Shirt Type – Choosing the right shirt in Transfers, DTG and other decorating methods is actually important. Need to have a good surface for decoration bonding with both transfers and DTG. My current favorite is the Fruit of the Loom HD Product.
Quick Tip January 23rd, 2015 by Aaron Montgomery
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Quick Tip April 17th, 2015 by Terry CombsQuick Tip April 17th, 2015 by Terry Combs
Artwork for Direct-to-Garment – Artwork from our customers is the most difficult area for most operators. Customers tend to provide very low resolution files and often from non-art programs such as Microsoft Word. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of asking the customer for the proper artwork, since most of our customers do not know exactly what we need from them to print the best graphic.
What we want is a 300dpi file saved at the full size it will be printed on the shirt. Many customers will want to give us jpg files since that is a common way to save information, but a jpg limits our ability to manipulate the file if necessary. Ideally we want our customer to provide us with a png, psd or eps file, saved with a transparent background.
QUICK TIP JANUARY 29, 2016 BY TERRY COMBSQUICK TIP JANUARY 29, 2016 BY TERRY COMBS
Coated and Uncoated Papers in DTG Printing – Sometimes we have to stop and look at our procedures and see if anything has changed with the component parts. Too often, we continue with a method or technique because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
We have until recently used uncoated paper between a pretreated shirt and the heat press to protect the heat press and dry the shirt. We used uncoated paper because silicon coated paper cause the shirt to be still and shiny. We then used silicon coated paper between the printed shirt and the heat surface to cure the ink. The silicon kept the ink from sticking to the paper.
Today, you can use silicon paper for both steps. This allows you to stock only one paper, and not stand in front of your heat press trying to determine if the paper is coated or not. With advances in pretreat solution, the glossy finish (when applied properly) is no longer an issue.
QUICK TIP June 12, 2015 BY Terry CombsQUICK TIP June 12, 2015 BY Terry Combs
The “Going on Vacation Method” of finishing projects – clearing your desk, and tying up loose ends. I was scheduling a vacation for the end of the month to visit my daughter and her husband and of course my grandson, Baby Henry, and at the same time looking at some lingering, pushed back emails, a couple projects, etc. I started thinking about that point where you’re leaving town and need to wrap things up. I’ve talked here before about being your own consultant and looking at your business. We often know what needs to be done to improve our businesses, but choose to ignore or put off that decision. I’ll take that a step further on a personal business level and recommend you pick a day, next Friday for instance, and pretend you’re going on a two week vacation after that. Treat every project, every email, every decision as if you won’t be able to look at it again for two weeks. Wrap it all up, make a decision, clear your archives by using my “Going on Vacation Method” of personal management.
