Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I'm new to the heat transfer business (working with my daughters) and we are confused on how to transfer graphics that have characters and single lines for colored fabrics.
What happens is that when we transfer on colored t-shirts, the inside of the characters has the residue of the transfer paper.
We want a clean transfer with the fabric color as the background and not the transfer paper. My daughters purchased paper for colored fabric and applied according to the instructions yet the transfer looked horrible and very unprofessional.
In addition, next to impossible to cut out since you can't get into the characters.
I've included attachments to show the transfer and what I'm looking for. The 'what I'm looking for' photo was edited in Photoshop and removes the paper residue.
What are we doing wrong? Is it printing on the paper? The paper purchased? Application of the transfer?
Although I'm new to the industry myself, I think the best solution for your dilemma is plastisol transfers. It looks as though it one color (black), so I don't think that would be too expensive either. All you'll have to do is send the file to the plastisol transfer company, and they'll produce it so there's no background or fill in the text or your character. The only thing that may be a problem is that plastisol is generally used for large jobs, so check with the company about what their minimum order is. There are many plastisol transfer companies on here (Ace Transfer, F&M, etc.) -- just check the vendor list on your left, and start calling.
Well, i haven't had the chance to do heat pressing yet, but from what i understand, you will need a cutter/plotter.
Someone who has hands on experience will chime in soon, but in a nut shell it goes like this:
Design graphic
Create contour lines (lines around everything you need to cut out) and registration marks in your design software
print to transfer paper
You may need a carrier/masking sheet for light transfer paper
place transfer paper in cutter/plotter (Roland GX24 or CraftRobo Pro, or like machines)
Cutter reads registartion marks and cuts around your contour lines
You weed away the excess polymer
Heat press
Hope this helps a bit. You may try a forum search for more info.
I've been researching the CraftRobo Pro since my sister was telling me that scrap book cutters work well for cutting out graphics on papers or die-casting elements for letters/numbers. The only problem is that the cutters are another added expense.
I was hoping that there was a technique for transfering on regular paper since I've seen other shirts that look fine yet not sure if they printed their own graphics.
My daughters are designing/making dog t-shirts so the cliches/saying are very important. I may also look at custom transfers as an option and weigh the expenses.
Although I'm new to the industry myself, I think the best solution for your dilemma is plastisol transfers. It looks as though it one color (black), so I don't think that would be too expensive either. All you'll have to do is send the file to the plastisol transfer company, and they'll produce it so there's no background or fill in the text or your character. The only thing that may be a problem is that plastisol is generally used for large jobs, so check with the company about what their minimum order is. There are many plastisol transfer companies on here (Ace Transfer, F&M, etc.) -- just check the vendor list on your left, and start calling.
Good luck!
Melissa
The problem is that it's not only one graphic. We're producing t-shirts for dogs so providing a lot of graphic options for the consumer. I'm also looking into Plastisol Transfers for the single colors yet need to factor the costs. In addition, need to make sure that the graphic imprint is not to heavy/thick since it's being printed on a garment that is the same size or smaller than an infant t-shirt.
The t-shirts are on demand so you really don't know which of the graphics will be the most popular. I was hoping to print and press for awhile so as to get a feel of what is popular and what is not. Yet.... need to work out the logistics of the problem that we have. Just looks so unprofessional.
Yes, I believe you can do this design with vinyl and a plotter/cutter, but I think that it will have a heavier hand than a plastisol design.
I think the smaller cutters are good with paper (RoboPro) since used in the scrap book industry. I agree with the vinyl being heavy and complicates things since our t-shirts are for dogs. So, a heavy or thick transfer will probably not work.
You need to change to a different procedure or system. Use dye sublimation. You have to change your ink to dye sublimation ink. Change transfer paper too. I don't know what printer you are using. You may or may not get another printer. Definitely you don't need a cutter or plotter. You don't need plastisol transfers. But your shirt must be light colored polyesters. Lots of things to buy, huh? I told you it's a different system. There are pros and cons. One pro is you can do mugs later on (after buying a mug press or a convection oven). I'm a six-month newbie too. I know what your problem is.
Your options for transfers are: Buy a vinyl cutter like the CraftROBO Pro (EXCELLENT cutter!) and use transfer paper or vinyl (we've actually been VERY impressed with the hand on ThermoFlex Plus), plastisol transfers, or sublimation (in certain instances).
I've done a few very complex designs with opaque transfers using our vinyl cutter and Magic Mask. If you want full color and whites, either those or plastisol transfers are your only options.
Your options for transfers are: Buy a vinyl cutter like the CraftROBO Pro (EXCELLENT cutter!) and use transfer paper or vinyl (we've actually been VERY impressed with the hand on ThermoFlex Plus), plastisol transfers, or sublimation (in certain instances).
I've done a few very complex designs with opaque transfers using our vinyl cutter and Magic Mask. If you want full color and whites, either those or plastisol transfers are your only options.
Yes... more and more information is pointing to the Robo Pro cutter. I'm going tomorrow for a demo at a scrap book store.
I'm also looking into sublimation yet only good for our light colors. I found a company who will do sample sublimation on a couple of our garmets so we can see if the Cotton/Poly combination will work. The positive option is that I can print with my Epson C88 printer + special ink and then heat press/transfer on-demand if need be.
My only question is the thickness of vinyl. Is there a product that will produce a thin vinyl or do they produce a tecture that is more like the applications that you see on sports jerseys (heavy)?
Vinyl has gotten pretty thin lately. My Fiance used to use Stahls Vinyl, and that was THICK. ThermofFlex Plus is very thin, tho you do need to be more concerned when doing multi-color designs because it can stretch a little.
Magic Mask is a plastic backer sheet with a sticky surface so you can cut materials that don't have a backer, or to use it like sign transfer tape on transfers. You can buy it at Beacon or Stahls.
You'll be happier with a CraftROBO Pro than a regular CraftROBO. It's a much more versitile machine, and if you later decide to upgrade to a larger machine it's the same as a CE5000-60, only a little smaller.
You need to change to a different procedure or system. Use dye sublimation. You have to change your ink to dye sublimation ink. Change transfer paper too. I don't know what printer you are using. You may or may not get another printer. Definitely you don't need a cutter or plotter. You don't need plastisol transfers. But your shirt must be light colored polyesters. Lots of things to buy, huh? I told you it's a different system. There are pros and cons. One pro is you can do mugs later on (after buying a mug press or a convection oven). I'm a six-month newbie too. I know what your problem is.
I like the results for sublimation processing since you can really expand the graphic features in your art work. The big problem we have is the light fabric. Our product is for the dog apprarel business and not high demands for light colors since they get dirty so fast. Everyone seems to want to purchase dark colors (Red. Navy Blue, Black, Gray, etc.). Especially young adults since they like black or gray. Light pink is good yet our surveys show that not much demand for white or light blue.
As far as computer equipment... I have the Epson C88 printer. Not a problem to upgrade since I'm a software developer so my home/office is FULL of high tech equipment.
The picture she showed was red -- I thought sublimation was only for white and light colored fabrics?
You're correct. We would not be able to use sublimation on this shirt sample. Yet... we do have other colors so may consider. The only problem is that our products are for dogs so not many customers that want light colored shirts since they get dirty fast.
The picture she showed was red -- I thought sublimation was only for white and light colored fabrics?
You can sublimate onto red fabric - providing it's polyester - the problem is only coloures that are much darker than your red background will be visible. In this particular instance black colour graphics will look perfectly fine on red. If the image would be green, light grey, blue (etc.) - it may not stand out enough.
You can sublimate on garments of grey, blue, green and many other colours providing they are not very dark and your graphics are much darker than background colour (or just black).
How do I transfer characters and lines? 
