START THE (HEAT) PRESS The accuracy of heat transfer equipment is more important now than ever. Today's specialty fabrics can easily be scorched or melted due to faulty or old equipment. Before the busy season starts, it's wise to upgrade to a modern heat press that accurately controls time, temperature and pressure, and has the ability to split or thread the garment over the lower platen for heat printing specialty fabrics like performancewear. Splitting the garment during the heat-transfer process keeps inks and adhesives from bleeding through to the back of the garment. for general garment decoration. Hot-split plastisol transfers also are a popular choice for printing on cotton tees to imitate the look and feel of direct screen printing. When heat applying a hot-split transfer, part of the ink stays on the paper and part of it is transferred to the garment, producing a graphic with a soft-hand feel. Hot-peel plastisol transfers are peeled immediately after heat pressing and all of the ink is transferred to the garment, leaving the paper clean. Some hot-peel transfers use special adhesives to help release ink from the paper and increase the transfer's mechanical adhesion. Color laser copier (CLC) transfers are easy to make in-house with a desktop laser printer. They work on a variety of fabrics, from 100% cotton to polyester blends. The main advantage of using CLC heat transfers is for quick-turnaround jobs and short print runs. 50/50 poly/cotton blends: This combination is commonly used in today's T-shirt constructions. FEBRUARY 2016 P.53http://www.impressionsmag.com http://www.impressionsmag.com/news http://www.impressionsmag.com/business http://www.impressionsmag.com/screenprinting http://www.impressionsmag.com/embroidery http://www.impressionsmag.com/digitaldecorating http://www.impressionsmag.com/events http://www.impressionsmag.com/newsletter http://www.impressionsmag.com/techtips http://www.impressionsmag.com/productguide http://www.impressionsmag.com/catalogcentral http://www.impressionsdirectory.com http://www.impressionsmag.com/infoaction http://www.impressionsmag.com/designgalleries http://www.issshows.com