Without transfers, a heat press isn’t anything more than a machine to make exceedingly flat and smooth waffles. If waffles were what you wanted to make, you would have purchased a waffle press. We usually call them waffle makers but the principle is exactly the same as that for a heat transfer press used for printing designs onto (say) T-shirts.
You can have the heat transfer press and a pile of plain, undecorated T-shirts but you are not going anywhere until you find a suitable Heat Transfer Manufacturer – you’ve just got to have those transfers before you can print anything at all onto the T-shirts.
Do It Yourself Or Call In The Specialists
These days, almost anyone with an ounce of creativity and a computer with a graphics program installed can come up with their own designs for logos, lettering or other pictures and images that could look “great” printed on a T-shirt. The real trick is getting that design out of your computer and onto a T-shirt.
If, for whatever reason, you require your design to be placed on several hundred T-shirts then, probably your best method of acquisition would be to send your design as a soft copy to a professional T-shirt printing company and pay them to do everything necessary. The unit cost per shirt should be reasonable just so long as your order has sufficient quantity to cover the setting up charges and, you will not have the additional hassle of having to purchase the base shirts yourself.
Setting Up Charge VS Small Quantity Order
Maybe you have a wish to parade around in a T-shirt that is a definite “one off” exclusive to you alone? Alternatively, you may be looking for a unique design shirt to identify a small select group of people (your 10-pin bowling team for example)? Purchasing such small numbers from a shirt printer will be an expensive option, even if you did produce the design yourself.
Some Investment Required
For the smaller order, heat transfer printing can be the perfect solution. The design is mirror printed with special inks and dyes onto a heat transfer release paper. Then, that paper is laid flat upon the part of the shirt where you wish it to appear and heat and pressure are applied. This causes the inks and dyes to transfer from the paper into the very fabric of the shirt and – bingo – you have your custom design T-shirt.
You can make your own transfers but many people find these to be less than perfect. Fortunately a Heat Transfer Manufacturer can make them for you at a very reasonable cost. However, you will have to outlay a few hundred dollars for the heat transfer press that is essential when placing the transfer onto your shirt.
