If you keep hearing the term "gang sheet" but you're still unsure what a gang sheet is used for...I got you covered.
The concept of a gang sheet is simple: it's a group or set of designs all printed on one piece or sheet of material. They can be used with stickers, heat transfers, sublimation or direct to film. You can print, cut, or a combination of both yourself or outsource that part!
Now why would you want to use or design gang sheets? Read on to learn everything you want to know about gang sheets including three big reasons why you should start ganging now!
What Is a Gang Sheet
As I mentioned a gang sheet is a group of designs arranged and nested closely together and then printed or cut on one continuous sheet. If you're a crafter you've probably heard the term most recently in reference to DTF or direct to film transfers...but DTF gang sheets aren't the only way to use gang sheets.
Why Use Gang Sheets? Three Big Reasons
Crafters and small businesses can use gang sheets to minimize wasted material and cut down on costs.
Maximize Efficiency
Gang sheets are all about maximizing efficiency. Instead of printing or cutting individual designs on separate sheets, you can consolidate multiple designs or images onto one sheet - often a roll. This is especially useful when working with materials like vinyl, sticker material, sublimation transfer paper, or film where minimizing waste is key.
You might already be creating gang sheet for your vinyl designs or stickers without even realizing it.
Reduce Wasted Material
By grouping several designs onto a single sheet, you can save on material costs. You reduce wasted margins and lead material on a bunch of individual sheets by ganging or grouping designs together.
In other words, gang sheets help you get the most out of every inch of your material.
Streamline Production and Workflows
And thirdly, gang sheets help streamline production and workflows. When creating custom stickers, decals, or heat transfers, instead of printing/cutting each design individually or loading each sheet individually, gang sheet allows you to process multiple designs in one pass on a single sheet cutting down on loading and unloading time. This streamlines your production process, making it more time-efficient.
For example with Direct to Film transfers, when you gang the designs, you can add the powder and cure all at the same time instead of repeating this process for each individual transfer.
Then when the full printing, powdering, and curing process is over you can simply cut the transfers apart to apply.
The same could be done with sticker sets print and cut on a Silhouette machine by ganging sets of stickers. Then set up the cut lines to put a sticker sheet box around each individual set on the gang sheet.
Have the CAMEO die cut the sticker sheet line while kiss cutting the stickers. You've just made four sets in one print and cut instead of having to to repeat the process four times!
How to Create Gang Sheets
You can easily create gang sheets in Silhouette Studio or Canva.
Sometimes the design software or RIP for your printer, like Epson's Garment Creator for the F2270 or F2100 DTF/DTG printer, also includes the ability to easily gang images.
The process of creating gang sheets is pretty easy and usually the same no matter what program you're using.
Simply upload your designs size and arrange them in a single artboard or design area and then either print or cut them yourself or outsource that part.
Benefits of Using an Online Gang Sheet Builder
There are also online gang sheet builders like the one So Fontsy has for DTF transfers. There are many benefit to using an online gang sheet builder tool.
So Fontsy's DTF Gang Sheet builder allows you to not only upload your own designs, but access hundreds of free t-shirt images in their image library.
There are also often additional tools like removing the white background or changing the size of your gang sheet with a click of a button or adding text to further customize your images.
So Fontsy's gang sheet builder is seamlessly integrated with the printer so once you finish building the gang sheet you just checkout and within a few days your DTF gang sheet will show up at your door.
.png)
No comments
Thanks for leaving a comment! We get several hundred comments a day. While we appreciate every single one of them it's nearly impossible to respond back to all of them, all the time. So... if you could help me by treating these comments like a forum where readers help readers.
In addition, don't forget to look for specific answers by using the Search Box on the blog. If you're still not having any luck, feel free to email me with your question.