# Watercolor art heat transfer



## Jewell33 (Jul 15, 2015)

So I am new to the world of heat transfers, and need a little guidance. I have watercolored small animals and want to heat trasnsfer the art work onto a onesie. I need help in choosing what type of transfer I need and what company is the best choice. I have decided that I do not want to go the sublimation route because I want to use 100% cotton and I do not have the money to buy a printer for DTG. And I can't do a screen print transfer because there are to many colors. Any advice is greatly appreciated


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

Jewell33 said:


> So I am new to the world of heat transfers, and need a little guidance. I have watercolored small animals and want to heat trasnsfer the art work onto a onesie. I need help in choosing what type of transfer I need and what company is the best choice. I have decided that I do not want to go the sublimation route because I want to use 100% cotton and I do not have the money to buy a printer for DTG. And I can't do a screen print transfer because there are to many colors. Any advice is greatly appreciated


You can use inkjet JPSS for light shirts and use Epson inkjet printer. Any model will do. Its a matter of what fits your budget. However, inkjet printers will clog. Its just a matter of time and you will face downtime, money lost on ink transfer and damaged shirt. Also JPSS and other inkjet transfer leave polymer window on pastel fabric. I prefer Okidata color laser printer and Imageclip Laser Light. Imageclip Laser Light is 2 step self weeding transfer. No polymer window even on pastel fabric. Zero percent clogging unlike inkjet printer. Any Okidata model will do. Again it depends on you budget.

Depending on the color intensity of your watercolor artwork you have to convert it to RGB color halftone when using Imageclip Laser Light.

Bear in mind that either inkjet ink or laser toner is translucent so the color of the shirt will influence the color. The color of the shirt becomes the white part of the image.

Onesie usually is made of ribbed knit. You need to use Teflon pillow that is much larger than the shirt size to keep it stretched when pressing the transfer. Otherwise, the transfer will not penetrate the areas between ribs that will cause cracking or cracked appearance.

Attached is close up of one of the shirts I pressed last night with Imageclip Laser Light. Notice there is no polymer window. The transfer was very soft because of the absence of polymer window.


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

I forgot to mention I threw 2 inkjet printers in the dumpster this morning. A Epson PS 1400 and a C120. I did not even try to recover the inks from them. I am done with inkjet printers. The only inkjet printer I have that I use is a Canon IP7220. I use it to print CD and DVD. That is slowly dying too. I have two Multi purpose Epson inkjet printers that I use the scanner part of them. Both had bad heads.


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## Fanatic (Jan 19, 2015)

I dont know what your designs look like, but I really like Howards Sportwear and I also use Transferexpress.


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## Jewell33 (Jul 15, 2015)

Thank you so much for taking the time to give me advice Luis!! Thank you!

So when you say polymer window are you talking about the JPSS paper that was not printed but if not cut off it leaves a residue?


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

Jewell33 said:


> Thank you so much for taking the time to give me advice Luis!! Thank you!
> 
> So when you say polymer window are you talking about the JPSS paper that was not printed but if not cut off it leaves a residue?


Exactly. It may not be as bad on white shirt but it really stands out on pastel. You need to hand trim if the shape is not rectangular and not complex. Beyond that you need a vinyl cutter that has registration mark sensor to do kisscut contour the image. I read good things about Graphtec Cameo Silhouette. Since your design will go on onesie the cutter will be ideal size wise. Search the forum for the cutter and weigh in positive and negative feedback. I have a Graphtec Robo Craft. It cuts size under 15". Cameo is 12". The smaller version Portrait is 8" I believe.

Plastisol transfer is good but it can be expensive if the quantity is not big enough to warrant low price per piece. You pay per color. The more the number of color the higher the price. In addition there is set up fee. You are also at the vendor's mercy when something did not turn out right. Lead time can be a factor too. I use to have custom transfer made. One order was so bad that the registration stood out like a sore thumb but the vendor sent it anyway. I hated to use it but I was pressed for time to have them fix it and send new ones. So I was forced to use them. After that I promised to myself not use custom transfer again. I bit the bullet. Bought my own laser printer and made my own transfer. Found Imageclip Laser Light which is in my opinion the best laser transfer there is for light garment. Others tried to produce single step self weeding transfer but not even close what Imageclip can do.

You can't do one off with plastisol period.


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## fatfish2015seo (Jul 1, 2015)

you can follow the some basic steps like on hot setting, Preheat your iron to a dry. Create one board to work by covering a wood, cloth or news paper. To transfer place the image printed side down to your water colour paper. TO move the water colour paper top or down it will help. Another piece of paper, cloth on top of the materials securely together and move hot iron. to see the the paper time to time. to checking the output.


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