What is the technique?

Transfer printing is the transference of an image to fabric or other materials such as ceramic mugs or wood, via a subtrate. In this technique, image is transferred via heat and pressure. The technique relies on the fact that dyes sublime when heated which is sometimes also known as sublimation printing.

 

What are the materials needed?

• Flat objects (and stencils for stamping and create patterns)
• Fabric (100% polyester, and cotton)
• Fabric crayons
• A4 Papers
• Transprint inks
• Baking paper
• Hot iron
• Heat press machine
• Transfer paper for digital printing (TTC 3.1 for fabric, CPM 6.2 for hard surfaces)
• Wood or ceramic mugs (for digital printing using CPM 6.2 transfer paper)

 

How to achieve the technique?

The general steps are as stated below:

1. Few pieces of A4 paper, fabric crayons, and flat objects to start with the designs (freehand drawing or use the flat objects to graze over their texture, or use the stamping method of the flat objects with the transprint inks)
2. Leave the painted ink on paper to dry
3. Prepare fabrics and selected material for the designs to be printed on
4. Use the hot iron or heat press machine to transfer the images.

 

There are 3 ways to achieve the technique: dry transfer, wet transfer, and, digital transfer.

Dry Transfer

Create patterns or design freely using fabric crayons on A4 paper. The more pressure of the colouring of patterns on the paper, the more intense the transferred image on the fabric.

Besides free-drawing designs, we can use the flat objects to create patterns by:

• Placing the paper over the material/objects and use the crayon to get the texture of the intended pattern we want.

 

Wet Transfer

a. Direct Transfer

Using transprint inks and soft brushes, we paint the flat object and directly place them on the fabric, then using hot iron or heat press machine to transfer the image.

 

b. Indirect Transfer

Using transprint ink and soft brushes, we paint a full wash of colour onto smaller piece of A4 paper and leave it to dry. This will allow you to transfer the entire full wash to the fabric. Alternatively, you could create a negative image of your flat object by placing the flat object before the full-washed A4 paper.

 

Digital Transfer

Using illustrator or photoshop to create patterns or designs, then print on the transfer paper. Once printed on the transfer paper, method of transfer can be done using either hot iron or the heat press machine.

Note: The inks started to spread and fade overnight (most probably the settings of the printer I printed on) thus the quality of the print will affect the end result you see below. ):

 

What are the uses and applications of the technique?

• T-shirts
• Flip flops
• Tote bags
• Ceramic mugs, tiles
• Wood and metal surfaces

 

Photos of experimentation with technique

Results of dry transfer

Heat transferred using hot iron on polyester.

Heat transferred using heat press machine on polyester.

 

Results of wet transfer

Heat transferred using hot iron on polyester.

Heat transferred using heat press machine on polyester.

Heat transferred using heat press machine on cotton.

Results of digital transfer

Heat transferred using heat press machine on polyester, using TTC3.1 transfer paper.

Heat transferred using heat press machine on cotton, using TTC3.1 transfer paper.

Heat transferred using heat press machine on plywood, using CPM6.2 transfer paper.

 

Own personal reflections

Through this lesson, I learnt how designs are made and transferred onto the fabric and hard surfaces. There were no right or wrongs in designing but there sure were learning points of the process in achieving good quality transfers.

For example, if you do not want the image transferred on the fabric to be light in dry transfer, then you should intensify the design on the A4 paper. Or a trial and error with the heat press machine (in temperature) in getting the type of quality you want to have on your final piece.

Ultimately, this lesson allows you to let your creativity flow while you’re in the process of transferring the images. For example, to create a certain negative image in indirect wet transfer, one could put more than 1 flat object to create such patterns.

I enjoyed working on this technique and I may consider using this technique for the final project.