How would you like to have that treasured photo of the Grandparents or the new baby put on a t-shirt for a special occasion? Got a party picture of the gang?
Heat transfer is the way to go!
We can imprint garments using your own picture, a custom design or numerous stock designs. They’re great for birthday parties or field trips for schools and day cares.
Perhaps you have a great picture that is difficult to screen print, why not try a heat transfer. The colors and design will look as sharp as the original.
We can use this process almost any type of garment.
Heat transfer is an excellent method when you need only a few shirts, and for best results, it’s better to use a white or very light t-shirt (or garment). While screen printing is the preferred method for printing t-shirts, it’s usually not cost-justified unless you print 24 or more. Heat transfers are nice for replicating photos or full color designs.
Opaque heat transfers can be put on black or dark garments with the improved commercial papers made available. However, there is a white background that the ink is applied to through the printer so the colors will stand out. You must take this into consideration when choosing a design as it will have a white background where not covered with ink. We normally saturate the sheet to match the shirt color or we can use a contrasting color.
There is a process available now called Dye-Sub or Sublimation. (See article below “What is Sublimation”)
This process can be used on specially-treated t-shirts, awards, promotional items and gifts.
This site will give you some ideas of what we can do with sublimation. www.unisub.com/pdf/fcpcatalog.pdf
The following article was found in the Feb.2005 issue of “Recognition Review”.
What is Sublimation?
(Courtesy of www.sublimationmaker.com/) |
A Brief History of Inkjet Sublimation Transfer Printing
There are different types of dye-sublimation transfer printing, but the one receiving a lot of attention lately is inkjet sublimation transfers.
Inkjet sublimation transfer printing was “born” in 1995: With this innovation people began using desktop computers and inexpensive Epson inkjet printers to print sublimation transfers. The transfers yielded beautiful, photo-realistic results, and because each transfer was printed individually, it was easy to customize a design. Color separations and other artwork setup charges were eliminated, so the new technology was AFFORDABLE for short-run printing. The “mass customization” market began to grow, beginning with items like clipboards, mouse pads and coffee mugs. |
How the Process Works
Traditional color laser, inkjet, and wax thermal transfer papers use heat to “melt” the image onto the surface of the t-shirt, resulting in a heavy, “decal-like” transfer that can fade, crack, or discolor and may only be washed under special conditions. Because SubliJet uses transfer inks and not special transfer paper, there’s no “hand” or feel to the image. The garment is “tattooed” with the image and is as soft and comfortable as the material itself. To overview the process:
Design image using Hanes SublimationMaker software. Print the mirrored image onto high-quality inkjet paper via a printer outfitted with sublimation inks. This becomes known as your transfer.
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Place the item to be printed onto a heat press and place the transfer on the item. Press for recommended amount of time.
When heat and pressure are applied, two things happen: 1) The polyester coating opens, and 2) The sublimation inks turn to gas and seek out polyester. When heat and pressure are removed, the coatings close, trapping the ink inside. |
How Hanes SublimationMaker Helps
With more built-in product templates than any other sublimation software product, thousands of pieces of clip art and an easy-to-use interface, Hanes SublimationMaker makes it easy to start making any of a hundred different sublimation items within minutes. |
Click here to contact us by email, phone, or come visit us. We’ll help you show off that special picture. |
