight.
Aaron

 

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BSApparel

I'm thinking maybe my emulsion isn't thick enough, which is causing me to lay down only a small amount of ink, which in turn might be curing too fast under the flash drier, and resulting in a bad transfer to the t-shirt. Tomorrow I'll try making a screen with thicker emulsion and see if that makes a difference. At least if I can get a good transfer, I can then play with the heat press settings to fine tune it. Right now I can't even get a good image on the shirt.

 

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mickheike

Hi!
Better than emulsion is to use film 50 microns is normal. But without seeing the transfer I would say your first colour has not reached gel temp and the second has mixed with it . Different colours need different gel times depends on the sort and amount of pigment in them! Practice makes Perfect.

 

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BSApparel

Thanks for the tips - I'm drying a few screens now with a thicker emulsion coating (two coats print side, one coat squeegee side), and I'll try again, hopefully it'll lay down a thicker ink layer. It's getting frustrating at this point, I've gone through almost a gallon of emulsion so far between trying to get a good screen and a good transfer.

 

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tman07

I don't think your problem is emulsion. I would think your ink is over cured on your transfer sheet.
One plastisol is cured, you can't "remelt it" to adhere to a shirt.
You only want the ink gelled on the sheet, that takes careful temperature control.
I would learn how do do one color tranfers first, once you master that, then go to two colors.

Good luck!

 

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BSApparel

Thanks, I'll give it another shot today. I have a laser temperature gun to measure the ink temp, I guess I just have to practice pulling the flash drier away at just the right time.

 

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