Transfer paper suddenly not working? Drying out?

andyeff · 26 Jul 2020

I was given some stencil paper which I used with no problems for a few months. I put the paper with the drawing directly on the ink part of the stencil paper, trace the drawing and the ink sticks to the back, as it should. Before.
Few months without using, I had to trace super hard to get some ink on the back of the paper, almost to ripping point.
So I got out some new transfer paper I ordered back in April and same thing happened.
The ink won't come off the stencil paper to the back of my paper, only in patches and if I trace super rough.
Am I doing something wrong here?

Ronan73 · 26 Jul 2020

have you tried turning it over? paper only works on one side.

andyeff · 26 Jul 2020

Ronan73 said:
have you tried turning it over? paper only works on one side.

You mean the actual paper where the drawing is or the transfer paper itself? Because the transfer paper, yes, I was so desperate even THAT I tried, but considering one side is blue and inked and the other is white paper, I was pretty sure that wouldn't work but even that I tried lmao.
Now if you mean the ACTUAL drawing paper then I'll feel dumb because no I didn't turn it over, since my drawing was only on one side.

DKJ · 27 Jul 2020

Hi!
Just guessing, but any weather change in your area and the paper was not into a plastic bag?

I really don't know if humidity/moist can alter a transfer paper, but i kept mine in a plastic closed bag.

Peace,

DKJ

DKJ · 27 Jul 2020

DKJ said:
Hi!
Just guessing, but any weather change in your area and the paper was not into a plastic bag?

I really don't know if humidity/moist can alter a transfer paper, but i kept mine in a plastic closed bag.
Old manners from a guy who lost 100€ worth of good drawing paper in an extreme weather change.

Peace,

DKJ

Ronan73 · 27 Jul 2020

andyeff said:
You mean the actual paper where the drawing is or the transfer paper itself? Because the transfer paper, yes, I was so desperate even THAT I tried, but considering one side is blue and inked and the other is white paper, I was pretty sure that wouldn't work but even that I tried lmao.
Now if you mean the ACTUAL drawing paper then I'll feel dumb because no I didn't turn it over, since my drawing was only on one side.

Like DKJ recommends, I also keep mine in a plastic zip lock bag and then in a thick card envelope to stop it getting damaged.

This is what i do if youre not using a printer. Now i may be tip toeing through this but its just to check..

1- I strip all the top see through sheets off the carbon paper to leave the blue sheet
2- place the blue paper shiny side down.
3- place your drawing/ plane paper on top of the blue paper.
4- Trace/draw over the picture or design you want.
5- turn the white paper drawing over and your transfer will be on the back of the paper.

It would have lifted the carbon off the blue sheet and left an outline on the back of the drawing/paper.

Again im sorry if you think im speaking down to you, I promise its not my intention. Its just to find out if there are any other issues.

If you dont have a nice blue outline on the back of your drawing then maybe your carbon paper is no good. Not sure why but like DKJ says, maybe a damp environment could have ruined the paper.

Id play with a few pieces of carbon and paper then give up and maybe get some more off amazon. Its fairly cheap and save you pulling your hair out.

andyeff · 27 Jul 2020

Ronan73 said:
Like DKJ recommends, I also keep mine in a plastic zip lock bag and then in a thick card envelope to stop it getting damaged.

This is what i do if youre not using a printer. Now i may be tip toeing through this but its just to check..

1- I strip all the top see through sheets off the carbon paper to leave the blue sheet
2- place the blue paper shiny side down.
3- place your drawing/ plane paper on top of the blue paper.
4- Trace/draw over the picture or design you want.
5- turn the white paper drawing over and your transfer will be on the back of the paper.

It would have lifted the carbon off the blue sheet and left an outline on the back of the drawing/paper.

Again im sorry if you think im speaking down to you, I promise its not my intention. Its just to find out if there are any other issues.

If you dont have a nice blue outline on the back of your drawing then maybe your carbon paper is no good. Not sure why but like DKJ says, maybe a damp environment could have ruined the paper.

Id play with a few pieces of carbon and paper then give up and maybe get some more off amazon. Its fairly cheap and save you pulling your hair out.

View attachment 24009 View attachment 24010 View attachment 24011

Thank you for all this! I absolutely don't take any offense on how you explained all the steps, I am learning and I just assume first hand that I'm going to make the dumbest mistakes. This might be one.
The only step of this that I didn't do was strip the see through paper because my blue sheet comes with like another page attached to it that keeps the blue part covered. I just have to lift it. I did try to peel something off the blue sheet but it seemed like there was nothing to peel off. I'll have to give a closer look.. But the weather thing may explain it too? I kept all my paper in a carton envelope, no plastic bag. The first piece of paper was given to me by a tattoo artist and it worked fine during Winter. Now it's Summer and the same sheet has this problem. It could possibly be..
Thank you for your help and pictures, I really appreciate the kindness and will keep you updated if there's anything to peel off I didn't try.. Although the first one he gave me was already peeled off and always worked fine until now.. My bet is on the weather.

andyeff · 27 Jul 2020

DKJ said:
Hi!
Just guessing, but any weather change in your area and the paper was not into a plastic bag?

I really don't know if humidity/moist can alter a transfer paper, but i kept mine in a plastic closed bag.

Peace,

DKJ

Thank you for your reply!
It could be.. because the first sheet I had was given to me by a tattoo artist, I used it all Winter and it worked fine. Since it still had space left, I tried to use it now and had the problem I mentioned but now it's Summer.. Both that sheet and the ones I ordered more recently were kept in a carton envelope but nothing else.. Maybe I did just ruin my paper because of massive heat wave! Thank you for the tip.

balooka · 27 Jul 2020

Using the thermal sheets for a manual paper transfer causes some more issues in my experience. The layer of carbon is extremely thin because the *heat* of the thermal printer or copier takes care of the transfer, not pressure. If you are planning on doing it manually you could get some hectograph paper which is the same stuff but on a thicker backing sheet and no other sheets attached to it. The reason for that is that the hectograph paper is more waxy and therefore won't react to heat (and won't stain everything) but will react to (light) pressure from a pen or something. I've used that a lot and sometimes still do.

You can just print your design on 70 to 90 grams paper, staple it to your waxy hectograph, trace your design and the carbon will be on the back. A bonus is that you can still see what you have traced on the stencil after you used it, so a great reference too!

andyeff · 27 Jul 2020

balooka said:
Using the thermal sheets for a manual paper transfer causes some more issues in my experience. The layer of carbon is extremely thin because the *heat* of the thermal printer or copier takes care of the transfer, not pressure. If you are planning on doing it manually you could get some hectograph paper which is the same stuff but on a thicker backing sheet and no other sheets attached to it. The reason for that is that the hectograph paper is more waxy and therefore won't react to heat (and won't stain everything) but will react to (light) pressure from a pen or something. I've used that a lot and sometimes still do.

You can just print your design on 70 to 90 grams paper, staple it to your waxy hectograph, trace your design and the carbon will be on the back. A bonus is that you can still see what you have traced on the stencil after you used it, so a great reference too!

This is extreme helpful and I didn't even think of it! Thank you for explaining so well the difference between transfer paper for hand tracing and printer, it makes a lot of sense. Although, I checked my order right after this comment and it is indeed ReproFX Spirit Classic - Hectograph Paper Hand Draw Purple

Guessing it should work then.. But thank you for explaining it, definitely learned something today.

balooka · 28 Jul 2020

That's odd... I just tried some 2 year old hecto that just lies in an open box and it works fine. Are you by any chance using very smooth paper to trace onto? I know the Dutch word but not the English... The kind where your printer ink stays wet longer than on normal copier paper?

I

andyeff · 28 Jul 2020

balooka said:
That's odd... I just tried some 2 year old hecto that just lies in an open box and it works fine. Are you by any chance using very smooth paper to trace onto? I know the Dutch word but not the English... The kind where your printer ink stays wet longer than on normal copier paper?

I

Hey, I cracked it! Thanks to this answer! My paper wasn't smooth at all but this reply made me rethink if I changed my drawing paper at all and it came to mind that I recently found a new block of drawing paper, before I was just using normal printing sheets paper. This one is much thicker! So I tried to trace something with the old printer paper and since it's thinner, it worked! Little pressure and the carbon ink marks just right. So turns out it was the thick drawing paper that probably wouldn't allow the pressure to be enough to lift off the ink.
Thank you for making me think of the drawing paper instead of the transfer paper, much appreciated! Just saved me new orders ahah all the best for you

andyeff · 28 Jul 2020

J

Ronan73 said:
Like DKJ recommends, I also keep mine in a plastic zip lock bag and then in a thick card envelope to stop it getting damaged.

This is what i do if youre not using a printer. Now i may be tip toeing through this but its just to check..

1- I strip all the top see through sheets off the carbon paper to leave the blue sheet
2- place the blue paper shiny side down.
3- place your drawing/ plane paper on top of the blue paper.
4- Trace/draw over the picture or design you want.
5- turn the white paper drawing over and your transfer will be on the back of the paper.

It would have lifted the carbon off the blue sheet and left an outline on the back of the drawing/paper.

Again im sorry if you think im speaking down to you, I promise its not my intention. Its just to find out if there are any other issues.

If you dont have a nice blue outline on the back of your drawing then maybe your carbon paper is no good. Not sure why but like DKJ says, maybe a damp environment could have ruined the paper.

Id play with a few pieces of carbon and paper then give up and maybe get some more off amazon. Its fairly cheap and save you pulling your hair out.

View attachment 24009 View attachment 24010 View attachment 24011

Just wanted to let you know I found the problem! As you may tell, it was something really dumb that I didn't even think of. I recently changed my drawing paper to a much thicker one. The pressure wasn't enough to lift off the ink with such a thick paper so I figured this out once I tried using my old paper which was normal printer blank sheets. Much thinner and works like a charm. Sometimes it's the smallest easiest things right under our nose. Thank you so much for dumbing this down for me but I guess I needed even more dumbing down haha much love and all the best for you.

DKJ · 28 Jul 2020

We learn everyday, nice to know it's not going to the bin.

Peace,

DKJ

Ronan73 · 28 Jul 2020

andyeff said:
J

Just wanted to let you know I found the problem! As you may tell, it was something really dumb that I didn't even think of. I recently changed my drawing paper to a much thicker one. The pressure wasn't enough to lift off the ink with such a thick paper so I figured this out once I tried using my old paper which was normal printer blank sheets. Much thinner and works like a charm. Sometimes it's the smallest easiest things right under our nose. Thank you so much for dumbing this down for me but I guess I needed even more dumbing down haha much love and all the best for you.

Phew...lol..no such thing as dumb questions or answers......apart from this one ? ? .

Glad you found the answer...things like this can be so frustrating. we have all been there. i bet if you asked everyone here they would give you an example of not knowing the answer to something really basic and dumb.lol

lowlife · 27 Mar 2023

My printer was printing then went off turned it back on it finished the stencil incorrectly then powered off. tried to power on and it won't come on

Transfer paper suddenly not working? Drying out?

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