Brown corners in black print

[harlandraka]

Hi everyone,

I'm approaching sublimation printing on mugs.

Mugs are 11oz AAA-grade mugs from a local supplier, my printer is an Epson L382 (I know... Not intended for sublimation printing, as all inkjet printers for home use but I'd like not to spend too much at this step). Sublimation inks are from a local supplier called Stampa Continua, if that matters. The paper is the A4 kind from Forever.

By my mugs supplier instructions I'm pressing at 200°C for 200 seconds, print gets fully transferred but I'm experiencing some brown smeary corners around black prints.

What could be causing this?

Thank you

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[InkExperts]

Hi, you issue could be a number of issues but first things to check would be-

Press temp and time - I usually recommend 180c for 180 secs. 200c for 200 secs may well be burning the ink out this causing browning of the black ink and also blurred / distorted edges.

Paper - check the print on the paper before pressing, inspect the print to see if the edges are blurred on the paper. If they are then the image will transfer in the same way. This may be down to the coating of the paper and / or are you printing on the correct side of the paper?

Lastly; artwork quality - ideally your artwork / image file should be made at 300dpi and the correct size for the mug; typically 20x8cm for a mug template. If the artwork is low resolution (from google or online) it will only be 72dpi this may well cause the image to be pixelated and 'blurry' when expanded to the print size.

I hope this helps.

Alex - Ink Experts ltd

[harlandraka]

Hi Alex,

Turned out it was my fault. I selected the wrong color profile in my printer's settings, so black color had the wrong pigment. I solved it now. Thank you!