Tracy Fehrenbacher – Page 2 – Coastal Business Current

Tracy Takes On… “I’m Confused, Tell me What I Need?” Part III

So, now that everyone has recovered from eating too much turkey, opening too many presents and not having a full work week in it what seems like forever, we can settle back into things and finish up our blogging. Yay! … Continue reading →

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Direct to garment is next…. so, what is DTG, you ask? It’s the process of printing directly onto the substrate and it’s becoming more popular every day. As the equipment evolves and allows you to do dark colors as well as lights – it’s attracting more and more users. In DTG, the shirt is stretched over a frame and kept in a tunnel area, which is below a set of print heads. The garment is then printed, just like an ink jet printer would print onto paper, only it’s printing directly the garment. You can print single color designs pretty economically using this equipment. Most DTG machines use a drop-on-demand type inkjet technology. DTG machines have sealed bulk ink cartridge systems that can drop variable size ink drops, depending on the textile you’re printing.

The thousands of screen printers that have bought this equipment use them for their strengths. DTG machines love short runs and photorealistic images. A screen printer would have a hard time doing this without it.

And look – Negative Nancy is back!

CONS: These machines are pricey – between $15,000-$25,000 typically! Expensive per shirt cost and slow printing means a higher price per individual shirt! Clogging print heads are a problem. With such new technology, the bugs are still being worked out. You can print on dark garments, BUT you have to have the more expensive equipment that has white ink as it needs a base of white laid down prior to your colors. And lastly, you have to pre-treat your shirts with a spray beforehand, regardless of the color!

But Positive Peter says that DTG is great!

PROS: There’s very little set up involved and it’s excellent if you want to keep your area clean!

This is a long blog… everyone still with me? Good because I’m making you check back for Part 4!

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Tracy Takes On…“I’m Confused, Tell me What I Need?” Part II

Last time we covered screen printing, so today we’re moving right along to heat transfer paper printing. What is that, you ask? Well, it’s actually just as it sounds! There are really two major types of heat transfers: plastisol transfers and … Continue reading →

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Last time we covered screen printing, so today we’re moving right along to heat transfer paper printing. What is that, you ask? Well, it’s actually just as it sounds!

There are really two major types of heat transfers: plastisol transfers and digital transfers.

Plastisol transfers can be printed by screen printing plastisol inks onto a special release paper. The paper is then applied to a garment or fabric using a heat press that will in turn melt the ink so it will bond with the garment.

Now to make it even more confusing… there are two different types of plastisol transfers: hot split and cold peel. Hot split comes from the idea of peeling the transfer backing off the garment after pressing while it’s still hot. And then of course, cold peel is printed the same as hot split, but you instead peel the backing off the garment after pressing when it’s been cooled. Plastisol transfers are widely used when you need to create several prints of the same image.

Digital transfers can be much easier, and are great for smaller, onesie-twosie shirts where you can really out your creative talents to good use! You can create full color photos for applying to garments with a few clicks of the mouse.

You print your image onto a piece of coated paper, which is then placed under a heat press along with the substrate you’re applying it to. Once it presses, it will become bonded to the garment. It’s an inexpensive way to create small run jobs and with it being inexpensive, it’s the preferred method for many home-based businesses. Transfer papers have really come a long way in terms of soft feel, stretchability and the color quality you can achieve. There are papers for laser printers, color copiers (these have dumpable fuser oil) and laser printers (which use fuser units, not fuser oil).

Now, it’s time to rain on your parade… we’re just going to cover digital transfers here. Since we already covered the screen printing pros and cons once and we don’t want to pick on them too much.

CONS: Realistically, only for smaller jobs – the more you print the more ink you will end up using – and as we all know ink is expensive! Contour cutting/trimming is needed to get a professional look, which can be time consuming if you have to do it by hand! If you happen to have a vinyl cutter, it will make your job much, much easier. By printing with registration marks your vinyl cutter will do that trimming for you, therefore removing the access polymer around your image. This works with a handful of materials Coastal offers. Another issue is that wash ability may not be quite as good as a screen printed image & if not pressed correctly, and washed correctly it may fade and crack more quickly!

Now why do we love it?

PROS: You’re able to get photographic images, complex multicolor images onto just about any substrate easily. It’s an affordable option to dropping possibly thousands of dollars on larger equipment. And the best..daa…taa…daa…it’s 100% customizable!

You have a birthday party you need shirts for tomorrow? Done in a jiffy! Did mom just nag at you for not being able to make it to the family reunion this year? Not only show up with a smile, but make everyone matching shirts! That’ll show her. Does the newly introduced baby need to be applied to matching shirts for the newly crowned Grandma & Grandpa? You can have those shirts made quicker than they can start getting all gushy!

With transfer paper, you can turn any idea into a fully customized shirt, a hat, a jacket…all for a very inexpensive price.

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Tracy Takes On…“I’m Confused, Tell me What I Need?” Part I

Everybody always wants to tell you how great a specific process is, but nobody wants to tell you the downsides. No worries… I’m here for you. Feel free to call me “Negative Nancy” today. I’m here to ruin your day! I … Continue reading →

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I do promise to tell you my favorite PROs about each process as we go along. And, since this is my blog… well, I’m gonna write what I want.

Let’s start with the one of oldest forms of garment decorating… screen printing.

It became a popular form of application in the US around the 1960’s. In Artistic screen printing, stencils are used. Ink is then pulled across the screen using a squeegee and as the ink enters the open areas it will create an impression of the image.

With Commercial screen printing, there is a chemical emulsion that is applied to the screen, then the artwork is printed on a vellum like material and it’s attached to the emulsion. The screen is then placed under a light (a powerful one), which burns the image from the vellum material to the screen. When the vellum is removed, the screen is sprayed with water, which will reveal the open image area created in the emulsion.

Confused? Yeah, me too… so let’s get down to the heart of this process.

There are 6 major steps to screen printing:
1. Create your artwork
2. Create your screen
3. Develop your artwork using stencil prep
4. Print
5. Cure/Dry item
6. Finished Product

CONS: It’s messy, so have your clean up attire ready! It’s time-consuming, so small jobs aren’t a good idea since each color has to be printed separately. Most screen printers will charge a setup fee to make those screens – those take time! Simple designs only, there’s no fancy-pants printing going on here! The frames warp, so you do have to replace them after some time! You have limited colors to work with! And finally, screen printing is NOT suitable for photographic reproduction!

Now… I told you I would be nice in every department, so… believe it or not, screen printing does have quite a few positives. It was a tie on my top two, so my friend Positive Peter stopped by to help. He suggested I give you both!

PROS: It’s great for mass production! Screen printing will keep your cost down and your profits high! It offers excellent durability – washing and rewashing many times over and over usually won’t affect the color or the application!

Just to let your suspicion grow… I‘m going to make you check back for Part II!

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