[Rober]

Greetings, this is my first forum post (aside from introduction) but I am seriously in need of some assistance. I am a graphics artist who has hired a company who produces my images on shirts using silk-screening which is working out very well, but....

I have had many requests for offering my images on black t-shirts, using the heat press/heat transfer method. The method works great on white shirts but in doing my research about working with black shirts.. came across a supposed "One step" method for use with dark colors.

In excitement I ordered allot of this "wonder product" and enough black shirts to clothe a small army...

Just last evening I made my first transfer to try out... It printed ok, cut easily enough and I managed to get it to peel without to much cussing on my part ;-)

But.... After following the instructions to the letter.... The image background and border are highly visible in fact... almost white in color and in my opinion.. looks like.. well crap.

The shirt is useless and I have already written a rather harsh letter to the company where I made the purchase of this "transfer paper" demanding a full refund. But I still wish to persue the idea.

Can anyone recommend a "proven method" for creating transfers for use with black t-shirts that does in fact work? I don't mind a wee bit of background noise (as I call it) but you get the drift I hope.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jdr8271]

With opaque inkjet transfers, there is a white background that shows through. This is just the nature of the product.

If you dont want a white background and still want to do dark shirts with your heat press, you can buy a vinyl cutter and make vinyl transfers, or you can buy plasticol transfers from companies like first-edition.com.

 

[suzieh]

Send your design out to have plastisol transfers which you can gang up. I'm looking into outsourcing as well, Silver Mountain Graphics and Ace Transfer has been suggested. Perhaps you can find someone local as I'm trying to do. Susan H.

 

[Rober]

With opaque inkjet transfers, there is a white background that shows through. This is just the nature of the product.

If you dont want a white background and still want to do dark shirts with your heat press, you can buy a vinyl cutter and make vinyl transfers, or you can buy plasticol transfers from companies like first-edition.com.

I guess I will have to dabble with the background then. make it black and see how that works. Thank you for responding.

As for vinyl, my opinion is it is to think, and feels like something is attached to your chest. I will pass on this welcomed suggestion tho. I have read about the "plasticol" transfers here in this forum and checked out thier site. Although appealing, and it is just my opinion of course.. I think the prices they are asking are ridiculously high considering... But I may try them out down the road.

I will post the results from my background testing if anyone is interested in reading about it. Many thanks again

 

[Rober]

Send your design out to have plastisol transfers which you can gang up. I'm looking into outsourcing as well, Silver Mountain Graphics and Ace Transfer has been suggested. Perhaps you can find someone local as I'm trying to do. Susan H.

Thank you also for responding. Looking into a local option might be a logical option, provided of course.. They can do it reasonably priced.

I will check into this option and let you know how it turns out.

Thanks again...

 

[Twinge]

I guess I will have to dabble with the background then. make it black and see how that works. Thank you for responding.

Opaque transfers are really only good for big block images where you can actually cut out all the whitespace (and in my opinion, not even good for that). The quality of vinyl/plastisol is much higher, and it'll actually be cheaper if you're doing more than a couple anyway.

As for vinyl, my opinion is it is to think, and feels like something is attached to your chest.

Vinyl actually has a very good feel to it; you'll notice that 'stiffness' effect a lot more from opaque transfers than vinyl in most cases.

I will pass on this welcomed suggestion tho. I have read about the "plasticol" transfers here in this forum and checked out thier site. Although appealing, and it is just my opinion of course.. I think the prices they are asking are ridiculously high considering... But I may try them out down the road.

Plastisol is pretty cheap really, especially if you have smaller designs that you can gang up on one page. It does depend on how many colors you want to do too of course; several colors could get pricey, yes.

 

[JoshEllsworth]

Opaque transfers can look good if you have the proper software and equipment to create them. An optic eye cutter/plotter can easily trim the excess material that you are wanting to get rid of. Basically when printing the transfer paper, you would print it with three registration points on the paper. After it is printed you can load it into the cutter. The cutter then reads the registration points with the optic eye and knows exactly where to trim around your image. When using this method, you get a better look and feel on the garment, however the durability still is limited to the quality of the paper.

On a side note, some heat transfer vinyls are very thin and soft to the hand. Usually the materials that are polyurethane based offer this quality.

 

[suzieh]

On another group I belong to, seems as if the opaque vinyl does not hold up after say 18 washes. The hand is softer than opaque and will last longer. Yes, more colors means more money so all a matter of what kind of pricing you have on your t-shirts and how much durability matters. Just sharing :0)
Susan H.

 

[Rober]

On another group I belong to, seems as if the opaque vinyl does not hold up after say 18 washes. The hand is softer than opaque and will last longer. Yes, more colors means more money so all a matter of what kind of pricing you have on your t-shirts and how much durability matters. Just sharing :0)
Susan H.

I would have to agree with you Suzieh and have opted not to use the opaque transfers at all. I have contacted the company from which the purchase was made and they are going to give me a full refund. I will not offer my customers an inferior looking shirt just to save a few bucks, that is not my style ;-)

But not to worry sportsfans... In the words of my friend "Brodrick - I have a cunning plan my lord".... and will post the results once the testing is complete. Many thanks to all of you for your assistance and suggestions.

 

[Shallena66]

So..... did your "Cunning Plan" ever work out? What did you end up going with for transfers onto black shirts?

 

[into the T]

he has not been here in over a decade

just don't want you to be surprised if you don't get a response

 

[Shallena66]

he has not been here in over a decade

just don't want you to be surprised if you don't get a response

LOL!!! Guess I wont be holding my breath then... lol!! Thanks for the heads up!! Wish printing a soft hand onto a black shirt wasnt so darned difficult...

 

[into the T]

did you see the two videos NoXid pasted in this thread?

 

[danversatrans]

Send your design out to have plastisol transfers which you can gang up. I'm looking into outsourcing as well, Silver Mountain Graphics and Ace Transfer has been suggested. Perhaps you can find someone local as I'm trying to do. Susan H.

You should without a doubt consider Plastisol Transfers. It gives you a lot of different options

Dan

 

[Shallena66]

did you see the two videos NoXid pasted in this thread?

I had not... thank you! Pretty interesting... I know some people are printing onto transfer paper with white toner and then printing with sublimation ink onto the white toner... probably the same idea... I wonder if anyone is doing this on a regular basis or if it is a pain in the rear... going to do some more looking... thanks!!

 

[into the T]

i might try this, as i do mostly my own designs
so i could conceivably just have a screen for each design
then a mask like Lnfortun has posted about (maybe out of a thin mylar instead of paper, ie. re-usable)

but i have two other methods to trial first (not for color on darks mind you)
so this is third on the list
(maybe fourth, but i do like the concept and think it can be doable in a low-key production environment,
just not for low order custom)

 

[seacookie]

i might try this, as i do mostly my own designs
so i could conceivably just have a screen for each design
then a mask like Lnfortun has posted about (maybe out of a thin mylar instead of paper, ie. re-usable)

but i have two other methods to trial first (not for color on darks mind you)
so this is third on the list
(maybe fourth, but i do like the concept and think it can be doable in a low-key production environment,
just not for low order custom)

Stencil Films - Graphic Innovations

I use this. Even on screens. Works great with screens. Airbrushes likes to use mylar cause it's solvent proof, but it's crap for cutting, cause they need to do bunch of passes and they can't make detail designs. But with oramask you can do everything. I use it even for airbrushing. I tried even with regular brush and super cover which noxid recommended me.

Process which works direct to black t-shirt:
cut stencil, transfer it to t-shirt, put baking paper on, and heat set it with iron on low temperature. Cause if you over do it, you gonna melt the stencil. When stencil is heat set, you won't get over spray or overflow under the stencil. Works great. Just a Thought.

I made t-shirt for my old one, he is retired plumber. But sometimes he got call from a buddies in needs. Even when it's late. Water doesn't wait. He goes in to the dark like a Batman. So he got a t-shirt for those working nights from me. Using oramask.

 

[into the T]

that looks great
first thing my wife said, you're not doing that in the house
i think she is picturing one of those paint-sprayers for houses

have you tested washbility?

 

[seacookie]

that looks great
first thing my wife said, you're not doing that in the house
i think she is picturing one of those paint-sprayers for houses

have you tested washbility?

This stuff wont go down even if I wash on 90 celsius white cloth program which is max in my country. I spend last year some money for tutorials which are only about t-shirts. I also bought 2x black t-shirt tutorials + 1x how to prepare black t-shirt from guys which are more then 15 years in industry. Lets just say money was well worth spend.
Oramask is my brainstorming and it works great. The best part is everyone can do it with it. So that batman, you can do it. Probably would need to try few times on paper, just to get a feeling...

Free hand is just practise. More you practise better your are.

So to answer your question. Guys who do it, never had a problem with washability. I heard only fabric will be all torned up, but art will still be ok.

If we are talking about money. There is some investment, but if you compare colors or heat transfers, colors win by far...

for example: 60ml bottle is 8 euros. Bought 5(primary colors set-I can mix all colors from those 5) like 5 months ago, i am running out of white and I have black like 1/5. The rest of colors are almost full...

But I ordered today 1x 960ml white for 60 euros and 1x 960 black for 60 euros. And this is enough for one year 100%

You take few drops and that's it. Shirt is done. Not to mention..I can do everything.
mugs? you name it. Wooden doors? no problem.. And so on. And it's fun

I am doing stencil work. But when I do have any free time I turn up the music, I put some nice old school rock and practise freehand. I am bad, but I didn't do a lot of those. But I already see progress. Spiderman was today, deadpool was one week ago, when I had time for my self.





I know I should buy new phone, this photos are crap lol, but I rather spend on colors

 

[seacookie]

I tried to make another photo but guess this one is bad also. It's night time here and all looks weird..