The trip to Touch and Print as well as the National Design Centre was highly intriguing and engaging. We were personally introduced to how transfer printing is done!
Through the presentation, we learnt about the differences between two types of surface printing:
| Screen Printing | Transfer Printing |
| Long set-up time | Fast, digitally printed |
| Every colour matters (multiple stencils) | Full-colour |
| Minimum quantity required | No minimum quantity |
| Repeat prints are cheap and fast | Consistent repeat prints, accurate |
We were also lectured on laser transfer printing and witnessed first hand the demonstration on two T-shirts, one on a white piece and the second on a blue piece. They required different transfer papers by TheMagicTouch and the processes varied accordingly.
Steps for the white shirt transfer included:
- laser printing the design onto the paper
- cutting out the design close to the borders
- placing the design faced down on the shirt
- applying the heat-press
- quickly removing the transfer paper from the shirt
- laying a baking paper over the transferred design and applying the heat-press once again
Other applications of transfer printing also include the incorporation of circuit boards unto fabric as well as deriving a circuit by etching away a metal surface.
