posted October 08, 2002 11:25 AM
Just started doing heat transfers on t-shirts and shirts. I am using the jerzees brand of shirtsand dura-trans transfer paper and an Alps dry ink printer. On white shirts every thing comes out great when I imprint colored shirts I put design in an oval and trim around oval,then transfer it to the shirt.After i remove the transfer paper every thing inside the oval that is not part of the design just space is a darker color of the shirt. If the shirt is med blue the blank space will be a dark blue and so on.
I wonder if this is normal on all brands of shirts. I called several Manufactors and asked them they were of no help. Has anyone ran into this problem?
posted October 08, 2002 12:02 PM
Gene, I don't know that much about it but believe inkjet and lazer transfers only work on whites, naturals and light greys. You might want to use a plastisol transfer for darks. Cold peels work on darks but they are now making hot peels that work on darks too. You might find some help here http://www.screenweb.com/script/forum/list.php3?num=3
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7409 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted October 08, 2002 12:30 PM
The alps printer does a great job printing transfers it uses ribbon instead of ink. I am printing historical pictures of the local area on the shirts.they are black&white.I put them into photoshop colorize them just enought to get a little color in them. So my transfer is not real bright. So if toy take a med blue shirt and put a dark green transfer on it it comes out looking real good,but would look better if the blank space didn,t turn a dark blue. if it stayed med blue it would be real sharp. I know it must be the coating on the transfer paper interacting with the dye in the shirt that is making the color change.when using a copy machine do you use a transfer paper or just regular paper. thanks gene
I believe I know what you are talking about. I think it is more a matter of the chemicals on the shirt from manufacturing darkening than anything else. Wash the shirt and it will almost certainly go away.
-shane
-------------------- Halo Graphics Clearlake Oaks, CA http://www.halographics.com ntshane1@halographics.com Posts: 308 | From: Clearlake Oaks, CA | Registered: May 2001
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posted October 08, 2002 02:45 PM
Shane is correct. Some brands are more effected by the heat than others. Although we do not transfer on shirts we do screen print them directly. When red shirts come out the other end of the dryer they are much darker than when they went in. This almost always corrects itself when the shirts cool or are washed.
posted October 08, 2002 05:38 PM
On Gerber Edge transfers, the paper has a filmy-waxy coating that goes into the shirt with the image. Any area not printed (or cut out) will have that effect on any non-white colors. Not as bad on ash, or natural, but it is a permanent darkening.
Unless it is too complex, or too large an order to be cost-effective, maybe you could remove some un-printed sections of the transfer paper with an xacto.
[ October 08, 2002, 05:39 PM: Message edited by: Doug Allan ]
It could be a natural-occurring phenomenon caused by a dominant color projecting its contrasting image on top of the blue. In which case it can't be removed, as it was never printed.
One way to test would be to create a template which matches the outer edge of the design & has the inner holes also. Either draw it up on your plotter, cut it out & paint it the same color as the shirt, or cut one out of vinyl if you have a close-enough match available. Cut it out to match shape. Cut the inner holes too. Then position it on top of printed area. If the color is still darker, then it happened during printing. If it disappears, then its probably what I attempted to describe originally.
I'll explain further if need be. But try the template first.
-------------------- Bill Cosharek Bill Cosharek Signs N.Huntingdon,Pa
bcosharek@juno.com Posts: 705 | From: N.Huntingdon, Pa, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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