Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I have been printing my own heat transfers for about a year now. I've been using mostly dark shirts and Coastal's Jet Dark transfer paper.
Now I have an order for 500 shirts for a non profit group and I need to find a company that can print color photo transfers for me. I think this will be more cost effective, correct me if I'm wrong. They will be on white 50/50 or cotton t shirts and will probabaly want a one color information image on the other side, which I was planning to have made as well.
I see all these companies that make plastisol transfers, do they also make photo transfers? I have contacted First Edition and their machine is broken, I've emailed Dowling and Silver Mountain to ask for information. I don't see that either one does this on their web site, but I thought I'd ask.
Does anyone have good reliable resources?
Or if I should print them myself, who had the best transfer paper for white? I've actually been using Office Max's because I don't do many white shirts.
I have been printing my own heat transfers for about a year now. I've been using mostly dark shirts and Coastal's Jet Dark transfer paper.
Now I have an order for 500 shirts for a non profit group and I need to find a company that can print color photo transfers for me. I think this will be more cost effective, correct me if I'm wrong. They will be on white 50/50 or cotton t shirts and will probabaly want a one color information image on the other side, which I was planning to have made as well.
I see all these companies that make plastisol transfers, do they also make photo transfers? I have contacted First Edition and their machine is broken, I've emailed Dowling and Silver Mountain to ask for information. I don't see that either one does this on their web site, but I thought I'd ask.
Does anyone have good reliable resources?
Or if I should print them myself, who had the best transfer paper for white? I've actually been using Office Max's because I don't do many white shirts.
..Does anyone have good reliable resources?
Or if I should print them myself, who had the best transfer paper for white? I've actually been using Office Max's because I don't do many white shirts.
Another option (a last one) could be light transfers for laser printers or for CLC's. The papers for oil based CLC's are cheap and durable enough. You could even try and bring some blank transfers to your local copy shops and have them print some sample sheets. Use the A3 or 11x17 size paper and just gang your photos in there.
On the light transfers for laser printers or CLC's, (what is CLC's), Are you talking about transfer paper for laser printers for light colors or something else? I don't know what papers you are talking about. Oil based CLC's? Where do I get them? And do I just have a printer color copy onto the paper to make transfers? This looks like the easiest option if it works well and holds up in the wash.
I was a little worried about the artwork being usable for a company to make the images because I don't have a program to put artwork into a vector format, which seems like what I'll need.
I will probabaly still need to have plastisol transfers made for a one or two color image on the other side. I may have a source to get that done though.
I'm still going to check out transfer express and see how that will work.
Thanks for the help. After a year, I still have alot to learn.
CLC stands for Color Laser Copiers. These are the bigger machines usually used bycopy shops like Kinko's, etc. Nowadays, these machines are what they call the digital copiers/printers and are now able to print directly from your PC. Oil based CLCs uses oil on the fuser section and operates at lower fusing temperature. They are the ones usually used by graphic printing companies because the color output are more consistent. Usually, they have a RIP processor/software attached to them. The machines usually comes from such companies like Fuji-Xerox, Canon, Konica-Minolta, etc. Transfer papers used on oil based CLCs are the cheapest one and comes in A3 or 11x17 sizes. An example of this paper is the Photo-trans Plus (and the Photo-trans Plus SC) from Neenah paper company. The Duracotton-oil transfer paper is also designed for oil based CLCs only, and same goes to the Forever Classic from Forever Germany. With the advent of smaller non-oil based laser printers/copiers (cheaper and smaller than oil based CLCs), manufacturers came up with transfer papers which can also be used on higher fuser temperature (non-oil based CLCs operate at this higher temperature). Thus came the Techniprint (from Neenah), Duracotton-OIL, and the Forever-Classic Universal and Forever-Fivestar Universal. These papers are a bit more expensive, but can be used on both oil and non-oil based laser printers. You can also check-out the Neenah website, forever-ots.com, and prodistributors.com for a list of some compatible laser printers. I have noticed that the OKIs are becoming popular for transfer paper printing so you might want to check that out also.
I've gotten Photo Prints from Transfer Express before. They worked out really well. if you upload your photo on their website, they will call you back and give you a quote. www.transferexpress.com then click on "Send us your Artwork".
I have been printing my own heat transfers for about a year now. I've been using mostly dark shirts and Coastal's Jet Dark transfer paper.
Now I have an order for 500 shirts for a non profit group and I need to find a company that can print color photo transfers for me. I think this will be more cost effective, correct me if I'm wrong. They will be on white 50/50 or cotton t shirts and will probabaly want a one color information image on the other side, which I was planning to have made as well.
I see all these companies that make plastisol transfers, do they also make photo transfers? I have contacted First Edition and their machine is broken, I've emailed Dowling and Silver Mountain to ask for information. I don't see that either one does this on their web site, but I thought I'd ask.
Does anyone have good reliable resources?
Or if I should print them myself, who had the best transfer paper for white? I've actually been using Office Max's because I don't do many white shirts.
Thanks for the info. I've actually contacted dowling, first edition, ace and mytransfersource for quotes. Ron at my transfer source was really nice an helpful. I think Dowling's machine was down for making photo transfers.
Best company to make custom photo transfers 
www.busyPrinting.com
MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2
