king@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca (Stephen King) (06/16/89)
In article <6485@cs.Buffalo.EDU> commike@fomalhaut.UUCP (Alan Commike ) writes: >In article <16708@gryphon.COM> richard@gryphon.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: > >>I have no direct experience but I did ask around once and found that >>it's not ink you want, its a paper with a plastic coating that you >>print/paint on, then iron the wretched mess onto a T-shirt or something. >This is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time, but could >not get enough info on. I have a stack of the paper. It is called transfer >paper, and could be gotten from most shops that make T-shirts and sweat >shirts. The paper transfers to whatever it is against around 350F. There are several problems, actually. You need an ink which will be taken up by the 'transfer paper' (AKA release paper) in sufficient quantity to produce a legible image. Water-based inks do not stick too well to plastic. Some solvent-based inks may eat the plastic. You need a printer which deposits inks in sufficient quantity: T-shirts are often screen-printed, which permits a thick layer of ink to be laid down - some ink is absorbed by the fabric. Screen-printing inks for fabrics come in two basic varieties; fabric dyes and polymer (plastic like) heat-cure types which are not much absorbed by the fabric. Most of the T-shirt shops use designs lithographed onto the transfer paper and then coated with a layer of the heat-cure stuff. The coating helps retain image definition throughout repeated washings and permits transfer to the shirt using a photographic dry-mount press (or an iron). An example is Sericol (R) Texical (tm) fabric ink. Naz-Dar probably has a similar product. >My problem has been that we use Apple LaserWriters here, and according to >the docs that came with the LaserWriter, it can get up to 200 degrees >*Celcius* inside that thing! Indeed, laser printers get VERY hot inside. Easily hot enough to pull whatever it is from the transfer paper. Another factor to consider is the amount of ink deposited by a laser printer: I don't think that it would be sufficient to produce a clear image on fabric. Tell you what, I've got an ink-jet printer, some Texical ink and an old T-shirt. I'll see if I can get some transfer paper and do a little experimenting. I wonder what kind of wretched mess I'll be able to produce. -- ...{utzoo|mnetor}!dciem!dretor!king king@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca