Confession: I have a dream of owning a screen printing press. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy but just something I can run short runs on. As a graphic designer, I’m always designing something that I want to run a few shirts on – which is totally not cost effective. But if a had a little station in the garage to print shirts – my dreams would come true. (Steve would argue my dreams have already come true because I have a cotton candy machine sitting in the garage and he would be correct!)
Because a screen printer in my garage is probably not happening, I have to settle with the next best option: Iron on heat transfer paper.
Let me be clear – this is nothing like a screen print, but it is a fantastic underrated substitution. All you need is an inkjet printer and an iron.
Hallie and her friend were over one night and they decided to have a little contest drawing the best school spirit shirt. It started out as a simple paper and pencil activity. But then Hallie took the ipad and transformed her idea into a digital design and her friend followed suit (taking a picture of their paper design with the ipad and then using the app Procreate to trace it) Just a week later her friend was having a birthday and Hallie was trying to figure out what she could get her.
We decided to bring her shirt to life and she was so surprised with the gift (and the last time I saw her at her house, she was sporting her Toro pride!)
It was quick and easy and way more affordable than harboring a screen printer in my garage! I suppose some dreams are better left unrealized. 🙂
Unless it’s a cotton candy machine and then dreams need to come to fruition.
