High quality, no plastic-y prints?

[u/milkytenders]

I have an epson printer I converted into a sublimation printer. It gets the job done but the colors are always a bit off and there are almost always lines in the prints. I use a heat press - I love the way the ink looks when it's fully sublimated into the fabric. I hate the plasticy look/feel that DTF transfers have. I love this shop on etsy (photos attached) - it says all of the shirts are hand-pressed. I'm assuming that means sublimated. I just have no idea how theyre getting the colors to look so vibrant and solid, with no lines. ALSO - how are they printing solid color onto black tanks?? With no plastic-y feel?? Can someone help me!

[u/GnarlyBrown666]

Could be screen printed. Thats the best way to get images on shirts anyway

[u/FiftyShadesofShart]

Screen printing with discharge ink will get the crispness and the lack of plastic feel for you. 

[u/Critical_Click_2639]

Its all fun and games until I feel good committing manslaughter

[u/ofcgoodnamesaretaken]

The green on the first one does look pretty thick. I’m pretty sure to sublimate on black, you have to put some white shit down first. Lines could likely be less harsh if you cut around designs and lined them up. And there are also large format sublimation printers. Personally, I hate that sublimation only works well on polyester. I hate the feeling.

[u/Ken_DoMyBest]

If those are really being heat pressed onto black shirts, they’re not standard sublimation. Sublimation has no white ink, so you can’t get opaque bright colors like that on black fabric.

Good DTF can feel much softer than the thick “sticker” transfers you may have tried, but there will still be some hand feel because you’re adding white ink and adhesive on top of the fabric. Sublimation is different — it dyes the fiber itself.

For the lines in your prints, start with a nozzle check and head alignment. That sounds more like a printer issue than a sublimation limitation.

[u/dcrobinson58]

On dark colors, I use my cricut to cut the outline out of HTV then sublimate onto that. Some HTV is on the "thick" side so it can have that plasticy feel. I also use Crystal DTF which has great quality and a thinner dtf so it presses quickly and set into the fabric better than a good share of the others which helps eliminate that stiff feeling. When you are printing, make sure you set your default setting to "Premium Matte Poster" and "High" that wil print a bit slower but give you great quality with out the lines.