Transfer paper is used in textiles and arts and crafts projects. Transfer paper is a thin piece of paper coated with wax and pigment. Often, an

ink-jet Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...

or other printer is used to print the image on the transfer paper. A

heat press In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

can transfer the image onto clothing, canvas, or other surface. Transfer paper is used in creating

iron-on Iron-on transfers are images that can be imprinted on fabric. They are frequently used to print onto T-shirts. On one side is paper, and on the other is the image that will be transferred in reverse. The image is printed with iron-on transfer ...

Inkjet

Most conventional inkjet printers are not capable of printing white (though many wide-format and direct-to-garment inkjet printers offer white ink as an option). So on these devices, in any white areas, the garment's existing colour shows through. The mirror of the image is printed on paper. When it is transferred, the result is the mirror of the mirror (the original) results. Inkjet transfer paper for dark garments is covered with transferable white ink. For dark garments, the image is printed without mirroring. Garment printing needs transfer paper for high-quality garment printing results. Washability for inkjet transfer paper is not as good as for screen-printed items.

Dye sublimation

For

dye sublimation Dye-Sublimation Printing (or dye-sub printing) is a digital computer printing technique that uses heat to transfer dye onto materials such as plastic, card, paper, or fabric. The sublimation name was first applied because the dye was considere ...

transfer paper, fabrics historically had to be white or light in color. 100% polyester, poly/

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

mix (the garment should be at least 50% poly)

microfibre Microfiber (or microfibre) is synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers. A strand of silk is about one denier and about a fifth of the diameter of a human hair. The most common t ...

and

nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pe ...

can all be used. This printing process turns solid ink into a gas, avoiding a liquid stage. This process can be used on ceramic, wood, glass, or metal as long as they have a

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

coating. Transfer papers now exist for most textiles, including elastic fabrics used for making sportswear and swimming suits, and for natural fiber fabrics such as cotton, silk, linen, and wool.

Colour laser

Colour laser transfer is very similar to the inkjet transfer paper process and allows the decoration of any combination of fabric blends including 50/50 poly/cotton blends as well as 100% cotton textiles. This type of transfer paper is used for industrial printing jobs on a large scale offering better quality paper and image transfer.

History

"The initial intent for this method of moving a pre- made image from one location to another was to serve as an essential substitute for ink. In 1801,

Pellegrino Turri Pellegrino Turri (1765–1828), an Italian inventor, invented a mechanical typing machine, one of the first typewriters, at the start of the 19th century (conflicting accounts suggest 1801, 1806 or 1808) for his blind friend Countess Carolina Fant ...

, an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

inventor, invented carbon paper to provide the ink for his mechanical typing machine, one of the first

typewriters A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectively ...

." Ralph Wedgwood obtained the first patent for carbon paper in 1806. Wedgwood's technique was then continuously perfected.

References

{{Paper products Paper products Coated paper

Inkjet

Dye sublimation

Colour laser

History

See also

References