Why Gold Foil
Popping your prints with gold foil transfers is a great way to spice up your shirts for the upcoming holiday season. The flash of the foil will not only help your shirts get noticed, but will also increase the value of your shirts. Gold foil transfers are easy to do when you have the right steps and the right products. Check out the steps below to get your gold foil transfers on track.
Getting Started
Wilfex’s Epic HD Clear 2 is a great tool to create gold foil prints. It works better as a foil adhesive than its traditional counterparts because it has tremendous adhesive properties, this is especially true when it’s hot. Wilflex’s Epic HD Clear 2 is definitely worth trying on gold or non-gold foil prints!
So how do you get started? To properly transfer the entire foil film, you need to get enough ink deposit on the garment before foiling. We suggest using a 110 mesh or lower. In the video below, we use a 110 mesh with tension of 20+ neutrons. We also built up our stencil using the round side of the scoop coater, and we did a 2/2 coat of emulsion to give us a higher emo. These things combined allow for more ink to deposit onto the garment. Making sure there is proper off contact is also really important. You need at least ⅛ inch of off contact to allow the HD clear to transfer from the screen to the garment. For your squeegee blade, use a 70-80 durometer, or a 70/90/70 triple durometer. You want a slightly harder blade to control the ink because the ink is slightly thicker than normal.
Before printing, load the stencil with a heavy load pass and a medium squeegee angle. If you are manually printing with heavy pressure, an angle between 15-20 degrees is needed. This angle can be replicated on an automatic press. Two passes are generally needed to transfer the ink to the shirt, however, if you want to create more density you can flash and then add more ink on top.
Before Foiling
Once printed, you can do one these three things prior to foiling:
- Cure
- Flash
- Transfer without Flashing
Each of these will give you a different effect. The last two should be ran down the dryer prior to washing. HD Clear cures at 330-350 degrees. So, you can run your dryer on normal settings prior to printing. When using a heat press, use medium pressure, around 40-50 pounds, at 330 degrees. You will want to use a Teflon pad to protect the shirt. Put your foil face up and use your heat press for 10-12 seconds. Give it time to both cool down and let the transfer stick the garment. Then you will be ready to peel the foil back. When just flashing, make sure to keep your heat press close to your press. Take the shirt straight off the press and put it onto the heat press. Transfer for the same settings as above and you should get similar results. If you are transferring the foil on wet ink, please keep in mind that your ink is wet and it may mush, however, it does work fairly well.
Experimenting with Gold Foil
Experimenting transferring foil without a heat press can be a lot of fun. Get the HD Clear very hot under a flash and when it comes out place the foil onto the shirt. You can either hand press the foil onto the shirt or you can use an iron.This will allow you to do multiple colors on the outside. You may get inconsistent results because of the lack of pressure, but it is worth experimenting with.
If you are having trouble with adhesion please keep in mind that you need enough ink deposit on the press. If there are inconsistencies in your deposit you need to adjust your off contact to ensure that it is level. Then you should adjust your angle and pressure to get an even ink deposit. Also, check to make sure that your heat press is pressing firmly enough. If you are still having trouble, try increasing your pressure slightly. Make sure to let the foil cool down all the way before peeling.
About HD Clear 2
Wilflex
Epic HD Clear 2 is a non-phthalate clear developed to create the appearance of glass, gel, water or high gloss surfaces. Epic HD Clear 2 can be used in High-Density applications or blended with other texture inks to create unique effects. It is also an effective adhesive carrier for foil, flock, and other applications.
Looking for a Heat Press Foil Solution?
Manual
Ryonet carries the largest selection of heat press machines in the screen printing industry. Whether you’re looking for a press stand, a digital press, a clam press, a swing away, or a specialized press for printing onto hats, or mugs, we have just the heat transfer presses you need to get your project done, and done well.
Automated
If you are looking for a great foil press, check out the ROQ Press Foil Automatic Heat Press Station and Foil Application. It is a revolutionary game changer for automated garment decoration. The traditional foiling process is slow and takes multiple steps which cost a lot in labor and overhead to produce. The ROQ Foil solves this by automating the foil application process directly on press, inline with the screen printing job. This also means that foil can be applied precisely and in tight registration around plastisol ink which would be virtually impossible without an inline foil system. The ROQ Foil also allows for up to two colors of foil to be applied simultaneously. Shops who take advantage of this technology will undoubtedly have a competitive edge in capability, price, and profit.
If you are looking for more great printing tips, check out Printing Multi-Color Heat Transfers and Screen Printing on Buttons and Zippers
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