# Black and dark colours not printing right, opinions/help please?!



## giftswithatwist (Oct 15, 2012)

Hi, i print using sublimation ink on an epson XP405, have had no problems up to now. Using unbranded ink and paper but quality is perfect on light coloured photos etc. Problem is when im printing dark colours/black.. It ends up with like a mottled effect and looks blue! If its pure black text it also ends up with a red outline? I haven't had an ICC profile done for this printer as the colours were pretty spot on at first but now i'm wondering if that could be the issue? I thought it may be time/temp of pressing but having looked at the print out the actual print looks like it too so don't think it is related to that. Have attached a picture of a recent coaster, as it had a lot of dark/black in it you can see what i mean about the quality/colour of it? Does anybody have any suggestions? Thank you


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## magaway21 (Nov 6, 2014)

Good Day,

I also have the same problem with sublimation ink.. I used sublimation ink to my epson L800 printer but it doesn't give good colors. The Print out is too light...anyone can give advice please..

Thanks in advance.


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## JuanManuel (May 23, 2012)

Thats the reason that I change to a Sawgrass ink and use the ICC profile on a Ricoh, you get better and accurate colors.


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## giftswithatwist (Oct 15, 2012)

I can't change it as i'm not even half way down the bottles of sublimation. The quality is perfect on anything that doesn't include black, just wanted to see if anybody had any suggestions or if they thought an ICC profile would help.


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## DKgrafix (Aug 13, 2008)

You will have to keep adjusting you blacks until you find good percentages that work well.
That is eliminated with an use of ICC profile.


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## tatakanFEST (Nov 4, 2014)

same here.. black is not that dark, can't achieve rich black, and gray becomes bluish.. is it on the ink or the epson printer setting?


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## DKgrafix (Aug 13, 2008)

What is there so hard to understand?????
You need appropriate ICC profile to get good transfers. Printer is still thinking that it is printing regular ink on a regular paper. Unless you tell the printer that it is printing sublimation ink on the sublimation paper, it does not know the difference.
ICC profile converts colors from the file you are printing in the percentages of the ink needed to make up that color/shade when printed. You might use ink that is better than a Sawgrass (I doubt it) but unless you tell the printer how to print it, you can not control your end result. That is, unless you put in many hours and a lot of printing to determine what is best percentage of CMYK or RGB for a specific shade/color.
Basically, you will make yourself to be a manual ICC profile


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## Resu (Oct 16, 2011)

Others have had similar problems with Cobra Ink, Sawgrass, etc. and it ended being expired ink or letting the pigment particles settle from not shaking up the bottle(s) or cartridges every once in a century (actually weekly).


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## tatakanFEST (Nov 4, 2014)

thanks DKgrafix, any video tutorial or step by step process on how to setup the ICC profile? Sorry i dont know what ICC is.. Thanks in advance..


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## giftswithatwist (Oct 15, 2012)

Ok thank you all! Looks like an ICC profile it is, thought id got away with it up to now because colours seemed perfect but maybe i hadn't printed many things with a lot of dark colours in them. Thank you.


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## DKgrafix (Aug 13, 2008)

tatakanFEST said:


> thanks DKgrafix, any video tutorial or step by step process on how to setup the ICC profile? Sorry i dont know what ICC is.. Thanks in advance..


Your ink manufacturer should have an ICC profile made for your inks and your printer. If you buy inks on eBay or something like that, good luck, most of them just sell ink without an ICC.
How to make one, I do not have a clue.
Mine was installed by the company who sold me my Ricoh printer.


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## JuanManuel (May 23, 2012)

There are many companies in the web that offer to do a personalized ICC Profile for your specific printer, ink, paper and substrate, never try but exist,
try your search engine with:
icc profile epson sublimation
and let us your experience


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## kary.francisco (Jan 14, 2019)

Thank you for the ICC profile recommendation link. I am super new to this, and self teaching it all, so that was gold. Thanks again.


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## Rannybear (Nov 23, 2020)

DKgrafix said:


> What is there so hard to understand?????
> You need appropriate ICC profile to get good transfers. Printer is still thinking that it is printing regular ink on a regular paper. Unless you tell the printer that it is printing sublimation ink on the sublimation paper, it does not know the difference.
> ICC profile converts colors from the file you are printing in the percentages of the ink needed to make up that color/shade when printed. You might use ink that is better than a Sawgrass (I doubt it) but unless you tell the printer how to print it, you can not control your end result. That is, unless you put in many hours and a lot of printing to determine what is best percentage of CMYK or RGB for a specific shade/color.
> Basically, you will make yourself to be a manual ICC profile


I have an Icc PROFILE AND DECENT INK AND PAPER AND STILL HAVE THIS ISSUE....IT ISN'T ALWAYS THAT SIMPLE


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