# I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printing vividly



## CoolTech (Feb 3, 2007)

I purchased an Epson 88+ with ArTitanium dye sub ink. I am using Corel X3 with ICC profile installed

Computer setup:
512mb VGA and 2 GB RAM

Everything looks "Fantastic" on video monitor. But, when I print it to the Epson, everything looks cloudy and is not the vivid color of my 8 megapixel camera.

I have tried it with the ICC on and with it off, the color change was minimal, and not even remotely similar to the quality print I have seen advertised for dye sublimation.

I am obviously doing something completely wrong, or every dye sub printer would be out of business.
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I have printed the exact same image to my OKI C3200 printer, and the results are vivid clear pics that jump off the page.
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I am at my wits end with this one. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks,
Jim


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...*

Have you tried pressing a transfer on a scrap garment ? I know w/sub ink the print before pressing is like you have describe, but when the ink heats up and turns to a gas and permiates the garment the colors get vivid. ........ I hope this helps. ....... Jb


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## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...*

Sublimation prints look muddy and off-color on paper. Press them and the results should look closer to what you see on the screen. You can buy a couple of yards of polyester fabric at the fabric store for testing. It's cheaper than burning through a bunch of shirts.


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## brad (Feb 23, 2007)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

I have the same problem. Im looking forward to the answer to this. My pressed items are coming out dull and the colors are not popping like I have seen. (epson1280 with bulk ink system.)


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## CoolTech (Feb 3, 2007)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

Thanks for the information.

As a test of the print placed different colored boundaries on the illustrations. They printed out those colored boundaries facing me. I understand why it was looking so bad. The base color is what I am seeing.

Now, I am using some 65% poly/cotton cloth for testing, TruePix paper and the ArTitanium ink. I did not receive instructions for pressing the paper.

I assume it is 385-395 for 45-55 seconds.

Is this correct?


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

I was told that the ink turns to a gas at 400 degrees. I do mostly mugs and always use the 400 degrees temp. I have great success............ Jb


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## CoolTech (Feb 3, 2007)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

Well,
I have done 4 samples:

385 for 45 seconds
390 for 50 seconds
2 @ 400 for 60 seconds

I sure do like the hand, but so far I can get better printing from my CLC and DuraCotton HT.

I am going to do a mug next. I downloaded and printed the color test from dyesub dot org and tryed that on the press (400 for 60 sec) It looks ok, but nothing spectacular.

I am going for broke on the mug prints... Any tips?


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

are you using a mug wrap or press? I use a mug wrap with great success......... good luck JB


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## CoolTech (Feb 3, 2007)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*



COEDS said:


> are you using a mug wrap or press? I use a mug wrap with great success......... good luck JB


I have a press. I am just about to fire up the engines and give 'er a spin around the block... lol


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

Keep us posted. I want to hear of your success !! I always think positive .......... JB


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

Here are some thoughts:

1) Either your printer driver or your graphics software has the printing profiles. Turn one of them off. 

2) The colors will be somewhat muted on the paper. Pressure and temperature is key. I don't care what anyone says, you need pressure with fabrics just like hard surfaces. This includes the vapor apparel. 

3) 100 poly is the only way to go. If you have 65/50 your results will be disappointing. Use Iron-All instead. If you can get the durracotton to actually work (we haven't, it melts in our printer) then that is a great alternative. 

4) We have had awful results with high release paper like texprint. It is not recommended by SawGrass so we have stopped using it. We stick with AccuPlot and have good results. 

5) Use a backer paper like a newsprint behind your transfer paper. There is enough blow-throw to ruin your next pressing. This goes for garments in particular. Place your transfer down, then the newsprint, then the teflon. If you are pressing mugs, you can get away with just the teflon if your images are always in the same place and the paper is the same size. 

5) You can use a tack spray on garments to keep the paper from moving, or so we are told. Conde has the spray but I read a note somewhere about K-Mart having a cheap tack spray. We are careful and have not had problems with just placing the transfer, newsprint and teflon.


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*



CoolTech said:


> Thanks for the information.
> 
> As a test of the print placed different colored boundaries on the illustrations. They printed out those colored boundaries facing me. I understand why it was looking so bad. The base color is what I am seeing.
> 
> ...


 
The results you are getting are expected for your fabric/paper combination. Start with 100% poly fabric and use a high release paper such as TexprintXP. You will see a dramatic difference!!!!


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## CoolTech (Feb 3, 2007)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*



COEDS said:


> Keep us posted. I want to hear of your success !! I always think positive .......... JB


on a mug...

image from the web + text added...

absolutely amazing! It looks like a professional job! Imagine that!
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Grabbed an image from the web, imported to Corel, added text, converted to bitmap (300...)

Printed to the Epson C88+ with ArTitanium ink.

Chopped the image to text and image, placed it in the mug press (no tape, no alignment) for 480 seconds (8 minutes) at 400 F
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Other than the fade at the very edges ( the mug appears to have captured more than the image I printed), and the scorched paper, this is a saleable mug!
===
Ok, I made the right decision for sublimated transfers (mugs only... as far as I have been able to successfully test).

Acceptable for what I purchased the dye sub machine for (unless someone can explain why I am getting such a bad transfer on 60/40 from the same TruePix Paper to the ArTanium inks on a C88+)

I would really love to use this printer it is intended with the transfer paper to t-shirt


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## TMPRO (Feb 28, 2007)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

Cooltech,

Dye sublimation inks only stick to polyester molecules. So if you using a fabric with only 60% polyester then it's only going to be 60% as good as it should be.

You need 100% polyester fabric to get good results. Hanes makes a shirt called Soft-Link that is 100% poly on the outside and 100% cotton on the inside. They are more expensive but they feel great and take sublimation printing extremely well.


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## CoolTech (Feb 3, 2007)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*



TMPRO said:


> Cooltech,
> 
> Dye sublimation inks only stick to polyester molecules. So if you using a fabric with only 60% polyester then it's only going to be 60% as good as it should be.
> 
> You need 100% polyester fabric to get good results. Hanes makes a shirt called Soft-Link that is 100% poly on the outside and 100% cotton on the inside. They are more expensive but they feel great and take sublimation printing extremely well.


Ah, thank you.

After further research, I came to the same conclusion. The mugs have been coming out beautifully (have to lighten the picture in order to have it transfer lighter onto the mugs... if anyone knows tips and secrets on that).

I have been using it for mugs only, until I can get some Soft-Link to test. I am really impressed with the image quality on the mugs... did I mention that... lol


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## TMPRO (Feb 28, 2007)

*Re: I Am Obviously Doing Something Wrong...dye sub colors not printint vividly*

For testing cloth you can go to any fabric store and buy 100% polyester material cheap.


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## CoolTech (Feb 3, 2007)

True,
I already have 100 & 50/50 in white and black for testing transfers and making swatches. Gracias


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

I'm glad your are getting closer to finding the problem. Ilove the hand on sub gatments, I just don'tlike the polyester fabric. LOL...JB


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## atmgi (Sep 25, 2006)

When I started doing sublimation I got muddy images. It turned out I had bad paper.

I purchased new paper and problem went away.


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## selzler (Apr 4, 2007)

Hi:
I've been doing sublimation for many years. Have you made sure that you corel color is in rgb mode because the cameras almost all run in rgb. Next is corel icc setup for artanium inks. And make sure that the printer setup is icc turned off. and color match is turned on. Or your printer will over ride the color settings.


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## awesomegraphics (Jan 3, 2007)

When printing for sublimation on sublimation paper, the image is not vivid.
But when you heat apply it to a substrate, mugs, tshirts at high temperature
then the color pops out, if it doesn't, the heat and time needs to be adjusted.
Mugs 400 degrees in a mug press., polyester tshirts 350 degrees 15 seconds.
The color will pop out when the right amount of heat is reached. 
______________
contact awesomegraphics.net


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## selzler (Apr 4, 2007)

I have also bought soft link and other 100% polyester cloth from Conde and printed the cloth and then had it cut and sewen. I never use anything that is less then 100% polyester. If you go to Conde they have instuctions on how to print every thing they sell. Those instuctions real do work very well. I have been dealing with them for more then 10 years now. You said you did a mug and pressed it for 8 min. I never press them for more then 6 min. I have bought mugs from other suppliers and then needed to put them in water to keep them from guosting with the mug from Conde I don't need to do that and it works better when I'm doing shows. I don't have to worry about a water mess. T-shirts I press at 400 for 55 sec. I use the same ink with a Epson 4800. Good luck and always use 100% polyester.


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