[Twinge]

What color of shirt are you pressing on? If you're using heat transfer on a dark shirt, you WILL get a noticeable border around your image (in the whitespace). It will also take on the color of the shirt to some degree. The colors I've found to work well are white (obviously), natural, and ash. The one light green shirt I did worked out well too, but I haven't tried several.

The stiffness does indeed go away in the wash, and it's normal. You might try a little higher time too; normal seems to be about 12-15 seconds from what I've seen, though I don't really think it makes a HUGE difference myself. Pressure should be somewhere medium to heavy and it varies by press a bit.

 

[Twinge]

20-30 seconds is high for Transjet II, most people do about 15 seconds.

I'm guessing he was pressing on a darker shirt, which will always leave a visable border around it for the most part -- but if you're not, THEN you might try dropped the pressure a little bit.

 

[Twinge]

Oh, I can't believe I forgot to ask if he cut around to image (leave about 1/8 of an inch whitespace) -- that could be the problem right there. Transjet II does not leave a visible border when cut and press correctly on a white shirt (and _barely_ noticeable on ash and natural).

(Okay, you can technically see it if you hold it at a weird angle in just the right light, but...)

 

[Twinge]

Interesting, though only for laser. Would be interested to see if it lives up to it's advertisements.

 

[Twinge]

One more thing you might not be doing:

Are you pre-pressing the shirt? By this I mean, are you pressing the shirt for about 5 seconds before you put the transfer on it and actually press it in? This is important for removing moisture from the shirt.