How to use Sublimation Printing for Your Studio Netramani Business, Customer Benefits.
Sublimation on cotton just doesn’t particularly work. Or silk, or most natural fabrics. It’s ideal for t-shirts, great for hoodies, ideal for socks, providing they have a high polyester content.
What is Sublimation Printing
Sublimation is a printing technique that makes use of double-sided sublimation that happens when a piece of fabric is placed in the ray of a high-energy light (a laser). There are two aspects of this that are important: firstly, one side of the fabric is printed on and the other is left unprinted. This provides you with two pieces of fabric, one with the back of the print-on and one with the front.
Secondly, you heat up the other side, allowing it to become sublimated. Simply put, the other side (the non-printed side) has just been pre-treated with a water-based solution and then cured by heat. This then allows the print from the top to be exposed to light. You can get it hot enough to make the top side just about opaque or you can just set it alight and sublimate the top side.
Why use Sublimation Printing
I love being able to print onto the t-shirt fabric and the lessor set of materials that I can print onto. Depending on what size, you can get amazingly high contrast and vibrant colors, great for prints on shirts, posters, or labels, etc.
Can Sublimation Print Textile Materials?
Sublimation cannot print textiles – it has no ink on the surface of the material.
What else can Sublimation Print?
You can sublimate artwork, frames, business cards, vellum, etc
What are the Laws about Sublimation?
The main law is you cannot work on things that are oil-based (emulsions, acrylics) or dry (scrapbooking paper, epoxies, etc).
For Your Business
Not only are sublimation printing methods inexpensive, they also require no maintenance. Our new acetate spray and heat pad is a breeze to use and give an ultra-fine finish.
What to expect
A truly printable alternative to traditional dye sublimation and UV printing. For example, see the 2 large posters we put up in Shoreditch! I thought I’d discuss the advantages and disadvantages of sublimation printing since I’ve experienced both methods while working for 2 Bunkers, a marketing agency specializing in the digital realm.
We are just a small company producing posters, T-Shirts, and Apparel with sublimation printing.
Benefits to Customers
(1) They don’t have to pay to get garments manufactured
(2) They can access good, manufactured garments at wholesale pricing, enabling them to grow at the optimum rate.
(3) The dye is non-toxic, non-allergenic, non-absorbent, and therefore will not destroy their skin
(4) They are environmentally friendly.
Benefits to Business
(1) They can save on their own garment making, labour, rent, etc.
(2) They are aligned with environmental and social responsibility, getting apparel manufactured by sublimation on cotton
(3) They can access the garment manufacturing industry at competitive, reliable, and current pricing
How to set it up
If you already have a computer, browser, printer, and/or software such as InDesign, Illustrator, etc. then it is an “easy” process.
How To Get Started With Sublimation Printing
Enter: Polyester (T-shirts)
A classic choice for your next t-shirt, we’ve partnered with TeePublic to give away one t-shirt to the winner of this competition. To enter, simply click here to comment below with your best t-shirt for cheap! It’s that simple.
- out of 4 Print Settings
- different sizes of t-shirts, made of the same fiber
- different cotton tees
Paperweight: 170gsm and 200gsm
Look in the instruction manual to find your paperweight and weight of printed T-shirts
Cotton Fitted Tees (also found on Amazon)
Printing in black
If you’re happy to end up with a solid colour tee, but you don’t want to see the dirt on your screen from ink on your computer screen, then you’ll need to head to a place like a fabric store.