Little Heat Press

 

The weeks that have passed working with the heat press Ive had many failures even after having created a few test books and notes to reference, Im learning a lot about the settings of this press which runs cold and has a heating pattered that i have to keep in mind when I sublimate 

when checking the heat pattern with the full black print the coil pattern is visible at 375*F  at 160 secs so with this temp and time deep black isnt fully saturated 

at 400*F for 130 secs color saturation is a little deeper but the saturation at the front and back edges are worse

I was trying to go with higher temp and less time to be able to increase production so  at 430*F for 40 secs saturation is deeper but the cooling at the edges on the front and back is heavily apparent with some heat blotching  

So the final press at 430*F for 130 secs which is safe to say that a longer press is the way to go with most of the back edge blotching gone and the coil imprint mostly gone but the front of the press still is too cool to sublimate 

This here is my cotton with sublimation fluid applied reference spell book, not only do i have to keep in mind temp and times but how many layers of sublimation fluid is applied, how many layers of paper needs to be applied above and below when pressing 

This is my canvas spell book which is time and temps, I started at the recommended time and temp but the test print came out light till I added more heat and time 

I felt having test swatches would be the best way to go to always have something to reference back to when working with different materials