Hi;
To do t-shirts, the easiest & simplest way to start is transfers. The most important item you'll need is the right printer. Everyday office printers won't work because the type of ink they use won't hold up when washed. The ink will bleed & or fade badly. What's used for transfers is what's called pigment ink. This is available & standard with most Epson printers. The model you pick should depend on the size of the transfers you want to do. If you want to do no larger than 8x10, get a C88+ if they're still available. It's reliable & makes great transfers. I've had 2 over 6 yrs. or so & never had an issue with either. If you want to go larger, you can get a Workforce model that will print as large as 13x19. The transfer paper used depends on the color of the shirt. Light transfers are for white, natural & a light sand color & can't be felt on the shirt after pressing. While pastel colors seem light, they will show the transfer paper's outline on the shirt. For dark colors, you'll use paper specifically for dark shirts & there is the drawback to transfers. Unless your image has fairly straight lines, you'll need a special cutter which is fairly expensive. You can cut it with sharp scissors, again, as long as the design isn't too intricate. You can cut circles by hand with a rotary cutter, which looks like a pizza cutter & even then can be difficult to make a perfect circle. There are cutters available that operate like a compass. Easier, faster, more precise & cheap. You can find them at craft stores or buy online. Obviously called a circle cutter. Another issue with dark paper is how it feels after pressing. You can definitely feel the transfer on the shirt which is an issue for many people. It's not like the old transfers that feel like heavy plastic. It's much thinner & lighter than the old style from years ago when transfers were new to the market. It can still be felt on the shirt but not nearly as before. It feels more like a piece of everyday office paper. T-shirt sellers hate it because of the feel issue, but truthfully, silkscreen has the same issue & is much more expensive by comparison. Also, dark paper has an issue with laundering but that's easily solved by washing the shirt inside out in cold water, & if dried, use only light heat. If done on high heat, the transfer could crack & or peel. Again, silkscreen has the same issue of cracking if not properly washed & dried, although not as quickly depending how thick the ink is applied. For a heat press, the bigger the better which is 16x20. Also additional cost by comparison. As you'll see when you buy your equipment, substantial cost is involved if you want to do a quality shirt. Also, as for transfer paper, you can use office type transfer paper to experiment but not for the finished shirt to sell. Quality paper makes a quality shirt & there's no getting around it. You can find & learn about the various transfer papers on this forum. There's a specific area dealing with transfers. There you'll find that there are differing opinions as to what brand of papers are best for the process. You can buy sample packs of different papers to see what works best for you rather than buy 25 or more sheets to start. So for now, that should be all the info you need to get started. After you've experimented for a while, come back with questions that are specific to the issue you may be having rather than general questions which might have numerous answers. It'll help us to help you more easily. Good luck, & welcome to the t-shirt business! In time, with a little patience, you'll grow to love it. Be Well..
