A foil-over-toner process using products from The Magic Touch and Oki desktop printers allows complex designs to be printed cost-effectively with metallic and sparkle effects on T-shirts or other garments, irrespective of garment colour and fabric type.
Using a thermal transfer paper called T.Foil Dark, the process involves printing the required design with a ‘composite’ black made from all four process colours in the Oki printers (the C612 or the C332 offering CMYK or CMYK + white). The printed design on the transfer sheet is applied to the garment via a normal heat press to transfer the toner to it, which acts as an adhesive for the foil which is also heat pressed onto the garment. The finished transfer is given a final press to ensure feel, look and durability.
‘The new T.Foil Dark transfer process offers the ability for the user to produce stunning results quickly and very cost effectively onto almost any garment regardless of colour or textile composition and involves no labour intensive cutting and weeding,’ said Jim Nicol, managing director at The Magic Touch. ‘The bottom line is the user is able to produce transfers (including transfer paper & foil) for less than £1 up to A4 and £2 for A3, quickly and profitably.’
The foils are available in 18 colour options, from solid colours to sparkle metallics, in 30cm x 25m rolls, while the T.Foil Dark paper is available in A4 and A3 sheets. The Oki printers ship with Space Control Basic software to generate the transfer print on T.Foil Dark, though other transfer papers are also available, and ship for less than £300. The software is also available separately for existing owners of the Oki printers.
