FancierStudio Heat Press from Amazon
I had been using my Cricut machine to make shirts and other crafts since early 2018. For t-shirts and the Heat Transfer Vinyl needed for them, I had nothing to apply it with but my household iron. This was no easy feat. I was getting more and more orders for shirts, and each one was taking entirely too long. Browsing on Amazon one day I came across this heat press from FancierStudio, and it has saved the day, and my arms!
The Problem: A Household Iron
Since all I had at first was an iron, I knew no differently. This was a whole new world for me. The first problem is the size. We know the size of a household iron, in comparison to a t-shirt. Unless it’s just a pocket design, you’re going to have to go over your design multiple times. You’re also going to have to hope that the design doesn’t somehow shift at all while you’re pressing another section. Then you run into the possibility of pressing a wrinkle into your design.
The second problem with an iron is the pressure needed to appropriately attach the HTV to the fabric. It’s not just a light press and go. No, you have to put your ENTIRE bodyweight into this thing. So using a regular folding table isn’t going to cut it. I had to make space in a spare bathroom, or clear off our kitchen island then kneel on top of the kitchen stools just to be able to get up high enough. And even then, you think you’ve applied enough pressure, the design still lifts. To press a simple one sided, one color design shirt, it would sometimes take me around 20 minutes. Now add to that more colors, and possibly needing to apply a design to the back too.
Then you have the holes in the iron. For normal ironing this is for the steam release. But you can’t use that with HTV. So you have to make sure the iron has no water in it. I just made sure this iron was for HTV only and never had water in it (then you need to possibly purchase a second iron for your regular ironing). But even that aside, after all the pressure you need to put on it, sometimes you can see the holes from the iron in the design.
With all of these problems, I was ready to throw in the towel.
The Solution: A Fancierstudio Heat Press
FancierStudio is located in the San Francisco Bay area and has been operating online since 2004. Their main products are Heat Press machines, but they also sell a variety of other products for the creative soul.
On their website you can also find lighting for photography and video recording, camera setups, and parts/accessories for heat presses.
With a heat press, you get an even press every time, you also don’t need to apply the physical pressure needed with an iron or even Cricut’s Easy Press. FancierStudio’s heat press even comes in at a fraction of the price of Cricut’s Heat Press now available. There is some machine calibrating to make sure it’s level, and there isn’t too much or too little pressure.
Once the desired temperature and timer are set, you don’t have to change it unless you need one or the other changed for a different material.
What We Got
So I ordered the FancierStudio 9-by-12-Inch Heat Press with a swing away handle. This appears to be no longer available from the company. It appears now that they only have the Clamshell style available which opens up instead of up and out.
The only thing I would change about my heat press is the size, because of size restraints, I went with the 9×12. Currently using a folding table in my laundry room. Once we get a counter put in on a future home project, I would love to upgrade to a larger size. With the Clamshell style, I won’t need as much room around the machine as I currently do. While the swing away arm isn’t much of a bother, I do need to make sure I have clearance around the area. You don’t want to bump into anything with that arm and the 300° or more plate.
My heat press has yet to let me down. Every project comes out perfectly the first time. I even went through my own shirts and my husbands to repress each one. It felt like the vinyl had become one with the shirt after repressing. Before when using the iron, you could definitely feel the HTV as if it was just sitting on the shirt. Now it feels like it’s bonded into the fibers.
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Purchase a Heat Press from FancierStudio
Now, I got mine from Amazon, but you can also purchase their products directly from their website and Ebay. Browse all three and see what works best for you shipping and price/time wise.
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FancierStudio Heat Press Final Thoughts
This product is an absolute must if you’re going to be making shirts, be it with heat transfer vinyl or sublimation. It save you time and your own physical energy as opposed to a regular iron, and it’s a lot cheaper than some other brands. I’ll be sticking with this company once I upgrade my heat press after we redo our laundry room and I have a more stable surface for it. They’re a small business providing a quality product, so when you look at heat presses, consider FancierStudio!
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