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Introduction To Heat Transfer Papers

Image Clip Color Laser Transfer Paper © Copyright 2009 QLT

If you are thinking about starting a business using heat transfers, please read this article first:

Can You Start A Custom Printed Apparel Business With Heat Transfers?

This article covers heat transfers made for white garments. Although there are transfer papers made for black shirts, they tend to be very thick due to a white base layer made of a rubbery or cloth material.

Heat transfer papers come in many different types. Some are designed for home use with an iron and others are meant to be used by professional garment printers and require particular equipment.

Transfer papers require the artwork to be printed in reverse. This is due to the mirroring effect when you lay the transfer paper down with the printed side facing the shirt. If you were to print it normally and place the printed side down onto the shirt the design would be backwards.

Most heat transfer papers will be made for laser or ink jet printers and will fall under two categories regardless if they are professional grade or not. They will either be a cold or hot peel. This simply means that the backing will be peeled either while hot or cold.

One of the biggest and most notorious problems with consumer grade heat transfers is that they leave adhesive in all the areas where the paper is present and the image is not. This means that any white or negative areas without toner or ink will leave transfer adhesive on the shirt. The adhesive put down on the shirt without toner or ink will change the appearance of the fabric. It will have a haze or a ghost like look the shape of the area of the adhesive. This type of paper is not good for use with text alone. Solid shaped designs with white areas locked within the solid shape work best.

Inkjet transfer paper has good coverage but may have a tendency to bleed when washed. It is important to allow extra water when you wash inkjet-transferred shirts for the first time. Never get any stray water or liquid, including Scorch Out, on a freshly transferred shirt. It is best to wash this type of transferred shirt before wearing. This will soften the transfer area and wash out extra ink that would bleed if it were to get wet. The softened transfer will also wear better.

Laser transfer papers work best with rip software in order to lay down maximum toner. Otherwise, they may have less coverage than that of inkjet transfers and can fade quickly upon washing. Laser transfers work best in heat presses and a decent amount of pressure helps.

There are some very cool color laser transfer papers that are “self weeding”. This type of paper has a two part pressing process in which adhesive is only present where toner has been laid down on the paper. First the transfer paper is printed. It is then pressed with the adhesive paper. The adhesive transfers to the paper only where toner is present. This type of paper is designed for use with a pneumatic heat press. It applies 60 pounds of pressure or more during pressing.

You can use an iron with many consumer grade heat transfers and achieve good results. Use the highest heat settings and press firmly down on the iron as you move it around. Heat it well and uniform while keeping good pressure on the iron.

If you are able to use a heat press it will improve the results of any paper greatly. Instant, uniform, consistent heat applied with the pressure of the heat press will work best. The heat press will be able to maintain high heat settings of 350 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit while pushing the transfer into the knit of the garment fabric. You can produce some really nice quality garments with a heat press using transfers.

There are also transfer papers that are used with screen printed designs. The design is printed in reverse, just as computer generated transfers. They are also printed in reverse with respect to printing directly on a garment. For instance, the white under base would be printed last. An adhesive, in powder form, is applied to the wet plastisol transfer ink and is then semi cured. The ink will set with the adhesive powder and be fully cured when pressed onto the garment in the heat press.

There are literally hundreds of heat transfer suppliers online. Just Google “heat transfer papers” and you will have to research which supplier is best for you. Be aware there are many companies trying to sell you an entire business or set up. Just remember it takes more than a kit to be successful at selling customized garments.

Here is a link to a supplier that has a really cool paper designed to be colored by hand with markers. There are many templates available and the paper can be customized. You can use any marker including washable child safe brands. This paper looks like it would be great for kids. Just color it and transfer to a shirt! Pretty cool.

Copyright © 2008 Awesome 2 Products. All rights reserved.

Magic Color Page

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Laser & Inkjet Heat Transfer Papers

There are several differences between inkjet and laser heat transfer papers. When starting to make heat transferred shirts for the first time it is important to consider the pros and cons of each style of paper. There are hundreds of choices when it comes to heat transfer papers and their specifications.

First it is always important to follow the vendor’s instructions and test your transfer paper thoroughly before you distribute any product. When heat transfers are applied properly, they can look great and last a long time. The trick is to know how to work with them.

Inkjet heat transfer paper is generally easier to work with and will have brighter colors as well as better coverage. This is simply due to the way inkjet printers work and how much ink they actually lay down on the transfer paper. Another advantage is that you normally have more control over the quality of the print with an inkjet printer. Because inkjet printers lay down more ink it is not always necessary to use RIP software to get nice colors and good results. Many inkjet heat transfer papers can be used with an iron achieving acceptable results. And of course color inkjet printers cost less than color laser printers.

One of the problems associated with inkjet heat transfers is that they can bleed before they’re washed or when first washed. You don’t want to spill, drop or spray any kind of liquid including Scorch Out onto the virgin transferred image. This can damage or ruin the image. After they are washed for the first time they will not bleed further. When you wash them for the first time it is good to use extra water for the size load being washed. That way it provides plenty of water to dilute any bleeding.

Laser transfer paper can be a little more difficult to work with and generally needs a more professional application. Better results are achieved at higher temperatures and with more pressure during transferring. Also because laser printers lay down less toner compared to ink with an inkjet printer, the colors may appear less brilliant and/or have less coverage on the fabric. Laser heat transfer papers work best using RIP software to ensure maximum application of toner onto the transfer paper. It is not recommended using laser heat transfers without a heat press. A pneumatic press with 60 psi pressure is ideal.

It is also important to note some laser heat transfer papers are not compatible with laser toners containing oils. Be sure to check with the vendor of the transfer paper for specifications.

The benefits of laser heat transfer paper are that they do not bleed at any time and when applied properly, they are more durable and less prone to fading. The most obvious con is that a color laser printer cost more money than an inkjet printer. But in the long run toner is cheaper than inkjet cartridges.

All heat transferred shirts tend to fade with the first wash and will continue to fade over time as they are washed. It is important to notify your customer of the limitations of the product you are offering them.

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Differences Between Sublimation & Inkjet Heat Transfers

There is often some confusion involving the differences between dye sublimation and inkjet transfers. Both use heat presses to “transfer” the image to the substrate at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. And in both methods the image will be printed in reverse. The main difference is in the actual transfer process that is occurring and how the image physically gets to the substrate. This means there are also differences in the items that may be decorated with either process.

Without becoming too technical, we can say that dye sublimation uses a gaseous process to transfer the image to the substrate. This process is triggered in the heat press. The substrate is a polymer coated item or synthetic fabric. The inks used to print dye sublimation transfers is special and often expensive. These sublimation inks can be used in many standard inkjet printers but once the printer is switched over to sublimation ink, it is impractical to go back. Therefore, a dedicated sublimation printer is needed for this process. There are also commercial sublimation printers available for purchase.

After you have an inkjet printer set up and running with sublimation ink, the process is very similar to standard inkjet heat transfers with the exception of the substrates. The art is created in the computer with any graphic software and then sent to the printer to be printed on the sublimation transfer paper. For textile applications, 50%/50% poly-cotton, polyester, nylon satin, or rayon fabrics are needed for the image to transfer via the aforementioned gaseous process. For other novelty items a polymer coating is necessary for the process to work. That means most of the items decorated with the sublimation method are made for that process and there are many such as can koozies, mouse pads, car flags, and colorful puzzles and cubes.

The biggest benefit of this method is that there isn't any adhesive polymer layer that transfers to the shirt with the ink. It is only the ink in gaseous form that transfers to the substrates. This means no weeding is needed. The 50/50 garment or polymer coated object receives the image and becomes stable. Because it works on polymer coated items; things like mugs, plaques and many other products may be produced with sublimation. It also has a soft feel and it will never fade or crack on t shirts. On other items you cannot even feel the image because it is actually in the polymer coating. These are the reasons dye sublimation is so popular.

There are some disadvantages with sublimation. You can only work with light colored garments and novelty items. The sublimation ink is very transparent and thus will not have the opacity to cover darker items and using fabrics with a 50/50 mix of cotton and polyester, will result in color that looks dull and faded. Sometimes sublimation prints look soft as well.  And finally the inks themselves are expensive.

Standard inkjet heat transfers are much different in that the inkjet ink is transferred with a polymer adhesive layer that encapsulates the ink and gives it stability. Inkjet heat transfers are made to work with most any inkjet printer and ink. It is the polymer adhesive layer that does all of the actual transfer work. The ink is printed onto the adhesive layer and it soaks in a bit. After the ink sets into the adhesive layer, the image is ready to be transferred. The heat press causes the adhesive layer with the image to release from the paper and adhere to the shirt.

Inkjet heat transfers are easy to make and economical for the home hobbyist. The color saturation is greater and it does not require any special inks or dedicated printers. Some consumer grade papers can be purchased at local office supplies while more professional heat transfer papers are sold by commercial wholesalers.

The biggest problem with standard inkjet heat transfers is the polymer adhesive that will be transferred with or without ink. This means you have to “weed” all of the negative space out. Otherwise a “ghost” effect will be produced by the adhesive in these empty areas. The adhesive may tend to become brittle over time and form cracks. There are many types and brands of papers available which will yield various results in durability.

Inkjet transfer paper for dark garments is available but the transfer is often a heavy rubber or cloth material onto which the image is printed normally. This is then heat pressed onto the garment face up. It results in a very heavy, patchy image area which can often cause sweating underneath when worn.

As you can see, dye sublimation is not limited to tee shirts and mouse pads. Some of the most common products that can be sublimated are: tiles, “dog tags”, license plates, ceramic mugs, light switch covers,  clipboards, hardboard tiles,  tote bags, plaques, neckties, travel mugs, ornaments, pet tags, business card holders, name badges, coasters, and clocks.

Inkjet heat transfers are limited to cotton, 50/50 poly-cotton, and other cotton blend fabrics. However, many items that are difficult to screen print may be done with inkjet heat transfers. A few of these items include: shirts, sweatshirts, aprons, mouse pads, puzzles, cubes, tote bags, miniature baby or pet garments and apparel, flags, banners, bandannas, and jackets.

Both of these process work best on light colored items and they do tend to fade some on the first wash. But the overall benefits of these methods make them very popular in hobby and commercial applications.

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Plastisol Heat Transfers     

Plastisol heat transfers are much different from any other type of transfer. You may recognize the term “plastisol” from other articles on this website. That is because plastisol ink is what is used to directly screen print many kinds of garments. The plastisol transfer is basically a screen print on a special transfer paper that will allow the screen print to be heat pressed onto a garment at a later point in time.

You may ask, “If you have to screen print the transfer, then why not just print the garment. Why print it onto a transfer paper?” Plastisol heat transfers are used for many reasons. 

Sometimes the transfers are used to fill orders where the actual quantity of shirts needed is directly related to sales. Printing 200 screen printed transfers is less costly than making the actual 200 shirts. That way if only 148 sell, you are not stuck with a bunch of expensive waste or “discounted” shirts. This is a great option for point of sale situations such as special events or seasonal items.

It may also be practical to use printed transfers on small quantity jobs. This is perfect for when you have a customer who wants a multi color design and places small orders here and there. You can satisfy the customer with a complex print and not have to charge for set up fees or minimums. If he or she decides to change at any given point, the waste should be negligible, given you only stock a small and reasonable quantity of the custom transfers.

Many people use this method for producing baseball caps as well. A baseball cap can be difficult to screen print. The bill often poses a problem as well as the curved surface of the print area. Distortion or coverage loss is common. In this case it makes sense to print the transfers and then press them to the caps. That way all printing difficulties are eliminated. Caps are easier to press than to print.

Another reason to use plastisol heat transfers is when you are just starting out with selling your own designs. This gives you all of the advantages of a standard heat transfer but with much of the qualities of a screen print. The only drawback is you have to get all your designs set up and printed onto transfers first. That means outsourcing it to another printer. But it is much less costly than setting up a screen print shop.

The two most common types of plastisol heat transfers are hot split and cold peel. The difference between the two is the way the backing is peeled from the shirt and the quality of each differs.

With hot split transfers, the transfer paper is peeled away immediately after the heat  press is opened. The plastisol ink layer is still hot and remains somewhat gelatinous. As it splits during the peel, most of the ink remains on the shirt, but some ink stays on the paper. Hot split transfers have a very soft hand and when properly applied and are almost indistinguishable from a direct screen print. Hot split transfers tend to leave a thinner layer of ink on the shirt. Opacity, especially on dark colored garments, may be an issue with these.

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