Basic question - Which ink for transfers?

[Sweetchuck87]

Hi, I am about to start doing t-shirt transfers for sale to the public but as yet I have no experience with it.

I have an epson D120 printer, can I use its standard ink (DuraBrite Ultra) to print a good quality t-shirt? Using standard transfer paper? I would need it to wash at least 5 times with no issues.

I have heard of using sublimation ink and sublimation transfer paper but is that unnecessary? I hope so as i'm looking to keep the costs down.

Any input would be great!

[AdamB]

Hi, I am about to start doing t-shirt transfers for sale to the public but as yet I have no experience with it.....

No offence - but perhaps you do a little more research before you start offering to the general public? There's loads of info on the forum (use the search facility with key-words) that will make some great reading of past questions (similar to yours).

A question though, if you are about to sell these transfers to the general public, what guarantees have you that they will last a couple of washes? I only ask as there isn't a 'transfer paper' out there (to my knowledge and I would love to be proved wrong) that will last with the garment.

[bms]

I have an epson D120 printer, can I use its standard ink (DuraBrite Ultra) to print a good quality t-shirt? Using standard transfer paper? I would need it to wash at least 5 times with no issues.

Using the genuine Epson durabright ink you can print directly onto printable flex which is washable. Further details at:
http://www.printerowners.co.uk/garment- ... e-flex.htm

[Sweetchuck87]

I'm trying to figure what all I need to buy to do some trial runs, and then offer the service from there once I reckon I can do it properly.
I had got a couple made up from the local guy that does stag shirts etc but on the first wash they faded. I then went to another local fellow who told me he was using transfer paper and epson printer, and he did the whole thing in front of me. I have washed his samples about 6 times and they're perfect, he said the other chap was probably using old outdated transfer paper as its came a long way recently.

Maybe he was over-simplifying the procedure(as I am new to it) and was in fact using flex. All I know is he put a piece of rubbery paper in the printer, then pressed it into the shirt on his heat press, and I hoped I could do something similar.

[mrs maggot]

are you looking to sell them as the transfers ? or as the finished article ? if they are for the home press market have you thought of the following;

what happens when they just wont stick (wrong time temp fabric - not your fault)
burn their garments (wrong time temp fabric - not your fault)

if you managed to get them done in two places locally, how is your business going to differ from theirs, apart from not having overheads if you are working from home as a spare time business, while they have rates, insurance etc to pay for ?

[DREAMGLASS]

I would need it to wash at least 5 times with no issues.Any input would be great!

What happens after the garment has been washed after just five times, do they just scrap the garment it is attached to? Five washes could occur in as little as two weeks.

[Sweetchuck87]

I want to sell the t shirt as a finished piece. I hope to supply local shops with souvenirs for tourists as i feel its lacking in my area, and my brother is an artist and has done a few designs for me in photoshop. As the end customer could be paying a tenner for the shirt it needs to be decent quality. Do you think printable flex is what I should use?

[mrs maggot]

aaah, so you want to start printing t shirts, not selling transfers, now it depends on how complex your designs are and what budget for equipment you have, it might be easier to start with to outsource your printing to someone who does DTG (direct to garment) if they are very colourful or screenprints for just one or 2 solours - member stitch-up on here has and does both. so an idea of the design would help, but i think outsourcing will be the best way to go

[Sweetchuck87]

According to LoveCut, transfer paper should do me fine:

Ink Jet Transfers have come on a long way over the last couple of years, The once poorly produced transfers are a thing of the past, with the correct knowledge and right equipment a ink jet transfer should last around 50 washes.

Here at LoveCut we only recommend epson printers as our transfer paper is designed to give best results with epsons Durabrite inks or our own brand lovebrite inks.

So I don't need printable flex after all?

[John G]

ink jet transfer should last around 50 washes.

They also say their mugs are dishwasher safe/proof too! :rolleyes: