Create the right atmosphere for consistent dye sub printing
We’ll make no bones about it – successful dye sub printing is all about tying down processes and variables. If you reduce or remove potential for error in any of the processes, the likelihood of a successful outcome is greatly increased.
A good example that can greatly effect results is that of the environmental conditions in the area that the printing or transferring is taking place. Successful printing – of any type, not just dye sub – comes back to working with an accurate and consistent profile. This ties everything together – printer, paper, fabric, inks and heat press. A change in any of these will alter the final outcome but also a change in humidity or even room temperature will potentially start to have an effect on things as well.
In a rare heatwave a few summers ago, we responded to a technical request from a customer working in the top floor of an old mill. Their colour management problems were quickly tracked down to a colour profile created in the cold and damp of the previous winter versus their attempts to reproduce things in an environment that was so hot and humid it was actually beyond the recommended working conditions for the hardware – let along the poor souls trying to use it!
A small investment in a portable air conditioning unit, an improvement in working practise regarding the storage of inks and paper and a re-profiling of their system put a more stable process in place – and made it a much more pleasant place to work!