Ceramic Ornaments

[Claire15]

Hi,
I recently bought some ceramic hearts and stars with holes in for sublimating as Christmas tree ornaments and I am having a right nightmare with them. I'm using SG400 with Sublijet HD inks and a UK heat press. I've followed the instructions and even experimented with timing, temp & pressure but it seems I get one spot on and then the next few are either faded or just don't print properly and are fit for the bin. Am I missing a trick here, does anyone have any experience with these? lol or should I just write these off as a bit of a bad idea? (I really thought they'd be super cute for xmas) Thanks in advance

[socialgiraffe]

You need to provide more information.

What make of heat press are you using and what times and temperature have you used.

It would also be helpful to explain exactly what you have done from start to finish on ornament 1 and ornament 2 as there is obviously an issue somewhere.

[phoeniximages]

hi claire,

i've been doing quite a lot of them recently and had similar issues at the beginning. called up the supplier i bought them from and they told me to use a thin silicone mat because many ceramic items are not completely flat so they need something which is thicker and better than a teflon sheet. let me know if you want more info and be happy to share

peter

[Andysam26467]

I print loads of these. I use a DK20S press from George knight. This is a heavy press so just use the weight of the press no pressure. I print both sides at the same time by wrapping the paper round the star and taping together and print 4 at once. 180 degrees for 6 minutes. Perfect every time.


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[Andysam26467]

I also use a thin silicon mat on the top


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[Claire15]

Thanks for your advice much appreciated and sorry for my late reply (work) I think it was all my error with the wrong mat , trying the silicone one tomorrow!
Thanks again!

[johna1954]

Just come across this post while looking for advice on printing ceramic stars and hearts. I appreciate it is nearly a year old but hope might still be seen.
Andysam26467 I was interested that you print both sides at the same time, does one side not come out darker than the other though?
Thanks John

[GoonerGary]

I would imagine so. I've been printing ceramic ornaments this week and flip the ornament over and press with reduced time. Even printing on both sides so far. Needs a bit of trial to get it right.

[johna1954]

Thanks GoonerGary, have had a couple of goes at it and seems to be ok. Used 185 degrees and 400 sec with silicone mat top and bottom.