# Mug Sublimation - Black Ink only Bleeds



## ludank (May 6, 2016)

Hello, The black ink bleeds when I sublimate. I have tried peeling then dipping in water. Dipping in water then peeling. Changing press times. I will try and post a picture with my results.


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## ludank (May 6, 2016)

Look closely at the black lettering. you can see the tiny but visible bleeds.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

ludank said:


> Look closely at the black lettering. you can see the tiny but visible bleeds.


Sublimation migration from using a mug press (resulting in the need to dunk) does not look like that. Your edges would be blurry but more of a uniform blur, in other words there would not be _tiny_ bleeds. 

I suspect you have artifacts on the paper before you are pressing, just hard to see until you do the transfer.

Due to normal sublimation dot gain those tiny artifacts might not be so visible until you press.

Suggest that if you have a regular flat heat press take the transfers and press onto a flat substrate and see if the problem remains, which I suspect it will. That would rule out the mug press.


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## WalkingZombie (Mar 15, 2014)

Print and press again and show us a before and after closeup shots of the printed paper. Unless you took before and after shots of the paper already, let's see them.

I may be wrong but if it were artifacts, I believe it would be more than just around the black text.
@ludank, is the word ******* an image or a font?


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

WalkingZombie said:


> Print and press again and show us a before and after closeup shots of the printed paper. Unless you took before and after shots of the paper already, let's see them.
> 
> I may be wrong but if it were artifacts, I believe it would be more than just around the black text.
> 
> @ludank, is the word ******* an image or a font?


No, each individual head can have it's own artifacts.

I clean gunk off routinely under the print heads where only 1 color had issues. If you go thru the posts here there are many many examples of this on a single color.


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## WalkingZombie (Mar 15, 2014)

mgparrish said:


> No, each individual head can have it's own artifacts.
> 
> I clean gunk off routinely under the print heads where only 1 color had issues. If you go thru the posts here there are many many examples of this on a single color.


I was just gonna edit my post lol. I do remember seeing this issue on a local sublimators printer. Black was the most printed color and she never cleaned the head. I did the warm damp towel under the head and cleaned it and it resolved the issue.... BUT

then again, this same lady (after that issue was fixed) used an image of text instead of using font, because she didn't know the font name, and the image had very small jagged edges and when pressed, it kinda looked like the OPs image. I found the font, re-pressed it and little dots were gone.

I'm sure the OPs text is a font but ya never know.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

WalkingZombie said:


> I was just gonna edit my post lol. I do remember seeing this issue on a local sublimators printer. Black was the most printed color and she never cleaned the head. I did the warm damp towel under the head and cleaned it and it resolved the issue.... BUT
> 
> then again, this same lady (after that issue was fixed) used an image of text instead of using font, because she didn't know the font name, and the image had very small jagged edges and when pressed, it kinda looked like the OPs image. I found the font, re-pressed it and little dots were gone.
> 
> I'm sure the OPs text is a font but ya never know.


To your point, if it is a artifact in the design itself then printing and pressing a new design with black but not the same font would help isolate it specific to the design and not the mug press or print head.

Very possible the artifact is in the design itself, and easy enough to determine.


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

It looks to me as though it is actually the original image that isn't sharp and clean. there's a need to get right in there and tidy it up.


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## ludank (May 6, 2016)

WalkingZombie said:


> Print and press again and show us a before and after closeup shots of the printed paper. Unless you took before and after shots of the paper already, let's see them.
> 
> I may be wrong but if it were artifacts, I believe it would be more than just around the black text.
> 
> @ludank, is the word ******* an image or a font?


Here is a picture of the FONT before sublimation. The black looks the same as the red. The red has no problems after sublimation.


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## BCGal (Apr 14, 2018)

hi,
Did you find the culprit of why the black was bleeding?


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## MadeDesigns (Feb 19, 2013)

Looks like the images was not wrapped tight enough. 

Wrap tight and use tape to hold in place ( heat tape )


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