We have been using a heat press and Alpha Jet Pro Stretch transfer paper for a year now. We are looking for a process that does not leave a residue around the printed area. We've seen other vendors do tshirt pressing on site (at AAU basketball tournaments and Junior Olympic events) where they simply put the paper transfer on the tshirt, press for 4-5 seconds, lift off the paper and only the 'ink' is left on the shirt. They appeared to be using the same transfers on light and dark shirts. An example was an American flag design. On a dark shirt, the white stripes and stars were printed, but there was no white outline around the image. That would tell me that it wasn't on opaque transfer paper for darks---it's something else. On another design, there was open space between letters and there was no 'glue' left around it like happens with heat transfers. The operators were not willing to discuss their 'insider secrets' to a potential competitor, I guess. From what I have gleaned from google investigations, my initial guess is that it may be Plastisol or Chromoblast transfers? Can we print our own? We'd like to be able to use the heat press and Epson printer we already have.
Help to identify transfer process
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99% of what are seeingis a plastisol transfer. You can get them from several of the vendors on the left of your screen. Transfer Express works well, but there are several others that we have bought from in the past that work well too.
Not that much more expensive than the paper you use now-but you will have to order what you THINK you will need rather than being able to print more quickly.
Good luck
Not that much more expensive than the paper you use now-but you will have to order what you THINK you will need rather than being able to print more quickly.
Good luck
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12,270 Posts
They're almost certainly plastisol transfers, which you can't print yourself without screenprinting equipment.
Here's a couple of good places to start for more info:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/t-shirt-crossover-diary-heat-press-newbie/t13204.html
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/heat-press-heat-transfers/t20402.html
(dye sub, other than being a relatively rare thing on t-shirts, takes more like 45-60s, so 4-5s puts this firmly in plastisol transfer territory, plus dye sub doesn't work on darks)
Here's a couple of good places to start for more info:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/t-shirt-crossover-diary-heat-press-newbie/t13204.html
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/heat-press-heat-transfers/t20402.html
(dye sub, other than being a relatively rare thing on t-shirts, takes more like 45-60s, so 4-5s puts this firmly in plastisol transfer territory, plus dye sub doesn't work on darks)
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5,412 Posts
Sounds like these were pre-made screen printed transfers. All of the transfer papers, with the exception of TrimFree and ImageClip, leave a coating or background.
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1,628 Posts
The digital world is catching up.
Go to YouTube and search for image clip.
Go to YouTube and search for image clip.
Thanks for the input. I haven't looked into ordering from any companies yet, but I will soon. Is there anyway to add customization to a tshirt onsite (name, event, catchy phrase) besides the heat transfer way? The same vendors at the AAU basketball tournament had a box of 'vinyl'? and 'flock' letters and people paid per letter. That looked like it was tricky to line up and keep straight.
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5,412 Posts
You would have to have some custom transfers made with whatever name, catchy phrase, event, etc. It is similar to ordering inventory for a retail store. Lettering is fairly easy to apply once you have had some experience. Something as simple as a straight edge and some lettering tape will make the job quite easy. Also, lettering is very profitable.
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