Need a straight answer on Transfer Paper

4217 Views 17 Replies 6 Participants Last post by badalou, Aug 27, 2006

Tony_SS

Discussion Starter · Aug 25, 2006

Ok, spent an hour or so sifting throught the searches only to read mixed reviews.

Here's my setup:
Epson Stylus Photo 1280
Alpha Double Green Paper (somewhat heavy hand, cracks - but easy to use with nice bright color)

Here's what I print:
High quality, Full color intricate graphics with smooth fades and blends

Here's what I need:
Very soft hand and durability, no cracking!

I need to know what everyone thinks is the best heat transfer paper (in 11x17), why, and where to get it.

A place up the street did a Heat Transfer for me. They said their paper was "Transjet". The color is a little muted, but the Hand it very soft and I cannot make it crack. There is no cutout line either.. Seems like its meshed into the fabric.

So is Transjet the same as TransjetII? Whats the difference? Please advise on other papers too.
TIA
Tony

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

T-BOT

· #2 · Aug 25, 2006

is that the same as color jet 3 ?

Rodney

· #3 · Aug 25, 2006

Tony_SS said:
I need to know what everyone thinks is the best heat transfer paper (in 11x17), why, and where to get it.

Tony_SS said:
Ok, spent an hour or so sifting throught the searches only to read mixed reviews.

You'll probably get mixed reviews again

Sometimes people's opinions will differ on which is "best", so there may not be a consensus.

If there are 2 or 3 papers that seem to be popping up a lot in your research, then it might be best for you to get samples of each paper and test them to see what results you get and which you prefer.

Then you can add in to the mixed opinions as well

Tony_SS

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 25, 2006

T-BOT said:
is that the same as color jet 3 ?

Is what the same?

tcrowder

· #5 · Aug 26, 2006

Hi Tony,

Iron-ALL is the paper I use. I started out using the Alphadouble green but was very unhappy with the hand. The Iron-ALL will give you a very soft hand, after afew washings its almost no hand. newmilfordphoto.com is the place I have been buying the Iron-All. As Rodney stated, you will get mixed reviews as people are looking for different things. The best way to know for sure is to order the samples of iron-all and try them yourself.

Hope this helps if only a little.

badalou

· #6 · Aug 26, 2006

Iron All or Miracool same paper.. different names. I use both.. Lou

Twinge

· #7 · Aug 26, 2006

The paper I've seen most recommended is Transjet II (aka Magic Jet). I get mine from TLM supply house. Good color, little to no cracking, very soft hand, and only a very faint wax window. However, note that I have not personally used many other papers to really compare directly.

MiraCool I've also heard a bit about lately; seems like it's grown in popularity since I've been actively watching the boards and forums! From what I've seen about it so far, it's not friendly to use (flakes, hard to run through printer, etc.) but is great once you get it figured out.

Tony_SS

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 26, 2006

tcrowder,
Thanks for the info. I went there and ordered a sample pack. 5 of their house brand, 5 Iron-Alls, and 5 for Darks all for 8.99. Not bad. Also, I'm going to order a sample pack of Transjet. I'll settle the transfer paper debate once and for all! (at least for myself)

badalou said:
Iron All or Miracool same paper.. different names. I use both.. Lou

Lou, why would you use both? Why not one or the other? Even if they are identical.

Thanks everyone, I'll report back on the results.
Tony

badalou

· #9 · Aug 26, 2006

Because I bought paper from New Milford Photo long before I found out about Miracool I still have stock. I bought some Miracool to find out what the differences were while I still had Iron all. The difference is and the only thing I can find was price. The paper is identical. I had some issues while printing a large order with Iron All and John from new Milford sent me some replacement paper. I also got a sample of transjet ll from Cindy and yes it worked well but the issues are still 1. rougher hand, doest not stretch like IA/MC paper and can not be ironed over with an iron like IA/MC paper. In the end it is all about usage, and deals. By the way from TLM the price for MiraCool is the same as transjet ll. New Milford offers free shipping. I am in California. The added shipping cost can offset the price difference.

Tony_SS

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 26, 2006

Thanks Lou,
Things are becoming more clear. I went to order a sample pack from TLM and they want 7.99 shipping for 4 sheets of paper!! I have an email to Cindy about that.

Sounds like I will like the IA/MC paper based on what I'm hearing. If so, NewMilford will be my new supplier.

BTW, ever tested NewMildford's house brand? I have some of that coming in the sample pack.

Thanks for the help once again,
Tony

badalou

· #11 · Aug 26, 2006

ever tested NewMildford's house brand?

I have and I did not like it. That was way back when I did not know what I was doing, was that last week., wait hard to remember.. maybe longer.. This getting old stuff really is bad. I think I went through a period where I did not know about pre-pressing and that this forum existed. If I can offer any advice that would be really, really important to everyone it would be .. TEST, TEST, TEST.. The only way your ever going to do it right in the end is to make mistakes.. I have done so many test on shirts they are turning into art pieces.

T-BOT

· #12 · Aug 26, 2006

Tony_SS said:
Thanks Lou,
Things are becoming more clear. I went to order a sample pack from TLM and they want 7.99 shipping for 4 sheets of paper!! I have an email to Cindy about that.

Sounds like I will like the IA/MC paper based on what I'm hearing. If so, NewMilford will be my new supplier.

BTW, ever tested NewMildford's house brand? I have some of that coming in the sample pack.

Thanks for the help once again,
Tony

TEST-TEST-TESt- is right.

Also, I dont think its a good idea to limit your self to only ONE supplier of products you need. New products came out often and things change. Like I used Fruit shirts a lot years ago but now I prefer Gildan.... see where this is going ?

Twinge

· #13 · Aug 26, 2006

badalou said:
By the way from TLM the price for MiraCool is the same as transjet ll. New Milford offers free shipping. I am in California. The added shipping cost can offset the price difference.

It doesn't look like TLM will be offering MiraCool anymore; too many problems with people that didn't try it before buying it:

TLM Supply House said:
Now, as for the MiraCool paper. I loved that paper too everyone... but here’s the situation.

The samples were stinking awesome! I ordered and the first order I got was somehow flawed and didn’t work as it should have... causing ME to take a financial loss on all the shipping charges of replacing the papers as well as the future packs of paper I gave away for free to those who opted to keep their original orders.

What I’ve run into more recently though, is many customers are ordering 25+ packs of this paper, usually on the recommendation of other happy customers (thank you by the way), but then finding it’s difficult to work with, and then insist on returning it in spite of the fact that our policy is that if they don’t sample it first, we won’t take it back.

Of course, I can’t let a customer get the only bad end of a deal, so I lost even more on taking the orders back and the shipping costs to replace, etc.

It’s because of these things... the inconsistency of the paper as well as the fact that customers often will not order a sample pack and then expect me to refund them when they don’t like the paper after using much of it already, that I just can’t afford to take the losses any longer.

Tony_SS said:
Things are becoming more clear. I went to order a sample pack from TLM and they want 7.99 shipping for 4 sheets of paper!! I have an email to Cindy about that.

I think that's a default minimum price since she usually uses UPS. If you talk to her directly you may be able to get her to ship it in a USPS flat-rate envelope or something like that instead.

Tony_SS said:
Sounds like I will like the IA/MC paper based on what I'm hearing. If so, NewMilford will be my new supplier.

Just be prepared to have some failures and to work with it a bit before getting it right; it's more "finicky" than Transjet II/Magic Jet from what I've heard.

Tony_SS

Discussion Starter · #14 · Aug 26, 2006

I agree with Lou. I'd rather work with the paper more and achieve great results, then easily cranking out a mediocre product. I want to sample both brands and the way the Alpha Double Green is now, either one HAS to be better.

Now what to do with the rest of the remaining 70+ ADG paper? Ebay I suppose.

tcrowder

· #15 · Aug 27, 2006

Tony_SS said:
Now what to do with the rest of the remaining 70+ ADG paper? Ebay I suppose.

Hang on to it, you never know when you might want to do totes or something where the hand is not that important.

badalou

· #16 · Aug 27, 2006

It doesn't look like TLM will be offering MiraCool anymore; too many problems with people that didn't try it before buying it:

have you personally asked her if she is going to carry it because I just got a pack of 100 sheets from her. She did tell me some customers were not happy with using it because of the steps leading up to actually pressing on shirt. I have been using this paper under both names now for 8 months. I have had my problems which I keep to a minimum because I tested and developed working habits when using the paper. I am going to call her on Monday and find out for myself. There are other suppliers if she does stop. That is one of the reason I made the really bad videos because I wanted to help others in using the paper.. but of course you won't like that either...

Twinge

· #17 · Aug 27, 2006

badalou said:
have you personally asked her if she is going to carry it because I just got a pack of 100 sheets from her. She did tell me some customers were not happy with using it because of the steps leading up to actually pressing on shirt. I have been using this paper under both names now for 8 months. I have had my problems which I keep to a minimum because I tested and developed working habits when using the paper. I am going to call her on Monday and find out for myself.

The message I quoted was from what she posted on the HTFDP board, which she has been involved with since the very beggining. She said that if she does decide to continue selling it, it will probably only be the 8.5x11 paper in limited quantities. Check there for the full message (or I can PM/email it; it's a bit long to post here as the rest isn't quite as relevant to most people).

badalou said:
There are other suppliers if she does stop. That is one of the reason I made the really bad videos because I wanted to help others in using the paper.. but of course you won't like that either...

...?!?

What the heck is that supposed to mean?? I didn't say say that it will now be impossible to obtain MiraCool/IronAll; I was informing people of some changes happening at TLM since many people here don't visit the HTFDP board.

Being absent from both boards for a long while, I personally haven't had a chance to try MiraCool to compare; I only knew of it's exsistance about a week ago.

badalou

· #18 · Aug 27, 2006

What the heck is that supposed to mean??

That's cool, I am just having fun with you because of our little email conversation. By the way I will be doing some new work on my site. I hope she does continue to sell it in 8.5 x 11 because that is what I buy. If you do transfers at all you should test this paper. The paper is a pain but the results really great compared to transjet ll which I started to use as a test a week ago myself. so where did go? You seem to be knowledgeable in a lot of this..

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

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