T-shirt designing and printing

[montyman]

hi there, does anyone here design and/or print t-shirts?

I have been designing and printing t-shirts for the past 2 years as something on the side, to make a bit of extra money. I've been using the screen printing method. Which is probably the best for printing t-shirts.

However I am aware that there is another method called HEAT PRESS. Does anyone know much about this? I researched into it a bit, and I'm curious as to how this method differs from those inkjet t-shirt printing papers that you just iron on to a blank tshirt using a household iron. It seems the same.:confused:

Is it the case that the heat press is more powerful and hotter than an iron? and that makes it better and makes the design on the shirt last longer? Because with those iron-on ones anyone can do at home, they tend to fade after about 2 washes!

any comments would be greatly appreciated.

cheers

[Logo-Mechanix]

When most people say heat press they are talking about plastisol transfers which are basically silk screened transfers that have a backing and are heat pressed onto t-shirts. Although I use silk screening myself I have designed art for plastisol transfers and you do it the same way you would for silk screening. They say it looks and feels just like silk screening but from the prices I have seen they can actually be more expensive than actual silk screen depending on the amount you order like anything.

[Danger_Mouse]

Sublimation is a heat transfer process. You can sublimate on pretty much whatever you want. All fabrics/surfaces you sublimate onto start white. What you send to print comes out on paper with special ink and then is heat transferred onto the white fabric (or whatever you are sublimating too). This isn't a heat Transfer, but the inks are actually dyed into the fabric. More durable than heat transfers or silkscreening. It will never fade, crack or peel. Your quality is based by the type of fabric you use. Resolution also affect more by what your sublimating on.
Big runs, small runs, its doesn't matter. Alot of sublimators will sublimate 1 piece or 500 pieces, check them out.

[budafist]

At a copy centre I worked at we printed on transfer paper using a colour photocopier and used a heat press (hotter than an iron, so cotton only) to press it on.

I found the quality of these things were terrible. I did a lot of myself and friends for free, but I wouldn't pay any amount of money for it.

Also be wary of any ribbed material - the transfer won't stick into the bits that dip down.

I still wear a few of the tops I printed on. They are totally unreadable after a year of washes.