# Rhinestones missing after transfer pressed to shirt



## trexart (Aug 3, 2007)

We've just got some shirts back from our screen printer where we had a discharge print and then a large detailed rhinestone transfer that we spent quite a bit of money on. We got the transfer done elsewhere and then sent them to our screen printer. We're talking a major design, with something like 4000 crystals in 3 different colors.

The samples we did all came out fine, not a single crystal missing from the designs, but now we've received the bulk of our order, and every other shirt is missing a rhinestone or two or even more from the design. I can understand that we are going to get some that don't work, but this has happened to the majority of the shirts.

This is our first rhinestone shirt and so we're not exactly sure where it all went wrong. Would it be the transfer itself, or did our screen printer not press it correctly or is this just something that happens?

Last of all, is this something we can fix?


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

If you tested some and none of the stones fell off, then I would tend to guess that it's the screen printer who made the error. You shouldn't have every other shirt missing any stones at all. You said you got the transfers from someone else... did they send you extra rhinestones in each color? If not, you should contact them and ask them if they will please send you some spare stones. Then you can either use a wand like the Bedazzler or some thermotape or some hotfix transfer tape and have your screen printer repress them. Do you know what settings they used? What temperature? I think rhinestones require more heat.


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## trexart (Aug 3, 2007)

Thanks for your quick reply.

We don't have any extra stones, but we can certainly contact them and get some. Its good to know we might be able to fix these up as the shirt when correct is an amazing shirt.

I don't know anything about the temperature that the screen printer used, I just wanted to see where the issue might be before contacting him. Sounds like maybe he didn't use enough heat. 

Cheers,
Steph


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

You're very welcome... Love your name! 

I would guess that he didn't use enough heat and/or didn't press for long enough.


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## trexart (Aug 3, 2007)

Haha, yes, it is a great name, isn't it. Yours isn't too bad either. 

Anyway, I will make sure to post back when I figure out what happened and what I will do to fix it up.


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## dan-ann (Oct 25, 2007)

you might also try washing the shirt to see if anymore fall off. If there was not enough heat used this could happen and better you find out now then after they are sold


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## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

I think Sally makes a good point. If perhaps stones are missing because MAYBE not enough heat was used to adhere them, then it's a strong possiblity that the ones that appear to be affixed, really aren't on all that good, and may come off in the wash. I would try to get some extra stones from the supplier of the transfers first before throwing them in the wash. Or perhaps, if you have the ability, I would just hit each shirt again with a heat press to ensure the stones that are in place are really in place


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

allhamps said:


> I think Sally makes a good point. If perhaps stones are missing because MAYBE not enough heat was used to adhere them, then it's a strong possiblity that the ones that appear to be affixed, really aren't on all that good, and may come off in the wash. I would try to get some extra stones from the supplier of the transfers first before throwing them in the wash. Or perhaps, if you have the ability, I would just hit each shirt again with a heat press to ensure the stones that are in place are really in place



Great info again Carol,,

I would also suggest asking the screen printer what ink was used,, for your reference for the future.

Some inks Rhinestone glue can stick to just fine,, 
You want to actually see the ink in the fiber not have it sit on top,

I press Rhinestone transfers all the time over water based and the fibers are very visable,, with water based ink.

Get some extra stones,, from your supplier,and check the ink.
Wash test,, and let us know the responses, we will help from here.


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## lifestar (Mar 18, 2007)

Best guess would be some of the rhinestones were placed by the machine upside down on the transfer paper. So when they were pressed, the upside down rhinestones stuck to the transfer paper instead of the shirt. We always check transfers sheets for occasional flips and also include a few extras for the customer "just in case".


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## trexart (Aug 3, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the help, I really appreciate it.

I will wash one of the shirts and see what happens. I've looked at them pretty closely though and they seem to be attached pretty solid, even the ones that have some missing.

@lifestar that is really interesting. I do believe that might have been the case with a few of them, but in a run of like 60 transfers, how many would you expect to have rhinestones upside down? The more I think about it, maybe we just didn't get good transfers. To be honest, I didn't look to closely at them when we got them. We looked at the top packet and then sent them on to the printer.

I always expected that a percentage of them wouldn't turn out 100%, but last night I divided up the shirts into the ones that were perfect, and the ones that had one or more missing. Over 50% of the shirts have at least one missing. To me that seems very large. Only a handful have a bunch missing, most are missing between 1 and 3.

We'll talk to the screen printer on Monday, but we just have no idea whether it is the transfers or if the printer messed up.

@sjidohair The print was done in discharge, and really only a very small part of the rhinestone design was over the print. Mainly the print was around the outside, with small bits of the rhinestone design going over the print area. I believe it should be okay with discharge print though.

Cheers


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## heattransfers (Aug 5, 2009)

Rhinestones missing will happen on or before heat pressed sometimes. It maybe the reason that the rhinestone transfers factory does not examine the transfers before they pack, the Rhinestones is very easy missing especially for the big designs; It maybe lose during the transportation; It maybe the small rhinestones stay between the bigger rhinestones. Ask the rhinestone transfers factory to put some extra rhinestones per color/size together with the shipment. When you find some rhinestones missing on or before heat pressing, then you can replace by hand. We always do like this for all our customers.


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## lifestar (Mar 18, 2007)

trexart said:


> Thanks everyone for the help, I really appreciate it.
> 
> I will wash one of the shirts and see what happens. I've looked at them pretty closely though and they seem to be attached pretty solid, even the ones that have some missing.
> 
> ...


In regards to transfer flippage.... we check every page before it goes out- each page will usually have one or two that need to be flipped as the less expensive rhinestones have a little less than exact cut so flippage is higher when using these. 

Another issue could be the rhinestone quality. Some rhinestones have a higher "dead" rate than others. Meaning the adhesive was not placed properly on the back by the manufacturer on some. So they do not adhere. This happens ALOT with size 6ss or smaller if they are regular rhinestones versus Swarovski.


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## trexart (Aug 3, 2007)

@lifestar Thanks very much, this is really interesting.

I would have loved to get the design that we did done in Swarovski but I think that it would have been so expensive that we would have priced the shirt right out of existence. Maybe I'll get some quotes for the design with Swarovski, if it is only 25% to 50% more, maybe it would be worth it just for the less hassle, plus we could advertise Swarovski.

Cheers
Steph


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## lifestar (Mar 18, 2007)

@trexart agreed... Swarovski can be expensive... worth it for high end projects but there are alternatives that work well and sparkle for volume projects. Going to PM you.. your graphics are great... have a few customers that could benefit if you do your own work.


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