How to Use the XFasten Vinyl Sheets:
- FEED the vinyl sheet in the cutting machine of your choice and initiate the cutting through the machine’s software on your computer.
- WEED any excess vinyl sheet using a cutter or a weeding tool after you cut them through the cutting machine. Make sure to only leave the pattern that you need. For finer and more intricate details, carefully remove any excess vinyl so as not to damage the design.
- USE transfer paper to stick the weeded design. Stick the weeded design to the transfer paper and transfer the design to the surface which you intend the patter to rest. For instructions on how to transfer your weeded design using a vinyl transfer sheet (sold separately), please refer to the separate section of this manual titled: How to Transfer your design using a Vinyl Transfer Sheet
- Let the newly transferred design ACCLIMATIZE for 24 hours before washing with water. You can however, still use the object right after the design has been transferred.
How to Create a Weeded Design with a Cutting Machine
The vinyl transfer sheet and the cutting machine is not included in this product. To clarify, this is a set of vinyl sheets and not the vinyl transfer sheet itself.
To create a weeded vinyl design, take your design on any vinyl cutting software and feed the sheet on the cutting machine of your choice.
How to Create a Weeded Design Manually
If you do not have access to a cutting machine, to create a weeded design:
1) Print your design on a sheet of paper (this is your template) and stick the printed design on a vinyl sheet using a temporary tape.
2) Using an Exacto knife, trace the design to cut the sheet based on your printed template.
3) Remove the printed template and remove the excess vinyl using a decal tweezer.
How to Transfer your design using a Vinyl Transfer Sheet:
To clarify, the vinyl transfer sheets and the cutting machine are not included in this product. This is a set of vinyl sheets and not the vinyl transfer sheet itself. For instructions on how to transfer your weeded design using a vinyl transfer sheet (sold separately), please refer to the steps below:
1) PREPARE the weeded vinyl design. TRIM a piece of transfer tape using a pair of sharp scissors, matching the size of the weeded vinyl design.
2) REMOVE the clear transfer tape sheet from its white, adhesive backing sheet. Make sure to keep the adhesive liner if you want to reuse the transfer tape sheet later.
3) PLACE the transfer sheet over the front of the weeded design and SQUEEGEE to the design using a squeegee tool. You can use any plastic card as a squeegee tool. Make sure to eliminate any air bubbles that may form between the vinyl sheet and the transfer sheet. After squeegeeing one side, turn the sheet and apply pressure on the other side. Apply pressure to both sides for maximum contact.
4) CAREFULLY REMOVE the backing paper from the weeded design, leaving only the design to the transfer tape.
5) MOUNT the transfer tape with the design to the surface of the item. SQUEEGEE the transfer tape onto the surface.
6) GENTLY REMOVE the transfer tape from the surface, leaving only the design on the base item's surface. If some design does not release to the surface, put the transfer sheet back, and squeegee the part where the design failed to transfer before removing the tape again.
7) Reinstall the adhesive backing if you wish to reuse the transfer tape.
Tips for Beginner Hobbyists:
If you are still starting out with your vinyl transfer design hobby, you can check out the tips below for better results with your initial projects:
- Keep your designs simple (for now). If you are still starting out, it would be better to practice on simple designs. More intricate and complicated designs such as grunge texts which involve much smaller excess vinyl pieces would require a lot of time (and frustration) during the weeding process. If you are still learning the ropes, keeping your designs simple can yield to, well, simple, but well-executed output.
- Always have a Vinyl Removing Solvent ready. Especially on t-shirt designs, during fast operations, an unwanted vinyl piece which you may have missed during the weeding process can make it through the heat press. You would need to pour over a substantial amount of vinyl removal solvent to remove excess pieces that had been accidentally pressed on your design. Mistakes can and will happen, and are normal if you are still learning. Thus, a vinyl removal solvent can be very useful.
- Warm the vinyl design before weeding. A vinyl sheet can be removed easier if it is warm, than if it is cold or on room temperature. You can lay down the to-be-weeded design on a warm plate first (you can use the plate of your heat press) to make the weeding process much easier. HOWEVER, please take note to NOT HEAT UP the design as that will just mess it up.
- Avoid small lettering and font (for now). Especially if you have an entry level cutter which isn’t that accurate for very intricate designs, you would want to stick on larger fonts which hold well on a vinyl transfer sheet. Small fonts tend to be unstable in terms of their adhesion and holding power on a vinyl transfer sheet.