What is Sublimation?

Sublimation printing allows businesses to create customised and personalised full colour products on demand. Sublimation printing has been around for decades, but it wasn't until Sawgrass  discovered a way to formulate sublimation inks so that they would print through an inkjet printer that it became an economical and practical way to decorate a variety of substrates.

Sawgrass’ patented sublimation printing solutions utilise popular desktop inkjet printers from Epson® and Ricoh®, Sawgrass ink and a standard heat press, to produce premium full-colour, photographic-quality images that will not crack, peel or wash away from the substrate.

Though the production technique is relatively simple, it’s the chemical process that separates sublimation from any other form of digital printing.  When sublimation inks are heated to 200°C, they turn into a gas and form a permanent bond to 100% polyester fabric or items that have a polymer coating. The result is a premium full-colour, photographic-quality image that will not crack, peel or wash away from the substrate.

What can you make with Sawgrass sublimation inks?

Things to consider when starting out...

Computer and Other Imaging Peripherals

For the best results, Sawgrass recommends a current generation computer with a fast processor and plenty of memory. For those working with digital photographs and customer-supplied artwork, you may wish to look into purchasing a scanner and a digital camera (the higher the mega-pixels, the better).

Professional Graphics & Imaging Software Suite

The quality of your end products is a direct result of obtaining good quality graphics and being proficient in a full graphics suite of software. Sawgrass recommends either CorelDRAW or Adobe Creative Suite. Both suites allow the ability to import ICC Profiles, for colour management, and provide the ability to manipulate both vector and raster images. We advise that when working with the majority of images and substrates, do not go below 200dpi. Simply apply the 'garbage in, garbage out' concept where by if the image is of poor quality to start with, it will end like that as well!

Sublimation Transfer Paper

For the graphic or image to permanently dye the final product, specialty sublimation inks and matched paper are needed. Regular office or copy paper will not release the image properly. For best results, choose a high-quality high-release transfer paper that dries quickly and is designed to allow the ink to release from the paper during the heat transfer process.

Heat Presses

The act of sublimation (solid ink dye particles vaporising directly to gas without passing through liquid stage) requires heat and pressure to occur. While there are a variety of heat presses on the market (overhead swing-away, clamshell, inline modular, etc.), customers are advised to think in terms of the products they will offer and the volume they expect to produce before purchasing one. Look for a commercial quality heat press with even temperature distribution, a fast recycle time, an accurate thermostat, and a platen designed to accommodate your products. When purchasing a commercial quality heat press, aim for the top third of the price range.

Substrates

The applications for sublimation printing are almost endless! From T-shirts to mugs to awards to mousepads, sublimation technology can decorate almost anything that  is made from 100% polyester fabrics or coated with a special polymer coating.

Epson and Ricoh Printers

Due to their unique piezo print head technology (cold printing vs. thermal printing), the sublimation industry has adopted the use of both Epson's and Rotech inkjet printers. Platforms are designated by maximum print width and number of colours of ink. When shopping for a printer, customers are urged to think in terms of the types of products they plan on producing and their anticipated volume. Print width can be a determining factor in the number of products that can be produced, and print speed can be an issue depending on volume. Look at the benefits of each supported printer before purchasing.