Machine for printing own t-shirts?

Dave!

Hey folks,

I'd like to be able to print my own t-shirts, and if they turn out alright maybe I could sell them or somethin, who knows!

Anywho, I'm just wondering what exactly I'd need to do this? I presume the easiest way is to print onto some sort of transferable paper, which can then be ironed onto the blank shirt?

I'd also presumably need high resolution images wouldn't I?

Any thoughts appreciated, I'm not sure where to start with this

Cheers

SQ2

Hi Dave,
It's not a straightforward question, so I'll give a broad answer.

There are transfer papers available in the likes of pc world but they're quite stiff and only fit for novelty use to be honest, most of these t shirts are only used for stag parties and birthdays etc, so they're more or less disposable. If you go down this route, make sure you get dark paper for coloured shirts, if you don't, the image you print out will be influenced by whatever colour the shirt is. I can't see anyone buying these from you to be honest.

You'd have to visit your local t shirt printer to get sorted out properly, I wouldn't go to the apprentice t shirt print lot though, they're super expensive.

A decent res pic would be a start. You can have the image done with a printer who has a print/cut machine and this will look well, but the material could be too stiff for your liking, but very durable and good results on all colours of garment.

Some printers use sublimation and this works well on white shirts. This process will mean you won't feel anything except the t shirt, as the image bleeds on to the garment.

The best method for printing pictures onto shirts for small numbers would be using a direct to garment printer, but I'm not sure of anyone in the leinster area using one as they can be temperamental, and very expensive to buy. There is a shop that I know of in Killarney that has one, but only prints on to light coloured shirts, as the white ink is a recent development, but still iffy.

Screen printing is used for most volume printing, but not really suited for pictures as there are too many colours involved.

Most printers should have a decent photo printing facility for light coloured garments, fairly soft to the touch and very durable too.

Basically its not something that you'd just throw your hand to, the right equipment is needed.

Any questions let me know!

Dave!

Hi mate,

You seem to know what you're talking about, I assume you work in the industry!

Sounds like far more work and expense than I had anticipated, think I'll leave the idea on the back-burner for the time being

Thanks for taking the time to give me the info! Much obliged

bambera

Dave! wrote: »

Hi mate,

You seem to know what you're talking about, I assume you work in the industry!

Sounds like far more work and expense than I had anticipated, think I'll leave the idea on the back-burner for the time being

Thanks for taking the time to give me the info! Much obliged

Hi Dave, there's no harm in doing a bit of research while you wait.
There's a forum called http://www.t-shirtforums.com/
It's like the boards.ie of the t-shirt printing world.

If you plan on selling the t-shirts then I would recomend a heath press as you can not apply the pressure you need with just an iron (speaking from experiance!)

I'd recommend having a look at the above link (although it is a bit hard to navigate your way around) and sit down and work out the costs and equipment you would need (kind of like a business plan).

Good luck