Hello!
I hope all of you know about sublimation printing more or less and the methodology related to sublimation. It is okay when you order sublimated products online or purchase them from your local market otherwise it costs you more as shipping charges add to it. But what if you are an art & craft lover and you want to do the sublimation on your own at your home sweet home? Yeah! Don’t worry!
Being a craft lover, I faced a lack of information in my early days when information on the web was very limited. But I did lots of experiments to get the best results at home. So, with my personal experience, I will give you a perfect plan so that you will get all the information here
In this blog, I will give you the exact roadmap about how to print sublimation images at home. How do you sprinkle your creative art on the world on your own? So let’s get started.
To do the sublimation at home you are in need of a certain material.
You may also check – Sublimation on Metal
The list of materials used to print sublimation images at home:
- Be ready with your design:
You want to do sublimation and dream to sprinkle your imagination on your favourite thing. Then the first thing you have to do is be ready with the design. For that, you can buy it pre-printed sublimation transfer. But in my opinion, if you are purchasing it in bulk or from your local market then it is okay. But if you are not the case like that then please print your own design. For that, you can use your own pic or design or you can download it from my website free of cost. Looks great!
- Software:
It comes into play when you want to print your own design. You can just work with the Microsoft Office or I recommend you to design with the ‘Canva’. It is good, customization is done with ease and free.
But if you want some more creativity in your design, then you can use other softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, etc
- Printer:
Try to use an inkjet printer. Do the Printer settings are as follows:
- Select the page size you are printing to.
- Select the Paper Type as Premium Presentation Matte or like that
- Deselect the high-speed or bidirectional printing set options
- It is a must to do Print Preview as to Check this option will give you a preview of how your printed page will look as a final print.
Do the demo print before going to the final printing. Here I suggest that you do it once with black ink. It will benefit you in two ways:
1) You know the printer, ink and the nozzle condition as it is working good or not
2) If you take the same print then you will get an idea about the size of the print, and paper and you can then adjust with your substrate.
- Mirror the design.
While printing the design onto the sublimation paper, it is necessary for you to print the design in reverse, or mirrored. It is especially necessary if the design contains some letters. Please keep in mind that the mirroring or reversing of the design should be done either in the software setting or in the printer setting. If you do it both ways the effects will cancel each other and mirroring will not happen any more.
- Paper:
Go with the sublimation transfer paper which is somewhat thick and smooth.
- Ink :
Sublimation ink is a dye-based ink that converts into gas directly without getting liquefied with the use of heat and pressure in the right format at the right time.
- Heat press :
Sublimation is a process of heat and pressure. For sublimation, you are in need of a heat source of about 3500F and above. For that purpose, you can use heat sources such as heat press machine, Mug Press, Tumbler Press or Convection Oven. The decision is totally yours on which heat source you have to depend on and on which product you want to be sublimated on.
- Substrate/Sublimation Blank:
It is a must. But while finalising you have to select the substrate which is labelled as the sublimation blank.
You may also check – Essential Sublimation Printing Equipment
The Step By Step Guide on Sublimation:
To do the sublimation at home you have to follow the following steps
1: Make your own design ready with the help of ‘Canva’ or any other software that you feel comfortable with. Save it in PNG format.
2: Mirror the final image.
3: Print the mirrored image with the inkjet printer on the sublimation paper.
The printed image looks faded. Because it is just printed on paper and heat is not applied. It will blast the result after applying the heat.
4: Preheat the heat press.
5. Preheat the substrate if you are sublimating on the cloth. This process removes the crease and dust on the cloth and helps to print better.
6. Apply a heat press. Sublimation is the process of heat.
7. Sublimation Done
8. Cool down the set-up. Remove the substrate. Give some time to settle down the printing on the substrate before handling.
You may also check – Advantages and Disadvantages Of Sublimation Printing
Conclusion:
With all the steps and proper procedures that I mentioned, you have enough information on how to print sublimation images at home. It is a super cool technique of art to blow your artistic mind and curiosity. Just give it a try at your home. Follow all the steps and the information properly and rock the art. With that you have your sublimation set up ready now. You can make it happen with more artwork and can sell your creativity and set your business.