stokedgraphics

Combining airbrush with heat press vinyl?

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Haven't been able to find any comments whatsoever about this, so I'm opening it up to discussion before I try it.

I've been screen printing for a lot of years, but I often get orders for just a few shirts and it's not worth the time and effort to make a screen and deal with the clean up afterward for such a little job. My question is, has anyone tried to airbrush onto something like EasyWeed or ThermoFlex Plus? Since the airbrush paint has to be heat set anyway, I was thinking about being able to do shadowing and special effects on multi-layered vinyl. This would open up a whole new avenue for me, but again, I was hoping for some feedback before trying it.

Thanks in advance for any info!

WE'RE STOKED! On Graphics!

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Try and see what happens, best way to find out.

On heat press vinyl you have to AB after is applied, when you AB sign vinyl you're working on what's going to be the front of the vinyl.

Heat press vinyl is cut in reverse and you apply it with the carrier sheet facing you protecting the finished side of the vinyl.

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You have no way to paint on the finished side unless you do it after it's pressed on the shirt

The finished side is the one stuck to the carrier sheet

MM64 B)

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I have seen plenty of air brushed hats , T-shirts etc . So IMO , if you added shadows etc after heat pressing whatver you want onto the shirt , that would take the pace of another layer of vinyl.. same thing for replacing a screen when screenprinting . I think the color & texture will be much different & most likely not look right .. but it might look good . So Like wwpro said , try it out & let us know .

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Okay, gonna hopefully try it today. I'll be using a test shirt that already has vinyl, but I won't be showing results, since it definitely won't be a show piece...

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I have seen screen printing and air brushing and I think there's a guy on YouTube that does vinyl and ab on the same shirt. Also curious if this worked.

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I'd completely forgotten about this post.  Airbrushing on heatpress vinyl looks great! ...until you wash it.  Unfortunately, I had little success in trying this.  There isn't much that can protect the paint/ink once it's on the vinyl.  I'm sure there's a clear vinyl that can be added as a protective layer, but I didn't go that far.  In other words, it really wasn't worth the effort, unless the shirt is going to be used for display only; in which case, it's better to just airbrush straight onto the shirt.

 

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Did you press the shirt again after the airbrushing to heat set the paint? I don't see any reason it wouldn't work.

 

What kind of paint did ya use?

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