By Melissa McCullough
Teach a kid to buy the same t-shirt that everyone else is wearing because it’s nice drip* and they blend in with everyone else. Teach them to heat press their own, original ideas and they stand out from the crowd.
HTVRONT, who produce a range of high-quality heat transfer and adhesive vinyl products for design printing, will elevate any designer’s experience, from cosplayers to budding fashion designers and craft loving families. And with their Easy Heat Press, you can print full t-shirt designs easily and professionally in minutes.
And we did just that.
I received the Easy Heat Press and some pre-cut vinyl designs to try out, but we were keen to try our hand at making our own designs/sayings. After a visit to K-mart I was armed with several inexpensive, plain t-shirts and a package of heat transfer paper. Using vinyl and maybe a Cricut** are next on our list to try, and these techniques have a slightly different set of instructions to the ones for simple heat transfer paper.
We used a word processing program on my laptop to plan our designs out including font and sizing. My daughter chose a Harry Potter design, my axolotl-loving son wanted a statement which made him laugh ferociously every time he said it and his friend asked for the hashtag #nicedrip. I told them both what great ideas they had and how awesome, etc, etc, etc – and then I snuck off to my phone to google what the heck #nicedrip meant.
#parentsjustdontunderstand
After printing the design from our own inkjet printer onto the A4 transfer paper(inverted), snipping out the lettering and placing the cut-out in the kiddos desired position onto the t-shirt I did the pressing because, you know, VERY hot. I do think the kids could use the press on their own with parental supervision. For our first try, though, we all felt best I do the pressing.
In between presses I sat it back on the pad away from little hands. It will automatically shut off after 15 minutes inactivity.
Portable, lightweight, and SO easy to operate, the HTVRONT Easy Heat Press is suitable for various textile materials and objects, such as cotton, silk, fibre, plush, polyester. It is ideal for handicraft lovers of small projects and perfect for making gorgeous custom gifts for anyone; I’m thinking bride-to-be tees, team shirts or sweet milestone onesies for a new babe which would be super simple to produce and very much appreciated by the recipients. Homemade gifts that come from the heart!
The Easy Heat Press new 25cm X 25cm heat press boasts a large pressing area and more accurate digitalized pressure display which makes it friendly to craft lovers and beginner pressers. With the pressure display, you can finish full t-shirt, pillow, bag, etc designs easily and professionally, pinkie swear! The options are endless.
Bonus: it can be used as a normal iron as well!
We learned a lot as we went along with the process. For instance, special heat transfer paper should be used for darker colour tees. We didn’t realise this when we made my daughter’s t-shirt, but she and I still think her Harry Potter tee is #nicedrip.
I even made one for myself! 😉
*From urban dictionary: When you’re dripping it means you wear some “drip” = nice clothes, jewellery etc. So, when somebody tells you “nice drip”, it means that you’re wearing nice clothes.
**A Cricut is a precision electronic cutting machine that can cut all sorts of designs from materials like paper, vinyl, card stock, and iron-on transfers.
Available from www.amazon.com.au