Million Ton are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.
shares
In this article I will be sharing about why you may want to use sublimation vs. other techniques, common problems and frequently asked questions as well as a step by step tutorial on how to sublimate for yourself, let&#;s dive in.
Thank you so much for stopping by! This post contains affiliate links, I receive a small amount of compensation if you choose to purchase from my links (for example &#; as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases). I only link to products that I know and love.
To put it simply, sublimation is a process that transfers dyes onto different types of fabrics and materials. An image or design is created on a computer or tablet and printed onto sublimation paper using sublimation ink. The printed design is then placed onto the t-shirt, mug, socks, hoodie etc. and using a heat press, the design is permanently transferred to the material using heat and pressure.
It may seem a little complicated, but I assure you that it isn&#;t. Basically, sublimation is a process where heat and pressure are used to transfer the ink at a molecular level, resulting in a permanent transfer. No matter how many times you wash scrub or soak the item that you sublimated &#; the transfer will remain intact. Amazing, right!?
There are many ways to transfer a design onto different products; screen printing, transfer vinyls, direct to garment printing among others.
But sublimation is unique in that the cost of materials is low and the results are high quality, brightly colored and permanently transferred images/designs.
Let&#;s consider screen printing for example. To get started you will need large open spaces for the equipment, proper ventilation, costly screens and materials.
How about direct to garment printing? To get started with direct to garment printing you will first need a large DTG printer, which are thousands of dollars at a minimum. The maintenance and repairs can also be very costly.
And this is where sublimation comes in! To get started with sublimation, you can get all of your materials for less than a thousand dollars. All you need is a printer, sublimation ink, heat press, sublimation paper and designs. If you have those things, you can get started with sublimation right away &#; and I can speak from experience that this technique is very beginner friendly. My very first t-shirt I ever sublimated turned out perfectly. I love sublimation!
Sublimation printing offers a significant quality advantage over the other methods I have mentioned.
Screen printing can be very limiting in its colors and complexity. Not to mention the repeated process of printing the various colors for the design.
Sublimation printing does not have those limitations. Because sublimation works by transferring the design from the paper to the item, the only limitation here is the quality of the printed design from your computer. With sublimation printing you can transfer high quality, brightly colored images and designs directly onto your desire t-shirts, mugs, blankets etc.
The only small limitation to mention regarding sublimation printing is that most printers cannot print white ink. So it is best to sublimate on white or lightly colored shirts. There are some printers that will print white ink, but I have never tried them because I haven&#;t had the need for it.
Trust me when I say that getting started with sublimation is quite simple. Yes there are some supplies that you need, but they are easy to get your hands on and very simple to use.
You can use a printer designs for sublimation like this one, or you can convert an ink jet printer to support the sublimation ink, like this one. I have this Epson printer and haven&#;t had a single issue with it.
It is very important to note that you must use sublimation ink in order to sublimate. You can&#;t use the ink that comes with the ink jet printer, for instance &#; in fact, make sure you don&#;t put any of the ink jet ink into the printer you plan to use for sublimation. My favorite ink is by Wokok and I get one from amazon.com
Another essential. This special paper has a specific coating that allows the sublimation process to work, don&#;t skip this &#; it is essential. My favorite sublimation paper can be found on amazon here.
This is what you will use to press and heat your designs to aid in the transfer. Heat presses come in a lot of different sizes, so make sure you get one with a heat plate large enough to handle the designs you want to do. This is the one that I have, although it isn&#;t the most high quality, it definitely gets the job done. A lot of people love this one too. An iron will NOT work for this, so I don&#;t recommend trying it.
You will need a design software to create your images and designs to be printed. I like using Silhouette Studio because it is a free program that you can download from their website. I also have been enjoying using procreate on my iPad, and that is a great option as well.
You can definitely create your own designs and text using the softwares I mentioned above, but you can also buy designs that have already been made for you &#; which is awesome! Etsy, creative fabrica and design bundles are some of my favorite places to get designs.
Butcher paper is used to protect the t-shirt from the heat plate and also to place between the t-shirt to help the dyes to not get pressed onto the backside of the shirt. I get mine in a big roll on amazon, super cheap.
T-shirts and other materials can come with all sorts of lint and dust on them. A quick 3 second lint role can go a long way to making sure your design is crisp and as high quality as possible.
This is a great question and one of the most exciting parts about sublimation, in my opinion &#; searching for items to sublimate on!
Sublimation works by binding inks to polymer in the transfer material. So anything with a fairly high polyester content should work for.
Look for fabrics with at least 50% polyester as a general rule, although 65% is even better. The more polyester that is in the material, the more chance the inks have of grabbing those fibers and &#;holding on&#;, in turn making a nice crisp and detailed image or design.
A quick google search like &#;sublimation blanks&#; will pull up website after website of products that are designed and ready to be sublimated onto. Everything from coasters, water bottle, mugs, shirts, socks, ties, underwear, blankets&#;you name it! The possibilities are virtually endless.
No, they do not need to be 100% polyester to take sublimation. In my experience, shirts that are 100% polyester are actually quite uncomfortable to wear, so I don&#;t recommend that if you are planning to wear it or sell the t-shirts.
I prefer to use 50%-65% polyester content in my t-shirts because the shirts are nice and soft, but still take the inks quite well.
No doubt though, for the most bright and crisp transfers, 100% polyester works very well.
Hereis a neat post about a cool new product for sublimating on cotton, I haven&#;t tried it but it looks promising.
Because sublimation works by adhering to polymers in shirts and other items, it will not work on natural fibers such as cotton or wool.
However, there is a workaround for this. It takes some extra steps and products, but it does work, so if you are dead set on sublimating onto something that is 100% cotton, here is what you need:
There are a few options, the one that I have tried and used successfully is using a product called spray bright. This spray is used by spraying it onto the area of the fabric you wish to sublimate, soak the fabric and allow it to dry. Then once the fabric is dry, sublimate as you usually would and voila! You can sublimate on cotton and still get nice, vibrant results!
Another trick for sublimating on items that normally wouldn&#;t take the sublimation ink well, is using either laminating sheets or polycrylic to aid in transferring the sublimation design.
For example, to sublimate on wood, put a thin coat of polycrylic onto the wood surface and allow to dry completely. Once dried, transfer your image in your heat press just as you would with any other material. Remove the image carefully and you will see that the polycrylic has allowed the image to transfer beautifully.
Unfortunately, no. In order to sublimate, you need special ink that dyes the paper.
Most printers use a thermal technology that would bake the dye into the sublimation paper, rendering it useless.
Printers that use the piezopressure technology are the types that do well with sublimation inks.
The most economical way to get into sublimation printing is to get an Epson Eco Tank printer. This printer comes with empty ink tanks and you can order special sublimation ink to fill the tanks and convert the printer to sublimation.
It is very important that you do not put the printer ink that comes with the printer into the tanks at all, the printer needs to ONLY have sublimation inks put into the tanks if you wish to use it for sublimation.
Check out my video to see how I converted my Epson eco tank into a sublimation printer.
Want more information on sublimation paper sheets custom? Feel free to contact us.
To convert an ink jet printer, such as an Epson eco tank, you only need two things: the printer and the special ink. It really is that simple.
Okay, now that we have covered all the ins and outs of sublimation, let&#;s move into an actual tutorial complete with photos and videos to make sure you know exactly how to sublimate your first designs.
And that&#;s it! That is all it takes to sublimate a shirt. It is so simple &#; anyone can do it!
Print your design using your converted sublimation printer and sublimation paper. The design will print lighter than you think it should &#; but don&#;t worry! The colors will deepen and become more vibrant once you sublimate it.
Place the shirtonto the heat press and use a lint roller to roll off any dust, lint or hair. Don&#;t skip this step, it is necessary. Then do a quick press of the shirt for about 10-15 seconds to remove any wrinkles.
Sometimes the heat press can press so hard that it makes a mark on the shirt where the sublimation paper ends. To help with this, I tear around my design in a random pattern and that helps so much.
Next, place your sublimation design, color side down onto the surface of your t-shirt that you want to sublimate. Make sure everything is lined up and just the way you want it &#; once you press the design it is permanent!
Press according to your heat press instructions. I preheat to 365* F and press for 45-55 seconds.
And look how nice it came out! I am continually impressed with how vibrant and nice the colors are. I also love how the dyes penetrate the the fibers and don&#;t just sit on the surface like vinyl does. If you can&#;t tell, I am a huge fane of sublimation and am excited to continue with tutorials and videos as I am able to share.
Sublimation paper is a special paper used to print the sublimation design on. To use sublimation paper:
There are several options for this; you can design something from scratch using procreate, silhouette studio or photoshop. Or you can download already-made designs from websites like etsy, creative fabrica and design bundles.
I hope this post was helpful. I shared pretty much everything I know about how to do sublimation. If you are looking to sublimate on something other than t-shirts, you can pretty much use the same process with other items as you do with a t-shirt, but you may need to adjust the heat press times depending on what it is. Cricut and other companies even make a mug press so you can sublimate directly onto coffee mugs &#; how cool is that? Another fun idea is sublimating onto blank white puzzles! Isn&#;t that such a great idea? My twin boys love puzzles so I am excited to make a few puzzles for them &#; maybe for their birthday!
Do you want to sublimate vibrant, long-lasting designs on polyester fabric? You can print sublimation images using a special printer made specially for this process. It has a piezo printhead and is calibrated to work with sublimation inks. In this blog, we have discussed how you can print detailed sublimation images with smooth transitions and gradations.
Sublimation printing is a method that transfers a design into a transfer sheet, most often fabric, using ink and heat. Heat and pressure are used to transfer at a molecular level.
This is a game changer in clothing because garments can be printed whole, from seam to seam. Aside from fabrics, the sublimation ink can also be infused into shirts, bags, mugs, cases, etc. Sublimation enables us to create a seamless design wherever you want it.
Learn how to create sublimated designs using your computer or laptop and then be guided on how to translate these designs to your material, fabric or not, using photo editing tools and software.
Read on, and you will never regret trying sublimation printing!
Why sublimation printing? There have been other methods for converting images into other materials, such as embroidery and screen printing.
Back in the old days, when screen-printing was the best way to do transfer printing, the quality of the designs was also less attractive than they are now.
With sublimation&#;s superior quality, you may think of many limitations to screen printing.
One of these limitations is that most screen printers are limited in the number of colors and the details of the designs.
Imagine each color needs to be run through a screen. So if you need more than 6 colors, it will be challenging and very time-consuming.
You can sublimate a variety of materials provided they are either made of polyester or have a poly coating over them. Polyester's synthetic characteristic allows it to absorb sublimation ink perfectly. The best substrate is a light-colored polyester shirt. Any light fabric with 100% polyester works best for sublimation.
There are also many polyester-coated blanks that you can sublimate on such as:
And so much more!
It all starts with the sublimation design software. You could have the most beautiful design in mind, but without software that will guide you through the entire process, your finished product will be something you are not expecting.
Like many printed items, the graphic design process and drawing tools do more to reveal the beauty of your designs!
Most software available flaunt their ready-made designs, sometimes at a higher cost, but when you&#;re resourceful, you may just find one - free of cost.
When you want to have a vast array of tools, you&#;ll need paid software. Create images with no limitations that you can use from website graphics to t-shirt prints and video games. The paid ones have them all!
Software costs, yes, but will help you attain the full color of your business.
Canva is one of the widely used graphics designing tools. Who wouldn&#;t want it? It&#;s free and easy to use. Plus, many tutorial videos and more tips can be found on YouTube that can help you along the process.
Although the pro account can give you the freedom and the convenient image editing tools, their free account will help you start out your small business of sublimation printing.
To print your images, you need a sublimation printer. There are printers specially made for sublimation and there aren't those that may be converted.
The printhead type generally determines a printer's capability to print sublimation images. Printers such as Epson, Roland, and Sawgrass have a piezo printhead.
This type of printhead is used for sublimation. Although some brands still have this kind of printhead, they have no sublimation inks.
Inkjet printers print liquid ink on top of the paper. On the other hand, a sublimation printer spreads the ink on the paper using ink vapors.
The best substrate for this kind of graphic printing is plastic. Hence, a sublimation printer is different from any other kind of printer.
Cricut Designspace can also be used for creating sublimated designs. You may access their online software editor which will allow you to edit your digital and print file.
DesignSpace offers free design and templates. You may use the designs because they are functional and easy to use. You may even layer your designs with multiple fonts.
With the tools readily available for designers, printing images is easy.
Before anything else, of course, you need to gather the supplies needed. Each of these supplies serves a purpose in the entire project.
Prepare these supplies before you start with your project:
$24.50
View Details
As soon as you gather all your supplies, it&#;s time to set up your workstation and get the printing on!
First of all, you want to print your design. Make sure the image is of the highest quality.
For instance, if you use pixelated designs, it will show on the garment when printed. You can use software like Microsoft Publisher, Adobe, or your cutting machine&#;s design studio.
Before printing, you need to change several settings on your printer. Here&#;s what you need to remember:
Double-check and refine the edges by cutting and then pressing the material. When using TeckWrap Craft&#;s sublimation sheet, you may press it right away because it&#;s fast-drying.
The white blank space surrounding the design needs to be cut for two reasons:
Simply cut the edges using a pair of scissors. You don&#;t need a paper-perfect cut. The sublimation sheet does not transfer to the material, only the design.
First, your sublimation printer imprints the design you have laid out onto a sheet of special high-release paper.
Then, using a machine for heating and pressing, transfer the dye design onto your substrate (surface or material). These could be on t-shirts, mugs, banners, plaques, and so much more.
The dye turns from solid to gas without passing into liquid. This is then what we call sublimation. The dye penetrates the material leaving a print that won&#;t crack or wash out.
It doesn&#;t work well with natural fibers. If you want vivid and permanent results, use materials with a high polyester mix.
TeckWrap Craft&#;s Sublimation Sheets will let you do your sublimation fast and easy. Choosing your kind of sublimation sheets is not a problem.
The package comes in 100 sheets. The sheet size is 8.3&#;x11.7&#; (A4 size) sublimation transfer paper. It&#;s best used in inkjets with sublimation ink. Remember to print on the white side, and mirror the design.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit sublimation transfer sheets manufacturer.