Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I'm using Imageclip transfer paper and it's been so far so good until I noticed cracks after washing it. I turned the shirt inside out, cold water, no bleach, hang dry, etc....followed recommended washing instruction. But my print cracks as 100% cotton fabric stretches. Please help imageclip experts out there. How can I eliminate..or minimize this? Thank you for your time.
What causes the vertical cracking is the area between the knit ribs is not exposed to the toner/polymer. Therefore the toner/polymer is not transferred on them.
You have to press with very heavy pressure. Also what I do with adult size shirt is prestretch the shirt. To do that I lower the upper platten on the shirt but not locked in. What it does is hold the shirt in place. I then stretch the sides of the shirt. Next I lock in the upper platten to prepress the shirt for 2-3 seconds to remove moisture, wrinkle and also keep the shirt in stretched form. Open the press, lay the transfer down and do the normal transfer pressing with very heavy pressure.
In your case the baby size shirt will be impossible to stretch as described above. What I would suggest is use a teflon pillow that is sightly larger than the shirt. Insert the pillow inside the shirt to stretch it. Prepress for 2-3 seconds to heat up the pillow. Also to remove moisture and wrinkle. Press the transfer with very heavy pressure.
Conde sells different sizes of teflon pillow. Some uses mouse pad material in place of teflon pillow. Make sure the mouse pad material is larger than the shirt so that it is big enough to stretch the shirt.
Hope this helps.
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Luis MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2 Digital Artist. My canvas is t-shirt and my paintbrush is heat press.
Last edited by Lnfortun; October 27th, 2007 at 06:20 PM.
Wow...I can't thank you enough for your share Luis and Shawn. I'll definitely try both of your suggestions. I'll come back to share my results. Thanks again.
And one more question..
Would plastisol transfer solve this problem?
Thank you in advance.
I tried stretching the shirts right after the transfer while it's still hot and...IT WORKS@@@ I also ordered 2 teflon pillows and can't wait to try Luis's method.
Thank you.
A few other members suggest to stretch your shirt immediately after peeling the transfer. That has helped my previous cracking issues.
I do that also but there are still areas between knit ribs that are not filled. That is when cracking become obvious whether the shirt is stretched hot or cold after pressing.
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Luis MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2 Digital Artist. My canvas is t-shirt and my paintbrush is heat press.
I give the shirt a good stretch in all directions before pressing. I'll also second what Luis said. Pressure is the key. Your press should be more than capable of applying enough pressure. Just tighten the pressure until it is very difficult to get the press closed. I've never had an ImageClip transfer crack. I wash them in warm, right side out and machine dry with all of my other laundry.
Imageclip-How to minimize cracking??? 
MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2
