We have several different way of making t shirt's. A lot of depends on what type of material we have to print on. If the material is a cotton blend we can use either vinyl or ink. If the material is 100 % polyester and it's going on a light color garment we can use a process called sublimation. What is dye sublimation ? It is the process of combing heat,pressure, special ink and a special paper. When everything is done correctly then ink will dye the fiber in the shirt. The shirt will wear out before the ink does. I really like this process the best. You get very long lasting results and vibrant colors.
There are several types of vinyl, in this blog I'm only going to talk about t shirt vinyl. The two types that we use are printable vinyl and heat vinyl. Both work very well.. I like to use the printable if there are a lot of different colors and and lots of intricate details.. The opposite for the heat vinyl. We use it when it is a simple design, or one or two color;s.
Some of the tools you will want to invest in are a good heat press and a good printer and some a weeder.
The heat press is used to apply pressure and heat evenly to your garment. This will make your print last a long time. It will also reduce the amount of cracking and peeling.
The weeder is used to take away the excess amount of vinyl that you do not want or need in your graphic.
With your cutter you will want to buy a good quality cutter and or printer cutter.
These are some thing to keep in mind when you are thinking about or going to make some great t shirts.
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Any questions or comments are welcomed!
Our email address is jim@suesshirtshopandmore.com