# Heat Pressing White Ink On Dark Fabric



## AeonTees (Jul 9, 2005)

Hello again everyone!

I have a quick question that I was hoping someone can help me out with. We just received some white ink stock transfers for printing on dark shirts. We are trying this in hopes of selling dark/black shirts in the near future. Unfortunately, the results left a lot to be desired. 

We followed the instructions to the letter. 375 degrees at 6 seconds with medium pressure on the first design. Mostly, it looked ok but some of the image didn't stick properly(looks like it is barely on the shirt), and I'd imagine that will come right out in the wash (just did this test 15 minutes ago). We tried the same settings on the 2nd shirt but did it for 8 seconds (instructions suggest 6-8 seconds) and rubbed the paper with a dry cloth before peeling. The second one actually came out worse. 

With this in mind, I'm curious about a couple things. A) Should I not be using 100% cotton shirts for purpose? I noticed that most of the dark shirts with designs I have previously purchased are 50/50. Also, should I not rub the paper down before peeling it? I read somewhere that this was a good idea but think that maybe by spending the extra time wiping, the design might be cooling down and thus, sticking back to the paper.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. Did a quick scan of the forums but didn't see any similar threads. If I am wrong and this has been previously answered, please point me to the url. 

It's really early in this experiment but I'm starting to wonder if it's not smarter to just go ahead and have our dark shirts screenprinted.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Chris,
Aeon T-Shirts & Apparel


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## AeonTees (Jul 9, 2005)

Just a quick follow up. We were able to locate a dark 50/50 t-shirt and tried pressing it for 6 seconds. Looks much better but I still see where there could be some peeling in the letters. 

I'll keep on trying different adjustments until something sticks. Pardon the pun....

Chris.


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## jdr8271 (Jun 16, 2005)

I know what you're talking about, with them feeling like they will peel off. They feel like they will, but they dont. There actually very good quality from my experience. Where did you buy the transfers from? I bouy from first edition, and everything works out great.


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## AeonTees (Jul 9, 2005)

Hey, thanks for the quick reply. Philly in the house!

I bought them from a company called Springhill Wholesale in Terre Haute, IN. The quality is great and I know that it's likely just a wrong combination of temp/time and pressue. Haven't tried any more shirts since earlier but I will try adding a little pressure tomorrow to see how they look. I will also run them through a couple wash loads to make sure that they will hold up.

Do you happen to have a url for the place you get your transfers? I would be interested to see what they offer and what they charge. Here's the url from the place I went with:

http://www.wholesalet-shirtsplus.com/

Thanks again and have a great day!

Chris
Aeon T-Shirts & Apparel


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## jdr8271 (Jun 16, 2005)

Their site is:
www.first-edition.com

Another company that I have heard is good, but never personally used is:
http://www.silvermountaingraphics.com

http://www.wholesalet-shirtsplus.com is expensive for custom transfers compared to silver mountain and first-edition.

Peace,
Jon


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## AeonTees (Jul 9, 2005)

Hey Jon,

Good looking out. first-edition is much cheaper than the company I was considering. We'll give them a shot and check the quality. 

Thanks again for the info.


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## swe_seifer (Jul 2, 2008)

Anyone else doing Springhills white ink transfers on dark fabric ???

Well i have a bunch of them laying around but never really suceeded, seems everytime i try it only gets stuck to the paper ruing it all... various time/temp/preassure

100% cotton tees

Any help is greatly appriciated as i need them to work


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## DTFuqua (Jun 26, 2008)

What kind of heat press are you using? Have you checked the correctnes and eveness of the heat plate? Try getting an IR thermometer and be sure of the heat setytings and that the heat plate has an even or close to even tempature all over the surface.


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## swe_seifer (Jul 2, 2008)

I have a badass Stahl =) cost me both arms and a leg

But what i know these are hot-split right ? is the transfer supposed to split in half then leaving half the ink on shirt then the rest on paper ??? or is it all to come of down to shirt ???

Well i havent suceeded in any way... if you peel while hot its like jelly and all is ruined because of that, if peel cold its stuck bonehard... when am i suppose to peel ??? well paper doesn't come off like "butter" as i want it to do... it does for you guys right ???


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## ljfgeorgia (Nov 30, 2011)

Hi - this is my first post so I hope I am in the right place - if not, please point me to where I need to be! I searched the forums and found this thread, although its old, but I have ordered Springhill transfers and am not able to succeed at all with the white ink and need some help. Contacted them and they had me adjust pressure, time, temp - I have tried 100% cotton and 50/50. The black ink one liners work great, the transfers with pictures all work fine for the most part - its the one liners printed with white ink and the transfers (especially the holiday ones) that have a lot of white ink. I am having the exact problem you did. Did it ever work? Did you ever find another supplier where the white ink did work out? Really disappointed Thanks so much for any help.


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## xxnonamexx (Mar 2, 2012)

Is this the way I should go about transfering white letting, wording onto a t-shirt? If so where do I get the transfer material and how can I get it white would I need to cut each letter, word out?


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## 2020 PrintWorks (Apr 22, 2011)

You may have already figured this out but are you letting the transfers cools down completely before you peel them?


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## xxnonamexx (Mar 2, 2012)

I did some research and it appears ink is the way to go. The heat transfer I will need to purchase a heat press and transfer paper and a cutter.


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