how i make the chaos shirts! (htv tutorial) (Patreon)

stuff you need

+a digital cutter (i have a silhouette portrait 2)

+heat transfer vinyl

+a heat press ( you can use a regular iron too, but i haven't tried it. if you're planning on making things to sell i recommend investing in a heat press! i use a cricut easy press 12 inch)

+a shirt

note: i'm uk based so i get the vinyl from hobbycraft or amazon. i bought the silhouette in 2018 from amazon and the easypress from hobbycraft! i source my blank apparel from firelabel.co.uk

1. start up your cutting machine! i've had this for ages when i started making stickers for conventions. i remember it cost around £150 at the time - it can only cut up to A4, so if you're looking into making bigger designs you could look into a silhouette cameo or a cricut, which are usually a bit more expensive and can cut up to A3.

2. formatting the cut area should be pretty straightforward. cricut and silhouette use different software for this and there's plenty of tutorials on how to do this on youtube. what i usually do is upload my drawing and then use the auto trace tool. remember to mirror your designs as well! sadly i can't fit 4 chaos flames on one sheet so i always end up with weird scraps lol

these are the blade settings i use, but this might differ depending on which htv you use (and how dull your blade is). cricut has some handy charts for their machines, but because i use a silhouette i have to go about it intuitively haha

3. this is the vinyl i use fot his shirt! it's a bit pricey since it's cricut's own brand but i can't change it now since i already started making shirts with it. holo vinyl from different brands can give different end results, so definitely experiment with different types.

4. put the vinyl on the cutting mat with the shiny side down. you should be cutting on the vinyl side not the plastic film side.

i cut my vinyl into strips to try to waste less material - 

5. after it's done cutting i separate them and weed the vinyl using my fingers and this silly little tool

and when you flip it to the film side it should looks something like this. make sure there isn't any small vinyl scraps stuck to the film, as you won't be able to get these off once you press them onto your shirt.

6. process is the same for the demon heads. i use some cheap htv from amazon for black and white and it works great! i format the artwork the same way, but i weed them differently depending on the design. for the black outline drawing i peel the insides of the outline, while for the white one i peel the outlines. it can get a bit confusing so make sure you have digital mockups of your designs before so you can follow the guidelines.

7. i'm making a pink shirt for this example so i will use the black demon head! before i press anything, i overlay the 2 htv cutouts and try to figure out the positioning. since my designs are pretty much hand drawn i'm not too fussed about the orientation, but if you have writing or straight borders you might wanna take some time to do some measuring and make sure your design is straight and centered. generally the very top of your design should be about 7cm away from the collar for most chest prints.

8. i'm pressing the head first so i carefully remove the flames layer without changing the position of the demon head.

9. i use a sheet of baking paper as heat protector. you don't necessarily have to do this but it's a good idea to protect your shirts.

10. i press for about 30 seconds on 170C ! this are usually the average settings for all htv, but check the instructions of your htv. a heat press is great because it has an even distribution of heat, you have full control over the temperature and a handy timer. you can technically do this with a domestic iron if it can heat up to 165-170C, but it's harder to estimate the temperature accurately. also the work surface isn't very big, so if your design is larger you will need to do it section by section. if you only want to make shirts for yourself , it might be a good option, since these heat presses are around £200!  regular htv is definitely more easy to work with so i you might be successful with just an iron, but special htvs like holographic and glitter might be more tricky to work with if you don't have the accurate temperature and pressure.

11. once it's done you can remove the film. it will peel off super easy if it's ready, and you should also see the texture of the shirt fibers through the vinyl. if it feels like it's coming off you can press it an additional 15 seconds.

12. now i'll bring back the holo flames. try to position them correctly and repeat the process. before removing the film, at the end i also flip the shirt and press the back for an additional 15 seconds. holographic htv is a bit more tricky to work with than regular htv so be patient with it!

13. holo htv doesn't peel quite as easily as normal htv so take your time. also let it cool for a few minutes until it's comfortable to touch, i feel like it peels better that way. also find a direction to peel which works best for your design

14. and you're done! holo vinyl will look different depending on the color of the shirt, as you can see on my chaos shirts. the most true to color version (like what it looks like on the box) will be on white, so make sure you experiment to get different results. 

i use the same process for the threat shirts. i let it rest for 24 hours before folding/packaging/washing! if you're going to sell these definitely do a wash test to make sure you did everything right. when taken care of properly the vinyl should last around 50 washes before it begins to show signs of wear and tear!

hope this was somewhat helpful or at least interesting to see, and maybe it will inspire someone to do some crafts. i'm honestly surprised not a lot of artists do this! it feels like a lot of us invest in a cricut to make stickers but completely dismiss all the other cool stuff a cricut can do. 

let me know if you'd like me to show any other of my processes! i'd like to talk about screenprinting next, even tho that one is pretty straight forward, it can also be lots of fun!