In one of my last posts I went over 3 of the most important things to have when making shirts using HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl). You need a plotter to cut, good vinyl, and a heat source. Today, let's talk sublimation.
Sublimation opens up the opportunity to do shirts (among other things- I've also done socks) with full color images. Think a picture of your dog, or a full color design. This method does have it's limitations though. The material you sublimate on (the substrate) needs to be at least 50% polyester, as polyester is what the ink will "stick" to. You also have to use lighter colored shirts or bleach an area of a darker colored shirt. A lot of people that make shirts use the bleach method- it's just not my thing.
So first, let's talk about the science of sublimation. Sublimation uses a special ink that turns to a gas when heated to around 400 degrees. It will then transfer from the special paper you print it on- to the substrate. This is permanent. It will not wash off. If you use a lower poly count material, the image will look faded (lets call it vintage). The higher the poly count the sharper the image will be. This is where you have to get creative in finding shirts.
100% polyester shirts can feel....you know...eh. Some of the "dri fit" shirts are better but you need to be sure that is what your customer is looking for. I've found the sweet spot is a 65 poly/35 cotton blend. There are a lot of shirts with this blend and I even talked about some of them in this post. 65/35 shirts tend to be very soft but still have the tshirt feel, unlike the 100% poly. You can also use a lower poly count shirt. One of my go to unisex shirts for sublimation happens to be 48/52. The images can look a little "vintage", but I happen to like way they turn out and use them for my personal designs that I sell on the site and at events like this shirt below.
So other than the shirts, there are a few other things you need in order to sublimate. You need to have a printer that is dedicated to sublimation. You can't simply switch out cartridges as the ink in the lines will mix together. An Epson Eco Tank is the way to go for this. The cartridges
hold quite a bit of ink and are easy to refill. You also need the sublimation ink. I use a brand called Printers Jack. I have never had any issues with it, so it's the only brand I have tried. You also need sublimation paper. The brand I use for this is called A-Sub.
The last special thing you need for sublimation is, again, the heat press. The heat press is really the way to go here because sublimation happens around 400 degrees and you need to be careful not to shift the image ar
ound while it's transferring.
There are some tips, tricks and no-nos for sublimation which I will cover in a post documenting the process from beginning to end. Thanks for reading, and let me know below if you have any questions about sublimation or just want to say hey!
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