Newbie/Oldie

[doeflax]

​Hi all, yep, as the title suggests, I am a newbie to both this forum and the fascinating world of sublimation.Also as the title suggests, I have lived through many warm summers, and a whole lot of cold winters !
I reside in the south west of the UK, and am seriously considering entering the exciting platform of T-Shirt Printing.
Not afraid of hard work, but genuinely petrified of seeing some of my "hard-earned readies" evaporate before my eyes through making poorly informed choices.
In that I mean, I am looking to start up a single manned very small operation, dealing in small quantity good quality printed garments.
Starting completely from scratch, I would treasure any tips and suggestions members are keen to share.
I have been a regular "watcher from the sidelines" on this forum, . . . . . . and I like what I see !
DTG and Screen Printing are not on my agenda, I'm far more interested in unique style transfer motif's with some good quality heat transfer techniques.
I know the more I get involved, the better I will become.
I will be starting from the ground up, with absolutely no kit to date, and am keen to get up & running !
I have gleened enough info to put "after sales tech support" right up there as a priority, and do understand that good quality hardware is also important.
However, as I have a fairly modest start-up budget, I know research is essential.
I am interested in probably doing some A3 size stuff once I kick off.


Your help would be cherished, and absolutely welcomed !

[Justin]

Very warm welcome to the forum....strap in and enjoy the ride!

Justin
DSF Admin

[doeflax]

Ha Ha ! Priceless comment Justin

[Sawgrass]

Before you start parting with any hard-earned cash, I would encourage you to contact a couple of well-established suppliers ( such as The Magic Touch or Xpres) who have demonstration showrooms, and ask to be shown the various heat-transfer options which are out there. Whilst dye-sublimation is a good option for small quantity/high quality results, it does not do everything ( for example, whilst you can print tone/tone on darker fabrics, you cannot print white or light colours on dark/black fabrics). Also do some research on heat-presses, as this is the most expensive piece of kit.
If you decide to go down the dye-sub route, please look at our web-site, where you will find a wealth of advice and training under the "education" tab.

[doeflax]

Thanx Sawgrass. I have another spanner to throw in my works ! My target is to be able to print White onto Dark shirts, A3 size. So that will need to be entered into the equation ! mmmmm lots to look forward to I feel lol.

[Justin]

All depends on your design complexity, there's always an option....but it may not be cheap

[dazzul]

Welcome to the forum, looking forward to see some of your work when you get started.

Daz

[doeflax]

ha ha, thanx Daz. Thinking my 1st print may be a mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm oh, I know a plane !! lol

[socialgiraffe]

Welcome to the Forum doeflax

A3 on to dark garments is going to be a struggle in many ways...

As Sawgrass suggest, you should visit a couple of the well established suppliers, but you will find that TMT do not supply the A3 white oki at the moment as it simply is not good enough for registration.

If you went the print and cut route (Versacamm for example) then I think you will find the feel of the vinyl at that sort of size and bit off putting

I wish you well in your chosen method and enjoy this fantastic forum

[doeflax]

Thanx for your input socialgiraffe. I feel I'm heading deep into the abyss with this one !