Kisscut self weeding paper!

[Krenzathal]

Hi all,

I just did my first test prints with my new heat press.

I'm using Kisscut self weeding paper and I thought I'd put a few words in about it.

Let me just start by saying that this is the first time I have ever attempted printing anything so it may just be my inexperience but here we go. The paper does do what it says......some of the time.

It appears you have to get your temperature, time of press and pressure just right for it to work properly and this is no easy feat. Out of 4 attempts so far I have got one that is a perfect transfer. The others either left some pretty ugly polymer on there or the ink didn't take too well at all.

I've yet to work out settings on my heat press, ATM it's set to rise to 200 degrees and my perfect transfer came out by holding that down for ten seconds at that heat.

So that's about it. The technology does work but how well depends I suppose on repetitive trial and error until you get it absolutely right!

I'll try and take some pictures when my phone charges up but they are not pretty!

Thanks!

[ApeShirt]

Are you following manufacturer specs?

[Krenzathal]

It didn't come with any, just the sheets in an envelope.

This post wasn't meant to slur the company you understand it was simply to give a first impression from a beginners point of view.

I've emailed Kisscut and requested optimum settings for the heat press which will work best with their product so here's hoping.

It's worth noting that I have tried a variety of different settings much to the same effect but hopefully if I get a starting point from the manufacturer it will become a case of fine tuning and will be much easier.

[Catspit Productions]

I moved this topic to the transfer section....

This is common with self weeding or special process digital transfer papers. The specific heat, pressure, times and so forth are critical. You’ll need to fine tune all of that precisely I would think. Even some of the RhinoTech papers which I know are good products are finicky with all the settings.

So it is a matter of getting used to working with the particular transfer paper. I’m sure after some trial and error the process will work. Don’t give up easily and know that there is a certain cost involved with learning a new process.

Remember you want to make a quality product easily with a transfer, so some costs in getting where you want to be are expected and should not discourage you.

[Krenzathal]

Apologies for posting in the wrong section, it won't happen again.

So far I have used 20 out of my 25 pack of transfer paper and all bar one has been unsuccessful and I've actually run out of things to print on.

It is extremely disheartening to see attempt after attempt fail, especially as it is such a waste of good materials but I've had one good one so it is possible and I will keep at it until it is right.

I've posted some pictures below of some of my more unsuccessful attempts. The images were sourced from the internet and posterised by me in paint shop pro. They are of famous movie icons but were never intended to be anything more than some fun shirts for personal use.

[Catspit Productions]

No worries

That is discouraging, I admit. I don’t know anything about the Kisscut papers. Maybe they’re not all that good, I don’t know.

I would suggest trimming off excess paper before pressing even though it supposed to self-weed. This type of paper may require very specific heat and pressure settings. I know RhinoTech makes a similar inkjet product that if properly done will “self-weed” but any polymer adhesive left behind is supposed to come off in the wash.

These are simple designs and you shouldn’t have this much trouble with them. You may want to try a different transfer paper. You could take a look at the complete line of RhinoTech transfer papers including Neenaheat products.

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/rh ... plies.html

Also best results will be achieved with new, unwashed garments. Did you wash any of these to see what happens?

Awesome thread, I appreciate your posting on the Catspit forum

[Krenzathal]

That's funny because I only yesterday watched a video that suggested washing t-shirts with excess polymer left on them and that was supposed to remove it.

I'm dubious because the polymer looked pretty well welded on but I'm going to try tomorrow to wash some of the failed attempts and see what happens and if it works then I'll be smiling!

I'll definitely be trimming any further designs to as close to the ink as I can get as it seems to be round the edges of the square that it happens to leave the most polymer.

I'll need to buy a batch of test t-shirts to experiment on so hopefully it's just my noob skills that are the problem but if Kisscut turns out to be a bust then I'll definitely give RhinoTech paper a shot if they are available in the UK.

Thanks again for the help and advice!