MagicTouch Printing
Date: 27 Sep 2018

  During the field trip to TheMagicTouch store, the staff there Leon presented to us with a ppt. on basic knowledge on printing such as differences between RGB and CMYK. He also brought up the importance concept on the white. When we print on the transfer medium, the paper we use is default white and therefore whatever white design would be just left blank. There is no white printed on the transfer medium. When we transfer it to a non-white material, the white is no longer there. To solve this problem, they used printer with a special white toner that actually prints the white part.
Besides, he showed all kinds of transfer medium and some applications. With printing of etching circuit board and combination of a fabric transfer, they made a Santa with trees that actually lights up on the shirt. Another useful tip he mentioned was to print stitching lines or any other guideline with MagicTouch as it would make the making process especially alignment much easier.

  He also demonstrated a new transfer medium called RST9.1, which can be transferred onto wood with just water and spray adhesive. This could be done using normal method with a heat press as well.
At the end, we asked him about some of the issues we had with transfer printing. Below is a list of things to take note:
• Adjust pressure of the heat press; it is important as the medium needs better contact with the materials and we need to adjust to fit objects with different thickness
• Preheat the fabric before transferring
• When peeling off after heat pressing, peel according to the fabric grain direction not across it