# Bad ink or missing ICC profile?



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

Hi guys

As i said few days ago that i'm buying an ink from china and i hope it'll be ok

So it arrived, i've put it into the Epson R320 printer and added a CISS that i bought allso from china

I do not use an ICC profile

The image i get is in a very low quality and seems to be faded

The posibilities are:

1. The ink is very low quality, and might even be mixed with water or omething
2. I don't have an icc profile at all

A picture of the difference between the sublimation ink in the epson printer and my home HP printer is attached


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

You will need an ICC profile making to get the most of the inks.
Also, don't judge the colours of sub ink on the transfer paper - you need to transfer it onto something for the inks to be seen in all their glory.


----------



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

So your suggestion is to make\buy an ICC profile, print a transfer paper transfer it AND ONLY THAN to see what is the resault? Doesn't it means the inks might still be bad and i will need to replace all the inks and the icc profile?

That sucks =\
No easy way on this one i guess

By the picture i've attached can you say the inks might be fine with a good ICC profile?


----------



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

Don't you think the difference between the prints i get (see the attached picture!) are too bad and an ICC profile won't fix that?


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

In your printer currently are some inks. Unfortunately, your printer/computer have no way of knowing how yellow the yellow ink is, or how pink the magenta ink is etc. so the computer and printer do not know how to mix a good red. Your computer is told this through the ICC. Without one the colours won't work. Different ink sets will have different forumulations, and the colours will not be the exact same shade, but an ICC this can be corrected.
Certainly in UK, on ebay, you can get a custom ICC made for sublimation inks for around £10

Although it is possible you have bought bad/cheap ink, I doubt that this is the case.

The photo you have posted looks like it is still just the print on the transfer paper. What does it look like when transferred onto a piece of polyester fabric or mug? You will only be able to tell what the inks/colours are actually like by doing this.


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

Also, what is the ink make you have sourced from China - is it "Mr Print" as your photo implies?


----------



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

Yes it is mr. print does it a know company?

Can you give me a link to customize icc profile service on EBAY? i can't find any =\


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

Mr Print is not a brand I have heard of, but that is not hard for China, and surrounding areas. There are more well known brands of inexpensive sublimation inks available from China, so odd that you chose to import this one.


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

Here is a custom ICC profile on Ebay in UK
Premium Sublimation Custom ICC color correction profile printer calibration | eBay

I can't see in your profile where you are in the world to know if this is any use to you. 
Am sure if you search your local ebay, or even google for "custom icc profile" you should find someone offering the service.

(The ebay advert I have linked to is not mine. It is however a sevice I used to get inks set up on our printer, so I know it to be good.)


----------



## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

if you are new to dye sublimation, you may have problems with ICC profile. The ICC profile is different for EACH ink and EACH printer...for example the ICC profile I use with my ink and a Epson 1100 will be different for your ink and printer.. This is one of the reasons that ink from China that does not come with a profile is difficult at best to use.


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

Not difficult to use, you just have to get a profile made, which is as simple as printing off a test chart and sticking it an envelope and posting it to someone to scan and make the profile.
It's not hard ... it's as simple as posting a letter really!


----------



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

Thanks guys! i shall find an ICC profile and try it out, otherwise i will change to sawgrass or something....


----------



## jemmyell (Jan 26, 2010)

Hi,

You should contact a profiling service that knows about dye sub. You can't just print a chart and mail it. You must sublimate something and mail that. If you are wanting to make shirts I suggest you buy a couple of yards of the vapor basic-T cloth from Conde and sublimate that.

-James


----------



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

That's might be a bit problematic, as i am from israel... i got distributers over here i hope i'll find good stuff here...


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

Sorry, forgot to clarify.
Yes you are correct, you do need a profiling service familiar with sublimation to just send them a transfer on paper, or a more standard profiler who you can send the charts to already sublimated onto a substrate.
The ebay advert I had linked to is a seller who does sublimation himself, and so only asks for the charts on transfer paper, and he then sublimated to a sheet of printable aluminium to do the profile scanning.


----------



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

Yes i have contact hem seems like a great guy... must thank you over and over again 

Thanks!


----------



## balata (Jan 16, 2012)

I'm surprised that it's not clear if you actually transferred the print to anything. If you're experienced OK, otherwise if you're not at all familiar with sublimation, you can't compare the print on paper to normal print. The colors only come alive when transferred under heat to a sublimatible item.


----------



## balata (Jan 16, 2012)

To follow up on that last post, most of the time you can make experimental prints on a bolt of 100% poly fabric from a fabric store and adjust your graphics software until you get the look you need.


----------



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

Well i must be stuped as well 

Thanks!


----------



## Megajet (Oct 15, 2015)

kifkef said:


> Thanks guys! i shall find an ICC profile and try it out, otherwise i will change to sawgrass or something....


 What heat transfer schedule are you using this will also impact I v used Chinese inks for years and i found they work get nice colors but your need max out the temp to 210C for 45 seconds.


----------



## RICASO (May 7, 2016)

can anyone recomend a good dye sub ink company that includes profiles ?


----------

