[davelarue]

Hi,
I'm new to this and i wanna do some DIY t-shirts with my own design.
I want:
- High Quality prints in 3 colors
- Should be fully washable and minimal fading

I have:
- Ink-jet printer A4
- Laser printer A1 - A5
- Heat press (not sure what kind, but used with clothes)
- Dark colored t-shirts

I'v heard that using heat press will bring best result, but i'm not sure how to do it. Do i need to print special papers?

How do i do this?
I looked at tshirtsupplies.com's products. They have a lot of different types of heat press paper....which one has best quality?

Thanks, and what a great forum!

Dave

 

[Girlzndollz]

Hi,
I'm new to this and i wanna do some DIY t-shirts with my own design.
I want:
- High Quality prints in 3 colors
- Should be fully washable and minimal fading

You can use inkjet or laser transfers.

I do inkjet heat transfer, but not laser transfers. A member named Luis/Lnfortun does laser, very well, and he is very helpful. As well, Luis has made many posts with detailed information in the past. If you do choose laser, you can find just about any info by searching threads. Sometimes they can be hard to dig up, if you need help, let me know. Post in here and let me know what you need help with.

Here is a thread to help you decide which method to choose:

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t48532.html

I have:
- Ink-jet printer A4
- Laser printer A1 - A5
- Heat press (not sure what kind, but used with clothes)
- Dark colored t-shirts

*Inkjet printer, what kind and model? You'll need pigment ink, depending on what paper you *
*Laser printer, what kind and model? You have to be careful. Some papers don't work with some models. Melting issues.
*Heat Press, is it an actually Heat Press? Something about your comment makes me hope it isn't a heat pressing machine that is used for "ironing" clothes. Those won't work for transfers. Why don't you know what kind? Is it a real heat press, I guess is what I really am interested in confirming.
*Dark shirts, okay, Laser can do dark shirts, but from what I understand, the process is pricey and difficult. If you search Laser Dark Shirts, you'll find threads on that.

For Dark shirts that you can produce at home, with the equipment you have, I would recommend the inkjet process with a paper for darks (called opaque paper). JetWear for Dark and Ironall Dark are good choices and popular on the forum.

I'v heard that using heat press will bring best result, but i'm not sure how to do it.

Here is a post on how to heat press, step by step. Also in this thread is hand iron instructions:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/inkjet-heat-transfer-paper/t39007.html#post229735

Do i need to print special papers?

Yes, for inkjet heat transfers you need a paper like:

For light/white shirts: Jetpro Sofstretch (called JPSS on the forum).
For dark shirts: JetWear Dark or Ironall Dark.


For Laser process, if you choose that, you'll need to ask some laser folks for the best paper on the market at this time. Things change over time. Best to get the current recommendations on papers.

How do i do this?

See the link above, with the steps.

I looked at tshirtsupplies.com's products. They have a lot of different types of heat press paper....which one has best quality?

See above.

Thanks, and what a great forum!

You're welcome. Hope this info helps you out.

 

[Rickster58]

Can jpss be cut and weeded on a plotter/cutter after printing, or do you have to cut through the paper to reduce the overall size of the transfer?

 

[Girlzndollz]

Hi Rick

Read the threads in this search:
T-Shirt Forums Search Results

The short answer is yes, JPSS is weedable, even able to *act* like a 2 ply paper and not *need* the carrier sheet. The threads in the above search relay all the info you seek.

 

[brentonchad]

just a side note on the weeding. I just started the inkjet transfers last week and have been doing some testing. My plan was to cut the jpss and weed. IMO if you are doing white shirts then it's a waste of time. The polymer window left by the jpss is nearly nonexistent - and even more so after the wash. I haven't tried ash or light colors (not in the business plan) so those may be a different story - but don't waste your time weeding jpss on white shirts!!

 

[Girlzndollz]

Haha, I hear you, Chad! This paper is awesome!!

If you do need to do a heather, a gray, or some other colors, it can look really bad (the window)... but for white! Bleh... it's pretty pointless. Some white shirts hide it better than others, but for the most part, it's a non-issue, to me anyway. I'm putting my vote with you.