Julia, a marketing intern at one of our offices, wanted to learn more about the heat printing products and materials STAHLS’® offers. The best way to learn is by doing, so that’s exactly what she did. She decided to heat print a T-shirt to gift to her sorority “big sister”. From start to finish, here’s Julia’s experience with heat printing her very first project.
The first thing I learned is the type of heat transfer needed is entirely dependent on the type of shirt being printed. For instance, I used a poly-blend T-shirt, so CAD-CUT® Premium Plus™ was one of the best choices for my shirt because of its low temperature application and lightweight.
I worked with CadworxLIVE® software for the first time. I was surprised by how easy the free, online design tool was to understand. I had fun checking out the different fonts and features CadworxLIVE has to offer.
After creating my design, I cut it using a vinyl cutter. I wasn’t aware the cutter had so many different features, so it was interesting to see how certain blades and settings were better for my transfer than others.
After my design was cut, I weeded it with an EZ Weeder®. This was my first time weeding so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found it to be a very tedious process, fortunately I was able to pick up on some techniques to make it a bit easier. The first technique I used was to peel away some of the excess transfer next to my design and use the adhesive to place my scraps on. Doing this allowed me to discard the pieces I was removing much faster. I also learned it’s extremely helpful to place the transfer on the heat press while weeding. This made the whole process a lot simpler because the heat made the pieces come off much quicker.
Overall, I think my first time working with the equipment, including the Hotronix® Fusion IQ®, was a success. I was able to learn the ins-and-outs of each of the different systems I used.
I’m excited to continue becoming more familiar with the equipment and seeing what other cool designs I can make in the future!
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