EZ Fix For Bubbly T-Shirt Transfers

[robotboy]

I never had much of a problem aside from one or two small bubbles on a t-shirt transfer until tonight; however, it's been raining like crazy here, so when I went out to check my enclosure cover after clearcoating my t-shirt transfer, I was pretty pissed to find 25 or 30 small blisters in the transfer. I thought I would have to start all over again, but then I thought that if it was the humidity that caused the bubbles, maybe making the enclosure cover really dry would get rid of them. I grabbed my wife's blowdryer and set it to high heat. I let the t-shirt transfer get hot for about 10 seconds and then slowly rubbed all the bubbles out with my thumb. Now I have a perfectly smooth t-shirt transfer that looks flawless, so I thought I would pass this on in case anybody else runs into the same problem.

[bwanasonic]

Thanks. It sounds like a good tip to know if you are finishing pedals in FL.  

I bought some of the dark T-shirt transfer, but haven't tried it yet.

Kerry M

[Brian Marshall]

i bought some avery dark tshirt transfers a year or so ago... the paper sort of had a ribbed look to it that i could still see through the image.  That was the main problem i had with them.

[ryanscissorhands]

Question: Was it a laser T-shirt transfer or an inkjet one?

[Dji]

I've had gas problems (heh) every time I've used the transfers. I'll give this a try next time.

[robotboy]

Question: Was it a laser T-shirt transfer or an inkjet one?

I don't think you'd want to use a laser printer because the toner might be affected by the heat of your iron. As usual though, I could be wrong. I've been using my HP photojet, and the results have been fantastic. Just make sure you use the highest quality when you go to print and apply clear coat in LIGHT coats giving time to dry between each coat. Soaking a transfer with clearcoat will cause the same bubbling problem if you're not careful.

[robotboy]

i bought some avery dark tshirt transfers a year or so ago... the paper sort of had a ribbed look to it that i could still see through the image.  That was the main problem i had with them.

Hmm... that's odd. Mine are totally opaque. Maybe you got a bad batch? Here's a pic of a recent pedal I did with t-shirt transfer.