First T shirt with dark heat transfer = nightmare on elm street

[Joohlyauk]

I am having a nightmare for sure. I put off printing my first t shirt for a few weeks but decided to bite the bullet and have a go. Used a dark transfer sheet, yes bought from ebay and probably the worst ever I don't know. Phoenix T shirt Transfers. Doesn't mention heat press, but does mention IRON. I used my heat press for the first time. The first attempt didn't work as hadn't taken back sheet off, the instructions aren't for dumb arses it seems. 2nd attempt worked but it's terrible. For some reason I thought that the ink would just come off of the plastic sheet and be absorbed into the material (1oo%) cotton. It was like leather and looked really cheap. I tried to see if I was supposed to peel it off but I don't think it's going to move.

Am I doing it all wrong? I really want a cutter plotter but what happens with the vinyl? Does that look leathery?

I seem to be living on you-tube for most of the day watching tutorials but they always seem to miss off what I'm getting wrong haha..

Any advice would be grately received,

thanks, Ju

[Dave271069]

hi visit www.yolo.co.uk for some nicer papers to start you off with. then look for the thread in transfer papers

[mrs maggot]

all of them go onto the t shirt, rather than just the ink, the trick is finding the best paper, and as Dave says yolo is better than a lot of them out there, it might be you are pressing it too long, also try stretching the t shirt while its still hot after the transfer has gone on, that will help it soften into the garment.

[Joohlyauk]

thanks peeps, I will keep trying. I did look on yolo and saw the stretchy heat transfer paper. To be honest I wasn't sure in the end what temp and how long for. So different to my mug press that seems to take ages compared to heat transfers being only seconds.

Can you confirm what temp and how long to press for please. Think I had it at 180 for 10 seconds that ended up about 15 seconds...

thanks, Julia

[NikGrey]

How is it going with this? I have a job that requires black T's and am in the process of buying some nice paper from Yolo (When I find out what the members discount code is).

I am also needing some T Shirts to use, Yolo dont have them from what I can see - is it better to use 100 cotton as you did or a mix? I read somewhere the mix is better as the dye's only stick to that material ?

I'm hoping I can pop down the road to find shirts, as long as they are the correct composition (When I do find out whats best to use that is).

[mrs maggot]

nik, look in the section on clothing for suggestions on where to buy t shirts n bits, 100% cotton for printing on, if using yolo papers, for times n stuff - dont worry it all comes with the papers when you buy them