Heat Transfer Vinyl Plastic Side Up Or Down

The shiny side is a clear plastic carrier sheet that holds the heat transfer vinyl in place.

Heat transfer vinyl plastic side up or down.

This is the side we want to cut on make sure to always place the shiny side down onto your cutting mat. Take rozzy crafts gold htv for example. It will transfer backwards from what you cut you want to cut with the shiny side of your vinyl down. Now try to peel away the vinyl.

I usually use a cutting mat because it helps stabilize the vinyl and prevent slipping. To activate the adhesive on the heat transfer vinyl you need two things. For other colors however it is not as easy to tell which side is the final color and which side is not. Start out by cutting your design.

Shirts bags aprons you name it. Get out your craft knife and make a small cut in the corner on the side you think is the vinyl side like this cut only through the vinyl not all the way through. Heat and pressure both of which we can get using an iron. It is the adhesive side but only sticks with heat.

One is facing up and the other is facing down. We don t want to cut on this side. The dull side is the actual vinyl. Since red is the final color we know to cut on the white side.

When cutting heat transfer vinyl you can cut with or without a cutting mat. The clear plastic side is the carrier sheet and it should always be face down when cutting facing your machine. If you use a lot of heat transfer vinyl then you may want to get a heat press or easy press down the road but for today we will just focus on using an iron. Something to transfer your vinyl onto this can be anything.

If possible one that doesn t have a bunch of big steam holes on the bottom will work best but you can work with whatever you have at home. Both of these sheets are red htv.