Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
This site is awesome, it's an excellent resource for the beginner as well as the veterans. My t-shirt business is making the transition from a few orders a month, to a booming operation. Up until now I was able to outsource to Custom Ink and similar companies, but now I want to create everything myself. Aside from the heat transfer machine, what items will I need to create my fancy duds?
I plan to use AA 50/50 and AA Summer Sheer Jersey tees.
One more thing...using vinyl seems to be too much of a hassle, so I believe plastisol will suit my needs. How does this material hold up against hotfix gems? I had difficulties applying the gems to a screenprinted item.
One more thing...using vinyl seems to be too much of a hassle, so I believe plastisol will suit my needs. How does this material hold up against hotfix gems? I had difficulties applying the gems to a screenprinted item.
Plastisol transfers are screenprinted ink, so if you had problems with direct screenprinting there's no reason to believe you won't have the same problems.
Care to elaborate on the first part of the question?
I figured I'd leave that to people who wouldn't just say something like: "If you're trying to create fancy duds you don't need a heat press at all, since you should be using screenprinting."
I can tell you you won't need a lot else, and that a forum search will turn up many many lists of what to buy when starting up, but since I personally don't generally advocate the use of heat transfer technology, I can't really give you a shopping list. I mean I suppose I could (heat press at least 15"x15" in size (preferably 16"x20"), teflon sheet, pigment based printer such as the C88, TransjetII paper or IronAll if you can find it, vinyl cutter if you want to do vinyl - but that might be better as an add-on later, and be sure to consider checking out Imprintables Warehouse for good customer service and discounts for forum members, or one of the other sponsors such as Coastal who also give good customer service and prices), but I don't feel as qualified as, say, Lou to offer that advice.
There are plenty of people here who don't feel the way I do though, so I'm sure you'll get some helpful advice.
Haha Solmu, I think that about covers it. We've all definitely learned from the forums eh?
How much of a hassle vinyl is depends on how many colors and how complicated the design is. It's perfect for small runs on dark shirts, but if you're always going to be doing several at a time (runs of 12+ and not custom 1-shots), complicated designs, etc. then plastisol is likely your best option.
If you use exclusively plastisol, you won't need a printer to print your own designs, the pigmented ink, or the transfer paper. However, these are still nice for getting started, doing small runs, putting up test or pomotional items on a shirt quickly, etc.
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