Applying Heat Transfers – 8 Tips
Recent hot-peel heat transfers for t-shirts are as good quality as screen printing, and can be done very simply from a home printer using the correct paper. Creating your own one of a kind artwork, printing it out on your home printer and making your own one of a kind t-shirt in minutes is a lot of fun! There are other things that you can print other than t-shirts. You can also print baseball caps with heat transfers, while the same techniques apply, you would need a cap press. Let’s get to our tips:
(1) Use 100% cotton or a cotton-polyester blend for best t-shirt results. Many are available and we find that the Haynes or Fruit of the Loom 100% cotton or blends work great for a large assortment of heat transfers.
(2) For the best results, begin by setting your transfer machine to 375-400? F (190-204? C).
(3) Place the t-shirt over the pad of the heat press and smooth out any wrinkles. To help level out the wrinkles, try pre-heating the shirt.
(4) Lay the heat transfer paper about three inches from the shirt collar with the printed side down (so you can read it through the paper).
(5) The most ordinary error for beginners is not applying enough pressure, so make sure that you lock the heating element into position and press with both hands – which requires a good amount of pressure. The effect would be that not all of the design goes on the t-shirt – so apply two-handed pressure.
(6) You will want to release the heating element after about ten seconds (fourteen seconds for 100% cotton). This is a general rule of thumb, but you don’t want to leave it down for more than– seconds.
(7) Immediately peel the heat transfer paper from the shirt. Begin at the top right corner and go to the bottom left corner in a rather brisk motion.
(8) The t-shirts should be cooled and ready in a few minutes.
Advise your customers to wash their t-shirt without bleach and to remove it from the washer immediately when laundering. To dry the t-shirt, tumble dry them no higher than the medium setting and turn the t-shirt inside out. On a final note, do not iron the transfer area, as it will damage the artwork.
Please visit my website for more information about buying a t shirt heat press or t shirt printing equipment.