Well, you learn something new every day! (HR Paper)

[AdamB]

So,

after printing a 100% polyester vest yesterday I thought I would try something that may be benificial to new members.

As I don't do much sublimation on 100% polyester garments I'm pretty much a virgin in this area (I use chromablast on white t-shirts, and vinyl and transfers on the rest). Due to this, I only usually sublimate the generic items (mugs, jigsaws, placemats, coasters etc) so I have really only used one type of paper - Trupix - which produces excellent results on what I make (if it's not broke, why fix it).

So, yesterday I pressed a 100% polyester vest using Trupix paper and Artainium ink and was impressed with the result (a potential order pending). It was mentioned that certain paper should be used for clothing as they are 'high release' paper and let more ink get to the surface of the garment, good for garments but not for hard surfaces.

Well, as I'm curious (and extremely busy but it was bugging me) I decided to test the papers.

I didn't want to waste a vest so I used a mini t-shirt which is also 100% polyester. I pressed bot for the same time and the same temperature - I know there may be tweaking but I was just curious of the results.

I have an image below of the results. The left side (1) of the t-shirt was pressed with Trupix paper and the right (2) was pressed with TexPrint XP HR (high release) paper.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]394[/ATTACH]

I didn't really expect a difference but I was amazed at the difference using a high release paper. What I thought was good (2) now looks quite faded and bland compared to the the other print (1).

My question is now, apart from garments - is there anything else that should be pressed with HR paper?

Many thanks

Adam

NOTE: The images are as is - not photoshoped not with no flash.

[AdamB]

A question I have just thought of, do things like mousemats, flexible coasters, sunscreens, bibs, tea towels, mobile phone covers etc which are all 'material' based required HR paper for best results??

[Paul]

whoever mentioned that hr paper is good for fabrrics but not for hard surfaces is WRONG. You can use texprint on ceramic with perfect results. hr paper will allow you to shorter your baking time too! So there is saving already. I pressed slates, ceramic tiles, mugs, lighters meatal and some other hard blanks using tp hr and i had perfect results. As i said in other tread that trupix is fantastic but not to good for fabrics. So why to use two papers if you can use one that can be predsed on all substrates

[AdamB]

whoever mentioned that hr paper is good for fabrrics but not for hard surfaces is WRONG.

thanks for the reply Paul .................. yeah it does make sense to use one type of paper if it works on everything - but I'm sure I read it somewhere, I spent about 6 weeks just reading and watching videos before I went into this stuff so I'll find what I refer to

[smitch6]

thats really handy to know Adam cos i am sure somewhere it said you should use textprint on T's etc and trupix on hard stuff
although i only have tru so use it on everything and will admit it does come out a bit more faded on clothing

where as hard surfaces mugs, coasters etc it's really really vibrant and clear

[JSR]

My own experimentation has proven to me that while you can use one paper for all things, it's best to use the right paper for the right thing if you want the best results.

For me, that's TexPrint HR for fabric items (t-shirts, mousemats, etc) and a low release paper like TruPix or Xpres (from BMS) for hard items (ceramics, coasters, etc).

There are always exceptions to the rule. For example, I might use TexPrint on colour-change mugs to lower the cooking temperature (TruPix seems to make the mug go yellow). TexPrint also works better on glass items (because TruPix sticks to it). But if I use TexPrint on regular mugs at the regular cooking temperature, the result is less defined and softer than if I use TruPix/Xpres.

Likewise, you can't generalise. While you can "get away with" TexPrint on hard items, I once tried an economy high release budget paper from BMS (that they don't sell anymore, fortunately) and it was utterly *terrible* for hard items.

At the end of the day, if you regularly do both types of items and you want the best results you need the best paper. But if 95% of your work is one type and you only occasionally do the other type, then there's little point in buying both. Just work out what's best and go with that.

[AdamB]

Thanks guys ...................... I now need to get hold of some decent HR paper for doing sublimation on garments, it has to be A3 as the designs I do are quite big.

I have been looking at different suppliers and they seem quite contradictory, in the fact that one site will say that texprint is good for materials and the other will say it's good for hard substrates!

I have a choice between A3 Texprint HR version (that I tested today) - but Listawood say that is "best suited to sublimating hard items such as mugs, tiles & Unisub products and does not require time to dry. "

or A3 JetCol which is stated as good to go for material but needs time to dry when printed "best suited to sublimating soft items such as t-shirts, fabric mats and bags, but needs to dry for approx. 20-30 minutes before pressing."

?

[JSR]

Listawood say that is "best suited to sublimating hard items such as mugs, tiles & Unisub products and does not require time to dry. "

I've often wondered why they say that. It's almost as though they don't know what the "HR" stands for. I haven't tried JetCol because it seems pretty pointless to buy in another high release paper when TexPrint is there. But then, Listawood are the company that tried to make Orca mugs look bad by saying they were for "handwash only". It wouldn't surprise me if they're trying to make TexPrint look bad so everyone buys JetCol instead.

I have TexPrint in both A3 and 13" roll paper (from the days when Epson printers supported roll paper). The roll paper has been very useful given that it's 13" wide and as long as you like because there have been some items (such as 300mm glass worktop savers, or 12" dia. clocks) which are just too big for "A3" paper (which maxes out at 11.7" width).

We have printers that are 13" wide so it makes sense to buy in 13" wide paper when you want to print "as big as possible". A3 just isn't wide enough after you take margins into account, and the US size of 11x17 is just a joke. Some papers (TruPix) are available in A3+ while the roll paper of TexPrint can be had from Listawood: http://www.listawoodtradesupplies.com/i ... &suggest=1 (I used to buy mine from Revolution but they don't seem to sell it any more).

[AdamB]

Thanks for the reply

I use A3+ as standard (normally use trupix), as I couldn't see Texprint available in A3+ I didn't think to mention it ..................... is the 13" roll the same width as A3+ then? Just thinking it may be cheaper for me to get a roll in and slice it into A3+ sheets ........ ?

[JSR]

A3+ paper is 13"x19" (in old money) so 13" wide roll paper is the same width. You'll have to work out how many sheets you'd get out of a roll for the cost saving.

Roll paper is, by its nature, rolled up - which can make it difficult to feed into the printer sometimes (unless the printer supports roll paper natively - like the old 1290S or R1800). This may be important if you're doing a lot of prints at the same time (nothing beats sticking a stack of pre-cut paper in the tray and letting it get on with it).

However, with roll paper you can cut to suit - so if you're doing a lot of square designs, you'd just do a custom page size of 13"x13" - and not waste the extra 6" that you would on a sheet of A3+. Over just a couple of prints, you'd save enough to get a free sheet.

So it all comes down to how you intend to use it.