Glass Worktop Savers/Placemats

[JSR]

Has anyone had any success printing glass worktop savers/placemats (265x195mm)..?

I'm trying to print up just one with a design of vibrant colours (reds, greens and yellows mostly). I initially did an order for a customer using ceramic tiles and they came out so good - so vibrant and colourful.

Now, with the glass worktop savers, the result is washed-out and dull. It looks kind of okay on the underside, but not when you look through the glass (which is, surely, the point!).

The worktop savers we used to have were excellent with superb colours. But the new version are just rubbish. It's as though not enough ink is being pulled through the white coating to show through the glass. The ink is coming off the paper well enough (you can tell when you're using TexPrint), so it's going somewhere - just not to the right place.

I've seen this happening on the newer type of glass coasters that have been coming through - they're not a patch on the original ones. It's as though whoever makes them is using an inferior white print coating.

I'm here trying different techniques, throwing away one placemat after another, but nothing is improving the situation. I wouldn't normally spend so much time, effort and money on a single placemat but this is the first time I've used these new glass worktop savers and I'd like to add them to my range, given that the older ones seem to be vanishing.

Should I just accept that these glass items are now inferior and they won't do the job, or has anyone had any success getting good vibrant colour through them?

I'm using Artanium ink and have tried both TexPrint and TruPix papers.

[Andrew]

Is this still the 7 minute print time stuff? Haven't used it for a couple of years.

[Kaz]

Not dye-sub, but have you seen these from TMT?

[url="http://www.themagictouch.co.uk/tablewar ... leware.htm]http://www.themagictouch.co.uk/tablewar ... leware.htm[/url]

[Justin]

Did my first glass mats/coasters recently and they came out very well. I believe I did them for 4 mins at 200c, medium pressure.

[TransferGraeme]

4 minutes at 200 degrees is certainly our suggested method, and I would strongly suggest Trupix paper rather than any other.

[JSR]

I've tried pressing for 5mins and 7mins, I've used TruPix and TexPrint, I've tried adjusting the image to increase the brightness and saturation. But the image still looks like there's a fog over it.

Yet the same image on a ceramic tile looks perfect.

Graeme, the result is identical with both TruPix and TexPrint.

Justin, what paper did you use and which glass items were you pressing?

I never had a problem on the old-style coasters and worktop savers, but glass products seem to vanish and be replaced with alarming regularity. I'm pretty much convinced the issue is all down to the white ink-receptive coating on the underside of the item. It's certainly different to what it used to be because, in the old days, if you didn't press just right then the coating would bubble and separate (particularly when using TruPix) - but the colour reproduction was spot-on (sometimes it was so good it was over-saturated). Today, the coating stays where it is - but now the colour reproduction is like you're looking at it through a fog of white smoke.

Unfortunately, I can't post images here because I'd need to ask the customer's permission.

[Justin]

I have the chincilla finish mats and clear coasters. Using TruPix paper.

[JSR]

I have the chincilla finish mats and clear coasters. Using TruPix paper.

Justin, are the placemats you've printed the 265x195mm ones, or the 300x200mm ones?

Here's the curious thing. I ordered in some of the larger 300x200mm ones from Listawood yesterday, praying to blind faith that I'd figure out what the problem is.

I've just now printed one of those with *exactly* the same image. The result? Perfect! The ink goes through the white base superbly, and the result through the glass is vibrant, colourful, and couldn't be better.

To double-check, I did exactly the same print on one of the 265x195mm ones using exactly the same settings and paper straight afterwards. And it, again, is "foggy". There's more colour underneath the mat than through the glass - while the 300x200mm one has an almost white base where all the ink has gone through it as it should.

Both pressed in the same way, at the same temperature, using the same ink, the same paper, the same everything.

I can only conclude that the 265x195mm placemats are, in some way, inferior. That's the last time I'll be buying any of them.

[Justin]

Justin, are the placemats you've printed the 265x195mm ones, or the 300x200mm ones?

Both

[JSR]

Justin, are the placemats you've printed the 265x195mm ones, or the 300x200mm ones?

Both

Well that's odd because I got two completely different results in which nothing changed except the placemat. I've had to go back to my customer and offer the larger ones because the 265x195 ones are no good, but if you're getting good results I can hardly complain to the supplier. The reply will just be that no one else has complained.

You must be performing some miracle to get good results out of both of them. Whatever it is, what's the secret?