I have been getting a lot of questions regarding which products I use for my business. Do you use Cricut, silhouette, what size heat press, what kind of ink... let's break it all down!
If you are a crafty person, you know that there is always new products, new equipment and new techniques always coming out. I can't say that I am always up to date on everything, but I try to YouTube and learn as much as possible to simply make the process easier for myself.
I have always been a crafty person. I had the OG Cricut that had cartridges and keypads! When I upgraded to the Cricut explore air it was life changing! Making life easier for myself...remember that is the goal! Crafting, designing & creating shouldn't be a headache...It should be enjoyable! When I started crafting it was simply for my own pleasure. It's my outlet. It fuels my creative soul. It started to turn into a business when I had a lot of interest in signs, custom shirts & eventually took brand deals with companies who simply loved my products and my work.
What I currently use...and like I have said things are ever changing in this design world, but currently. I use the Cricut Maker 3, HTVront Auto Press, HTVront mini press, HTVront
easy press. I have a cup press as well, which I don't use all that often, but I have in case of any wholesale orders that request sublimation cups! As for my printers that I use, I have a canon regular printer that I use for all of my everyday printing! I make all of my own handmade tags/label for all of my clothing,
I simply use an iron label sheet that I print my custom labels on and then heat accordingly. I use a dark color heat transfer paper as well as a light color transfer paper. For my sublimation printer, I have the Epson ET-2800 that I purchased from Best Buy and converted into a sublimation printer. To convert your regular ink printer into a sublimation printer you can YouTube how to purchase and convert, honestly it is very simple. Most Epson Eco Tank Printers will work, because you are dealing with liquid ink refills versus the cartridges. I purchases my sublimation ink on amazon, I went with the Hiipoo Sublimation Ink. I honestly watched several YouTube tutorials on how to convert my Epson printer into sublimation printer and it was easy! You can do it too!
As for sublimation paper, I don't know what the best paper is, I just order mine on Amazon. I think it all depends on printer, ink and paper quality for your prints. I have played around with my printer settings and the type of paper to print on for sublimation, I have found that using the print quality "high glossy" has worked the best for the color on my sublimation paper & transfer process. But every printer is different, every pack of sublimation ink and paper is different, you simply have to play around with the settings
to find what works best for you and your designs.
Shortly after getting sublimation tackled, I was stuck with the limitations of sublimation. You have to have ready to press surfaces, you have to have high poly materials for your designs to "pop" and for them not to wash out. Cotton does not hold the ink, like polyester does, so while it may look great when you first press, when you wash it all of the ink that was pressed into the cotton will wash out and you will be left with a washed out looking design because only the polyester has held the ink. This brought me back to YouTube....
I didn't want to pay thousands of dollars on a screen printing setup. I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on a DTF or DTG printer. However, the DTF printer is on my radar! I wanted to figure out how to use what I currently had to make my own DTF transfers! Thanks to YouTube and Amazon I found the transfer sheets and the DTF powder I would need to use with my sublimation printer! Honestly....IT HAS BEEN THE BEST HACK! You don't need certain materials, it can go on anything! It is smooth, it washes great & the best part you can make your own custom designs and press right at home!
If you have a sublimation printer I highly recommend trying this method! Some have said
that the clear transfer films jam their printer so they have to tape to a sheet of paper to feed through...mine thankfully feeds just fine on its own. Once you print on the film transfer be careful as the ink is left wet and will smear. I put DTF powder instantly on the film to cover the ink. After you have covered the ink & tapped off all of the excess powder, simply heat transfer until it is sealed, it will feel rubbery. Then you are ready to press. I have found that 385 degrees for 40 seconds on my autocross works best, but once again, every transfer sheet is different, every heat press is different so you may have to play around with heat and time.
Here is the process of DTF printing with sublimation ink hack!
All of the products that I use are linked, I share what products work best for me & the products that I would recommend to anyone else if they asked what I use.
Happy Crafting! Any questions please feel free to reach out.
XOXO- KK
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