# Sublimation print leaving crease and shadow



## Alexis411 (Jul 23, 2011)

*Hi, I just started my t-shirt company and have done a couple of sublimation tees. *

* I am using white shirts that are 100% polyester and have my heat press set to 400 degrees with a pressure of 2.*

* The colors are coming out beautiful, the only thing that i have noticed is that the material creases along the edge where the plate from the press was. *
* I am not sure if this a result from the paper or the press. *
* Another thing I noticed as well is when I lift the plate up when it is done it will leave an overlap in the picture in some areas and creates like a shadow in certain areas like it is prinitng twice.*

*If anyone has any words of wisdom they can share with me I would greatly appreciate it.*


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## D.Evo. (Mar 31, 2006)

Hi Alexis and welcome to the forums.

You may want to go through previous posts in the Dye-sublimation section of the forums - you'll find a wealth of useful information, tips and tricks of the trade collected over the years.

Here are some suggestions.

To avoid ghosting/shadow you may try to:

Weigh down your transfer with a teflon sheet;
use heat tape to fix your transfer in palce;
use tacky positioning spray to keep the transfer in place;
use tacky dye-sub paper;
lift the top platten very gently and slowly to avoid movement of the transfer;

To avoid press lines you may try:

Decreasing pressure even more;
Using foam or felt insert - it should be slightly bigger than your print, but smaller that transfer itself - the edges of the paper will overhang the insert illeminating the press lines;
tearing, not cutting, the edges of the print;
trimming the print very close (not good for complex prints and high quantities);


Good luck!


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## Conde_David (May 29, 2008)

You could be havng some shrinkage.
Prepress say 20 seconds.


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## Alexis411 (Jul 23, 2011)

Thank you soo much I appreciate your help immensly. Could you recommend a good tacky positioning spray?


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## Alexis411 (Jul 23, 2011)

Also I am sorry since I am new at this can you elaborate on what exactly prepress is please Mr. Conde. Thank you


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## Conde_David (May 29, 2008)

Some fabrics shrink when pressed.
If they shrink as you are sublimating them,
then you can see sort of an shadow
or aura around the image.

If on the other hand, the paper moves
while opening the press, you will see a shadow
only on one side.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Pre press is when you press the garment for 5-7 seconds before you are ready to print it,

It takes moisture out of the garment, 

also remember to run a lint roller over any dye sub garment before pressing, to get any dust or lint off, as it will show up as a light blue spot where the ink hits it,


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

Alexis411 said:


> Thank you soo much I appreciate your help immensly. Could you recommend a good tacky positioning spray?


You can get repostionng spray at Walmart for around $4.00.


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