Stencil is really faint

Hi, in need of some advice.
I just bought a thermal copier for my stencils as i'm starting to do bigger designs and sick of hand drawing everytime.
The copier seemed to work really well but when I transferred the stencil onto my skin with Stencil Stuff the stencil was really faint. I tried it a few times with varying amounts of stencil stuff and even re copied the stencil but it was still just really faint.
My drawings are quite thin delicate lines but that will always be the case so really want to find a solution. Also, it seemed to copy ok onto the paper, I just couldnt get it onto my skin. Ive never had this problem with the hand drawn stuff.
I was using BABER DTS Thermal carbon paper and one of the cheaper pretty standard thermal copiers.
Any advice very welcome!

I think that it may be a combination of lower quality stencil paper and thin lines.
I haven't heard of the brand of stencil paper that you are using, but i'm not from the UK, but I always use Spirit Classic Thermal paper for my stencils, have never had a problem.
It is always a problem stencilling thin lines...quality of the lines on the skin depends on the amount of carbon material transferred onto it, and thin lines don't have a lot of that....maybe thicken up the lines but tattoo with a thinner needle than the line, would give the result of a thin line.
Also does your stencil printer have a couple of deepness buttons ? maybe change deepness setting may help.

I’ve used a cheap stencil printer for years without issue…even been using the ‘off brand’ spirit paper from AliExpress, works a treat.

I recently invested in a fancy pants German stencil machine, the one with the plastic carrier wallet.

Other than the speed and possibility of saving stencil paper with the wallet process….I literally cant see ant difference, other than my expensive copier won’t work with the cheap paper, go figure!

STENCIL ISSUES: If the line is deep/solid on the transfer paper after stencilling, it should transfer ok, though I have learnt to use thicker lines on stencils to ensure they transfer AND stay on during the tattoo.

Are you using a laser printer or inkjet? Some stencil machines require carbon in the toner, which inkjets don’t have (I believe). Either way, inkjet prints will not work in all stencil machines.

I use a 3 stage transfer process of cleaning skin with green soap or similar, degreasing (thoroughly and vigorously) with isopropyl alcohol, then leave my stencil on after using stencil solution while gently rubbing the back of the transfer with a clean kitchen towel. My stencil paper can tear when taking off as it’s that well stuck and it lifts all stencil solution from the skin.

The degreasing stage is the most critical IMO.

Aside: I’ve just received some ‘stencil premium’ solution, silver metal can, and its beating all my other stencil solutions (hulk, SStuff and Electrum) hands down.

I was thinking about this too: rubbing the skin with alcohol changed my stencil life.

All the other tips i've read are good.

Peace,

DKJ