How to Use Transfer Tape with Vinyl?

Hey! My friends! Will you get frustrated every time when you work with complicated designs? Or do you still have no idea about how to group your adhesive vinyl while transferring it to other objects? Here we are! Use transfer tape to solve your problems with making adhesive vinyl designs!

What is a transfer tape?

At the beginning of this instruction, we have to make clear what transfer tape for vinyl is. Transfer tape is a kind of sticky clear film with alignment grids on it. The colors of grids and backings of a vinyl transfer tape may vary for different brands like Cricut Transfer Tape and HTVRONT Transfer tape. And sometimes, they may be different because of their grips.

This transferring tape works mostly with self adhesive vinyl, and some creative crafters even use it with heat transfer paper, another type of vinyl. It can help transfer the sticky vinyl designs to another object or surface without missing any parts. The final results can be perfectly right in place.

Since its matchable materials are flexible and stretchable vinyl, many people also name it transfer tape for vinyl or vinyl transfer tape.

How to Use Transfer Tape with Vinyl?

So how to make the transfer tape actually work? First, prepare yourself with self adhesive vinyl, a cutting mat, weeding tools, a computer, a cutting machine, and the most important item: your favorite smooth object. It can be a cup, a mug, a mirror, a piece of window, a book, a table, etc. Just make sure the surface is smooth and flat so the result can have a lasting effect.

Design
The first step would be designing an image according to your personal preference on the computer. Here you need an editing program such as Cricut Design Space, Silhouette Studio, Siser Leonardo™ Design Studio, and LoklikIdeaStudio. You can pick one of these apps to edit the size, layers, and fonts of your image.

Note: Do not mirror your design while editing!!!!! Or it will reverse after cutting.

Cut
Send the cutting signal to your cutting machine after you've done editing. When sticking it on the cutting mat, remember to put the shiny vinyl side facing up. And you have to check the vinyl position first according to your image in the editing program to avoid a cut error.

Load the adhesive vinyl and cutting mat into the machine, and the cut begins.

Weed & Transfer
Your design is almost done here! Just remove the excess parts of your self adhesive vinyl with weeding tools.

Then, please cut out your transfer tape into a larger piece than the design.
Peel off the backing and stick the transfer tape for vinyl over your design. Use a scraper to get rid of the bubbles.

Peel off the vinyl transfer tape with the design and move it to a smooth surface. Repeat the same technique to remove the bubbles and leave the design on the surface.

Now, you are totally free to enjoy the adhesive vinyl project!

Best transfer tape for vinyl

There are many brands of transfer tape on the market. The most popular two will be Cricut Transfer Tape and HTVRONT Transfer Tape.

For me, I use HTVRONT Transfer Tape for Vinyl more often cuz its adhesive is sticky enough to hold every vinyl part quite well. It will not leave any residues on the surface. And I have never messed up my vinyl self adhesive design working with HTVRONT.

Cricut Transfer Tape actually works pretty well too. But I prefer HTVRONT just because the grids on its transferring tape are more obvious and vibrant. It's really convenient for me to align and correct my design positions. Under the comparison, the gray grids on the Cricut Transfer tape are easy to overlook while using.

FAQs:

1. Do I need transfer tape for heat transfer vinyl or HTV?

Technically speaking, you don't. Heat transfer vinyl and adhesive vinyl are two different types of vinyl. Heat transfer vinyl needs heat to realize transferring process. And since heat transfer vinyl has a sticky PET backing of its own, the designs can stay in place with precision without worries.

2. How To Transfer Vinyl without Transfer Paper?

Except for transfer tape, or you can say transfer paper for vinyl, there are other things you may take as an alternative when you run out of transfer tape in creation. As mentioned above, heat transfer vinyl has a PET backing with strong adhesion, so you may save some PET backings for further reuse. Or you can adopt masking tape and painter's tape when necessary, but both are a bit more costly than transfer tape. Please stash your transfer tape quickly.

3. How do you transfer vinyl transfer tape without bubbles?

Take advantage of scrapers! They are so helpful in getting rid of the excess bubbles and fixing the self adhesive vinyl firmly.