# Colour not showing up on iron in transfer



## ascariss (Oct 17, 2007)

Hello, great forum, lots of informative information, but somwhoe through searching I still can't find the answer I am looking for.

ok I bought some transfer paper at staples (yes noob, etc etc) and printed out the image onto the paper, the colours didn't come out that vibrant, I thought maybe after i ronted on it would be fine, but when I ironed it on the colour still didn't go through onto the design, the image is all white

i am priting white text with a red circle in the middle onto a dark navy t shirt. the paper i bought is for dark tshirt transfers.

so first question.

1. why didn't my printer (HP PSC 1210) print out a red vibrate coloured circle onto the transfer paper while it prints fine onto normal paper?

2. did i apply too much or too little pressure or heat during ironing? and that is why colour did not appear on the transfer?

3. am I compeletely doing this all wrong?  

btw if anyone knows of anystores in vancouver canada that will allow me to bring in a shirt and my logo on usb or disk and get it transfered on for a relatively affordable price please do tell me. thanks.


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## cbs1963 (May 31, 2007)

ok I bought some transfer paper at staples (yes noob, etc etc) and printed out the image onto the paper, the colours didn't come out that vibrant, I thought maybe after i ronted on it would be fine, but when I ironed it on the colour still didn't go through onto the design, the image is all white

i am priting white text with a red circle in the middle onto a dark navy t shirt. the paper i bought is for dark tshirt transfers.


If your using an iron on transfer paper for darks then the entire sheet will be white. You won't be able to print in white without making the background around the letters darker. The colors on transfers are not as vivid as on photo paper because a shirt is woven fabric and won't display as well as photo paper. Also transfers for darks are a thin layer of plastic like film on top of the paper, did you peel the paper backing away to lay the film on top of the shirt then iron?


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## ascariss (Oct 17, 2007)

cbs1963 said:


> , did you peel the paper backing away to lay the film on top of the shirt then iron?


It was in the instructions, so yes.


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## prometheus (Oct 19, 2006)

The vibrancy has to do with the paper. Some papers are better than others, but most of them don't match the exact vibrancy of regular photo paper.


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## ascariss (Oct 17, 2007)

what do u mean photo paper? for photographs? then what do companies use to print vibrate colours? the paper is a scam then, I should go and return the products :/


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## prometheus (Oct 19, 2006)

ascariss said:


> what do u mean photo paper? for photographs? then what do companies use to print vibrate colours? the paper is a scam then, I should go and return the products :/


By "photo paper", I am talking about non-t-shirt related paper that you would print photos on.

When you ask "what do companies use to print vibrate colours?", that depends on what you mean. Do you mean companies that print regular shirts? Do you mean the companies example on the package?


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## cbs1963 (May 31, 2007)

If your talking about mass produced shirts that are sold in retail chains, then Screen printing, DTG printing, or plastisol transfers are usual. When you state "iron on" I take it to mean you are using a household iron for pressing the transfer. A commom iron has very little controllable pressure, not enough heat, and is to small to adequately cover the transfer paper. If you are using a Heat press for pressing printable materials then I would recommend purchasing a commercial type transfer paper. Iron on's are fine for diy projects for friends or family, but have no hope of producing a retail type product. Also iron on transfers seem to work better when cut down to smaller sizes and used for spot decoration instead of using full sheets. Hope this helps.


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## ascariss (Oct 17, 2007)

I never mentioned it was for commercial use, it is for personal use, I don't want to spend 500 bucks on equipment for one t shirt.


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