# Cheaper way to self-weed on dark?



## soobeedoo (Apr 21, 2014)

Starter budget, trying to think of a cheaper way to produce full-color photographic self-weeding transfers on dark shirts. Cheaper, as in not having to buy a new expensive oki with white toner cuz I can get a cheapo used color laser for now. So I'm asking you experienced pros if you think it would work to double print. Lay down a white transfer undercoat of same weeded image on my shirt using something like Laser One-step Weedless, maybe light press followed by aligning a second weedless for lights like Image Clip Laser Light. Yes it is more time consuming than using an Oki with changing out white toner which I would like to do eventually but I can get a cheapo used color laser for $75 bucks now. That white toner with Forever Dark EZ paper is kinda pricey. Got a design with letters, halftone, etc. that can't do with cutting. I could get my paper cost down to $1.30 or 1.40 per shirt cuz I gotta buy 2 papers but I don't have to buy the oki and white. Questions I have are:
1. Will second transfer adhere well/permanently to first?
2. Will perfect alignment over first transfer be too hard?
3. Do I still need an oki printer if I'm not doing white toner? Like can I get away with a cannon or dell or hp? Is there is difference in permanence/durablity with other printers/toners?
4. Do you this will work? Right now I got a little more time than money but hope I can upgrade.


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## scudeater (Aug 18, 2011)

soobeedoo said:


> Starter budget, trying to think of a cheaper way to produce full-color photographic self-weeding transfers on dark shirts. Cheaper, as in not having to buy a new expensive oki with white toner cuz I can get a cheapo used color laser for now. So I'm asking you experienced pros if you think it would work to double print. Lay down a white transfer undercoat of same weeded image on my shirt using something like Laser One-step Weedless, maybe light press followed by aligning a second weedless for lights like Image Clip Laser Light. Yes it is more time consuming than using an Oki with changing out white toner which I would like to do eventually but I can get a cheapo used color laser for $75 bucks now. That white toner with Forever Dark EZ paper is kinda pricey. Got a design with letters, halftone, etc. that can't do with cutting. I could get my paper cost down to $1.30 or 1.40 per shirt cuz I gotta buy 2 papers but I don't have to buy the oki and white. Questions I have are:
> 1. Will second transfer adhere well/permanently to first?
> 2. Will perfect alignment over first transfer be too hard?
> 3. Do I still need an oki printer if I'm not doing white toner? Like can I get away with a cannon or dell or hp? Is there is difference in permanence/durablity with other printers/toners?
> 4. Do you this will work? Right now I got a little more time than money but hope I can upgrade.


We use WoW paper on an older OKI Printer to achieve this. The paper's similar to what the white ink OKIs are using but there are more steps to the process.

The paper pack contains two kinds of sheet inside - an "i sheet" and an "m sheet"

You print a black mask on a sheet of laser paper and your image to the i sheet.

then you sandwich the mask onto the m sheet, press with heat and peel apart. Anywhere where there is black ink on the m sheet is removed and you're left with a white shape which mirrors the outside contour of your image.

Next you press the image (i sheet) onto the m sheet and that gives you the printed and contoured transfer to go onto the garment.

It can take a few practices to get right and you may spend a bit of time removing grey residue from garments with masking tape on early efforts.

The white ink printers do make this a lot easier but they are pricey and don't do A3 (yet)

Our problem is that we use our OKI for other things as well as t-shirts and we need the extra print size, don't have space for both so we haven't taken the plunge with the white ink machine.


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## soobeedoo (Apr 21, 2014)

Hey, thanks. I think the WOW paper might be pretty expensive but might give this a try. Is WOW better than Image clip for dark or Forever Dark EZ? If I can get away not getting white toner yet that is worth it. Is it opaque enough? On any color dark shirt? Durable? Even if tossed in hot dryer? I bought a cheapo brother for $75 cuz someone said they were doing Image clip for lights with it just fine. Learning how to refill toner and change drum innards myself. And one day I will look back and hopefully smile at road travelled from a better financial vantage point.


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