Learn all about Sublimation Printing

Welcome To Desktoptips Sublimation pages. Sublimation Printing is a process where Inkjet Printers or Larger Inkjet Plotters replace their normal Inkjet ink with special Sublimation Ink. The inkjet printer then prints the image onto specially treated Sublimation Transfer paper. Once dried the printed transfer can be pressed onto T-Shirts, Mugs, Stubby(Drink) Holders, Ceramic Plates, Ceramic Tiles, Glass Items, Drink Holders, Jigsaws and much much more. It is Important to note that the Fabric (Material) items such as T-Shirts, Stubby Holders etc. must be 100% polyester. The other specialty items such as the ceramic mugs must be specially coated to accept the Sublimation Dye.
The advantages of this kind of printing are many.
Firstly the initial equipment setup can be very inexpensive. An inkjet printer (usually an epson) A Mug press and a T-Shirt press can cost under $2,000.00 On the other hand a serious industrial set up using a large plotter and a large fabric press can cost well over $100,000.00 dollars.
The next great advantage with Sublimation printing is the fact that you are printing direct from your computer without the cost of Silk Screens or Printing Plates. This also means that you can print small runs even one item is viable. The items you print are durable and very high resolution, you are not limited to any number of colors and photographic images print incredibly well. The print is actually dyed into the fabric so it will not crack or peel off as many forms of Screen Printing do. Read the THINGS YOU MUST KNOW article below.

The above printer is an Epson 1160 four color Oversize A3 printer with a Continuous Ink System. It will actually print sheets 30CM wide and Just over I meter long. The sheet in the printer is printing Drink holders an a sheet 26cm by 70cm and there are 6 Drink Holder artworks on the sheet . Read more about printing below.

Above is a Mug press and a T-Shirt press. There are a good variety of these products on the market at very reasonable prices. It is a good idea to start with a stronger Industrial style press, some of the cheaper models are flimsy and tend not to last long. The stronger press may only cost $200.00 more so its worth the extra money.

THINGS YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT SUBLIMATION PRINTING: If you are a beginner Please read my Essential Background Tutorial it will help you to understand some of the issues discussed below.

1. Preparing the artwork.
Sublimation Printing certainly has a learning curve when it comes to preparing artwork. Firstly you will find that each different brand of ink will print differently and the colors may vary and not look at all like the images on your screen. Secondly different models of printer (even two different examples of the same printer) will print color differently. You need to know how to adjust the color on your printer and adjust the color of your artwork including photographic images. Most of the ink companies provide a Print Profile which adjusts the color output of the computer program you are running. A very popular program used by sublimation printers is Corel Draw. This program supports Print Profiles, it also allows you to create great artwork, create custom sheet sizes and step and repeat your art. Step and repeating is a process where you place multiple copies of a print item on the same sheet. Corel Draw also comes bundled with Corel Photo Paint which a great Photo editor with CMYK abilities, which is something that comes in handy as I will explain in Sublimation Tutorial on Adjusting Photo Image Colors. I have also found Inkscape a great program for creating Sublimation artwork using, The GIMP for color correction using the great CMYK plugin now available. Both of these programs are entirely free so you've got nothing to loose by having a look at them.

2. Printing Issues.
There are so many new models of Inkjet printers coming out all the time that I can only talk about the Issues that I have found using the printers that I have used over that last five years. Firstly the older four color Epson printers did (and still do for me) and excellent job and even though I have also got 2 high end Epson 6 color printers I still find four colors were more than adequate for sublimation printing. In regards to the new printers good Sublimation suppliers will point you in the right direction and if possible try and ask them if they can give you a few testimonials from customers who have successfully used those machines.
It is very Important to understand one issue and that is one of memory size. If you start printing pages up to A3 and larger and filling them with High Resolution Photographic Images then they can take an awful long time to 'spool'. This is the time it takes for your computer to process the information on the print sheet and send it to the printer. Some printers like the Epson Stylus Color 1520 comes with it's own 'Rip' specially designed to handle and process large files. Other printers like my Stylus Color Pro 5500 has its own dedicated computer called a Fiery Rip to handle big files. However I have found that if you experiment with different resolutions and setting you will find that there are ways of reducing the speed it takes to print a job. Try selecting the images and re-sampling them at a lower resolution, you may be surprised that a good quality print can be achieved at a much lower setting, again this depends on the printer. Have a look at the settings below, believe it or not the Epson Stylus Color 1160 will print a 200dpi file out at these settings and still be of remarkably good quality, certainly good enough for a stubby holder.

If you are new to Corel Draw then take the Corel Draw Beginners course.

Creating a Drink Holder Artwork using Inkscape

How to adjust the color of photographic images using Corel Photo Paint.

using Adobe Photoshop

using The GIMP .

Stepping and Repeating an artwork using Corel Draw

You would expect to use a setting of 760 dpi or higher and yet this printer does a good job at Fine- 360 dpi. It also takes far less time for the job to print out.

Notice that I have the magenta set at minus 15 magenta. It is very common that Sublimation inks are heavy on the magenta.

Don't forget to tick Flip Horizontal, other wise when you press your transfer it will be back to front.

3. Transfer Paper :
Cut transfer paper sheets come in A4, A3 and oversize A3. But it is far cheaper to buy a big roll of uncut transfer paper. I buy a big roll designed to fit on a big plotter. (just under 2 meters in length). I then cut the roll to the widths that suit the products I print. I then cut individual sheets to a size that suits my job. This way you avoid sheet wastage and save a huge amount of money.
You also need to be wary of the type of paper or material used in the transfer paper. For instance some paper is predominantly plastic and will buckle when used in the mug press. No problem in a flat press though. Make sure you tell your supplier what you are using the paper for.
Some papers are thinner than others and the thin paper may buckle up when you apply large areas of solid color. On some machines this can cause your print head to hit the paper and smear the print.

4.Paper Feed Print Wheels:
Most inkjet printers have little metal wheels that help keep the paper flat after it has been printed. Depending on what inks you use and how dense the ink is these little wheels could leave track marks through your sublimation transfer print. This happens because the sublimation ink is not drying anywhere as quickly as normal inkjet ink. On my machines I have successfully removed most of these wheels without affecting the print jobs, although on some machines this was a fiddly job. If you are having this problem I strongly advise talking through any modifications you make with the supplier you purchased the machine from. Or find a good printer technician and tell him what you are trying to achieve.

5. Drying Time:
The sublimation ink vaporizes and chemically bonds to the item you are pressing it on to. If the ink on the transfer paper has not dried properly then moisture will cause steam to occur which will will cause blow outs and smearing in the print. I strongly recommend letting transfers intended for printing on mugs to dry for 24 hours especially if you have large solid areas of color. You should wait at least two hours before pressing if you can. This is not always possible, but if the print has a large area of flat color and you press it straight after printing you run the risk of a blow out. Humidity (moisture in the air) can also affect the print transfer. Moisture in garments can be a major issue. I always press the garment for 10 seconds first before putting on the transfer and applying the print. This makes sure that moisture in the material has evaporated.

6. Heat Press Issues:
There are certain problems you will undoubtedly hit when using a Heat Press for the first time.

Neoprene Stubby Holders(Drink Holders): You can purchase the white blanks for stubby holders with separate bases and heat tape. You print the stubby flat first and then assemble it after printing. One of the problems you will strike is that when you lift the press up after printing on the neoprene stubby, the stubby flat will immediately expand. If you leave the transfer paper on it even for a second then it will leave a shadow (double print) on the stubby flat. I get around this by placing an A3 sheet of paper in between the back of the transfer and the press. I place a few pieces of scotch double sided tape on the A3 sheet so as the transfer sticks to the sheet. I open the press with one hand and remove the paper with transfer attached with the other hand. Remove the transfer form the paper straight away. You can use the same sheet of A3 paper over and over again.

T-Shirts, Polos etc: When pressing T-Shirts and other garments on a heat press for the first you will probably strike the following problems. Firstly as mentioned above make sure the garment is dry. Most of the polyester garments I print are made of the 'Cool Dry' material, which is excellent for sublimation printing. I always place a cardboard sleeve inside the Garments. This stops the Ink from bleeding through to the back of the garment or vice vera depending on which side you are printing. I use art board for the cardboard sleeve and usually glue 2 sheets together to get the right thickness. I have a range of inserts that fit inside different shirt sizes. I have a cutaway in the cardboard sleeve I use for printing Polo shirts to allow the raised area where the buttons are to avoid hitting the press. I also make sure the buttons are covered up and not exposed to the heat plate or they could break in the middle with the heat. Make sure your cutting blade or scissors are clean or you will get marks on the edge of your transfer.

Ceramic Mugs: Always make sure the transfers are dry first. I always heat up an old blank mug first in the press to remove any moisture hanging around the Mug Press. Make sure you pull the transfer paper off quickly after pressing the mug and then place the mug in water. If you let the mug dry naturally the color may bleed into the coating on the mug. This depends on the mug but it really is a good idea to put in water straight away, the mug won't crack. If you leave the transfer on the mug it will stick to it, but you can soak it off in water. Make sure your press is adjusted properly or the paper will buckle and leave a buckle line in the print. Make sure your cutting blade or scissors are clean or you will get marks on the edge of your transfer.