Sublimation is a process where the ink is heated and turns toa vapour which soaks into the fabric of the item you are printing either a shirt, mug, coaster or mouse mat, we will use mugs as a example.
For the process to work the items to be pressed must be either polyester or coated in polyester or in the case of amug they are coated with a thin layer of polyester only coated mugs can be printed
you can either print your own transfers oruse a printing service to print your transfers for you most will quote per A4 sheet and are great for standard subjects or frame works i.e text where you then insert your own picture
To print your own transfers you would be better off using a epson printer and a bulk ink system (ciss) inks are roughly 25 per 100ml so if you use a 6 colour printer can work out more than say a 4 colour but the way to go would be decide what you planned on printing so more colour detail then a 6 colour or if you mainly wanted to do text and images so on then you could get away with a 4 colour printer.
dont forget to use sublimation transfer paper.
Once you've decided what you were printing and have your design ready to print either flip the design in you picture editing software or click mirror image in your printers preferences
cut your transfer into strips you will get 3 full wrap designs per 1 A4 sheet
when happy place your transfer on themug image side facing themug and tape into place making sure your design is level and flat then place mug in your pre heated press and close the press and set pressure you want to grip the mug rather than try to bend it if you get my meaning and press for say 3 minutes (will vary depending on mug,ink,transfer type)
remove hot mug from press carefully take off the transfer and place mug in a bowl of water to cool down once cool give a wipe over and your done
No comments:
Post a Comment