Plastisol heat transfers are hands down the absolute best heat transfer to use for commercial purposes. Why you may ask? Because they are simply a screen printed design done in reverse order on a special waxy transfer paper. That’s right, a plastisol heat transfer is screen printed with standard plastisol inks using a powdered adhesive for enhanced adhesion properties. Printing plastisol heat transfers is much like printing posters or other flat papers. But the design is reversed and printed in reverse order. Meaning if it’s for a black tee the white under base would be printed last as opposed to first when we print directly onto a tee shirt.

Printing multi colored plastisol heat transfers can be challenging and getting the semi cure correct with the powdered adhesive is often difficult. I personally do not print this type of transfer as I prefer to print directly onto the garment. But this type of transfer can be a great help for someone wanting to start a business but wants more than digital transfers can offer. Plastisol heat transfers are the only type of transfer that are the most similar in appearance and performance of direct screen printing.

You can read a little more about plastisol heat transfers here:

http://catspitproductionsllc.com/screen ... icles.html

Have you ever printed plastisol heat transfers? Have you used them in your heat transfer activities? Where do you buy your transfer paper and adhesive powder? Do you know of a good printer who will print custom plastisol heat transfers?

This question is a little left field seeing as this is the plastisol area but can this be done using waterbased inks or are heat transfers plastisol only please?

As far as I know screen printed transfers are done only with plastisol inks. It’s their rubbery composition that allows them to be transferred in that manner. I’m sure someone has tried it with water based inks but I have never heard of such a thing personally.

Yes, I read on google its all about part curing. Ah well I will have to buy some plastisol one day

I actually love doing plastisol transfers. In my opinion, it's a must for doing on-site event shirts. I have a couple big events to do this summer where I'll be doing transfers. I also do plastisol transfers for my own ApeShirt shirts. I'm doing some tomorrow actually. I'll print about 50-70 and keep them for pressing as needed. Plus, they're great for baseball caps.

Thanks for that, do you make many sales at these events?

BoydRiver wrote:Thanks for that, do you make many sales at these events?

It's always a crap shoot. I've only done a couple so far and they haven't been huge events. The major benefits with transfers are: you you don't have to lug your press and inks around and re-register. All you need to take is just transfers, shirts and heat press. No cleanup on site. And if they are event specific shirts, any leftovers are minimal waste. Way cheaper to eat the cost of a transfer than a printed shirt. Plus, the profit margin is greater to be on-site. At least that is how I work it out for events. I also try work it out the event organizer to sell my own shirts while there. So far, so good. The ones I'm doing this summer will be huge events. One is a biker fest and they expect around 5,000 people. The other is a brand new event called Music Con, by Chicago. That will be a 3 day event in a mall where they get 140,000 on a typical weekend. Talking with that organizer yesterday he's hoping for around 1,000 shirts sold. Plus, I'm hoping to sell around 100 of my own. We'll see.

Hi Johnathan,
Have you ever done a video for plastisol transfer printing for t-shirts and ball caps please?
If not, can I request one please, I know it is possible to buy other peoples designs on transfer paper so it must be commercially viable to get a consistent result at home.
Thanks in advance Bud.

Not yet but I do plan on doing one about a 1 color plastisol heat transfer with printing and heat pressing. But I am unsure when I will get to it. There are literally dozens of videos I want to do and I have a big list of topics for new videos. This is on it

I promise we'll get there.

ApeShirt: I have a question: Can Plastisol Transfers be utilized with 6-panel caps?