Sublimation Paper & Heat Transfer Paper: 13 Questions ...

1. What is Transfer Printing?

Transfer printing describes two different types of printing: Heat transfer printing and sublimation. 

Contact us to discuss your requirements of sublimation paper supplier. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

They both have their pros and cons, but they both tend to be more suited for different needs. There is still some ambiguity on sublimation and how it works, so we are going to take a look at the most frequently asked questions and try and provide a little more clarity.

2. What is Heat Transfer Printing?

Heat transfer printing is done using a specialist paper that is called transfer paper. You can use a standard inkjet or laser printer to print onto this paper with your normal ink. You then place the paper onto your clothing and use a heat press, or in some cases, you can use an iron, and peel away the paper.

Your design will then be stuck-on to your garment, and you will be able to see the transfer. You can use most heat transfer paper on a variety of fabrics, including most poly textiles and natural cotton. You can print on both light and dark-colored garments.

3. What is Sublimation?

Sublimation is a modern digital printing technique that is increasing in popularity. Search volume has increased by around 115% worldwide since 2004, according to Google Trends. It uses sublimation paper and heats to print your design.

We advise that you use this on fabrics that are 85% poly or more. This is because it is the poly fibers that open their pores to accept the dye. You can use a lower composition, however, your colors will be affected. You’ll end up with more of a ‘vintage faded’ look. You can also print on hard surfaces with a poly-coating, such as keyrings, jigsaws, mugs and so much more.

4. What is Sublimation Paper?

Sublimation transfer paper is a specialist paper that is used exclusively in sublimation printing. Made using a paper substrate, which is broadly based on normal paper. A special coating added to the paper holds the dye sublimation inks. The coating includes around 35% silica and 5% binder, based on the weight of the paper when it’s dry.

5. How does Sublimation Transfer Printing Work?

Sublimation doesn’t use any liquid in the process. Inks heated from their solid state on the sublimation paper, convert straight to a gas. It is a printing method that bonds to poly fibers, and because the poly fibers have been heated, the pores expand. These open pores then allow the gas into them, which then fuses to the fabric itself, before resuming its solid state. This makes the ink part of the fibers themselves, rather than just a layer printed on the top.

6. What Are the Steps for Using Thermal Transfer Paper to Make a T-shirt?

Sublimation is a two-step process. Firstly, you need to print your design onto the sublimation paper, using specialist sublimation dyes. The image would need to be mirrored but don’t worry about that, Contrado does that for you when you place your order, so all you need to do is create your design as you want it to look when it’s finished.

Then you need to press the design from your paper onto your t-shirt (or fabric or surface). This is done using a heat press which applies either heat and pressure or heat and a vacuum. Once pressed, simply remove the transfer paper, and voila, your t-shirt is printed.

7. Does Sublimation Paper Transfer onto Dark Fabric?

Sublimation is best suited to white or light-colored fabric bases. You can use it on darker shades, however, it will affect your colors. White ink is not used in sublimation printing. White parts of the design remain unprinted which shows the base color of the textile.

The benefit of sublimation over heat transfer printing is that there is a much broader range of colors. This means that you could print your background color onto the fabric rather than use a different colored fabric, and because of the advanced printing methods, the material would feel exactly the same.

8. Is heat transfer paper sensitive to humidity in the air?

Sublimation paper holds an enormous amount of moisture and humid air is not great for it. Exposure to humid air causes the sublimation paper to absorb it like a sponge. This results in image bleeding, uneven transfers, and color shifting.

Heat transfer paper is also sensitive to humidity. Inkjet or laser printing is more prone to dotting and color bleeding if there is excessive moisture in the paper, and as this form of printing applies a film, rather than being textureless, you may find that the transfer is not flat, or curls or peels at the edges.

9. Which is the right print side of the sublimation paper?

When working out which side to print on your sublimation paper, it is important that you print your design onto the bright white side. If you order sublimation paper from Contrado already printed with your design, you will be able to tell which side is the right side.

You’ll find that your colors look pale on the sublimation paper. This is completely normal and isn’t what the finished press will look like. Once transferred to your medium your colors will come to life! Another benefit of sublimation over transfer printing is that there is a much bigger range of colors.

10. Can thermal transfer paper be reused?

You can’t reuse your thermal transfer paper, whichever type you use. Although with sublimation paper, you may find that there is some ink remaining on the paper, it will not be enough to make a good-quality print.

With transfer paper, the iron’s heat melts the plastic lining on the paper, which transfers the ink to the fabric, as well as the plastic from the paper. This would be impossible to re-use.

11. What mistakes do you make when using a T-shirt transfer paper?

There are some common mistakes when it comes to designing your own t-shirts, other clothing, and items.

• Printing on the wrong side of the paper
• Applying too little pressure
• Applying too much or too little heat
• Putting the wrong side of the transfer to your fabric
• Incorrect positioning
• Not mirroring design*
• Press for too long (you can end up scorching or melting the paper)
• Using the wrong kind of inks on the wrong paper
• Using the wrong material (sublimation requires a high poly percentage)

*remember, if ordering through Contrado, we will do this for you, it’s important that you don’t do this step.

We always suggest testing on a small piece first, to ensure that you get the right amount of heat and pressure, before printing your full design.

12. What are the Pros and Cons of Sublimation?

Pros

• Color is permanently transferred to the fabric
• No liquid in the printing process, immediately dry
• Incredibly durable and super long-lasting
• Completely textureless design, even when all over
• Can be used on rigid products with poly-coating
• Prints full colors, perfect for photos and a Variety
• Inks have good UV resistance as standard
• Self-weeding (only transfers the ink to the fabric)

Cons

• Not great for dark-colored fabrics
• Requires a high poly content (85%+)
• More expensive to set up than transfer

13. What are the Pros and Cons of Heat Transfer Printing?

Pros

• Much cheaper to set up, and can use a home printer
• Can be used on 100% cotton fabrics
• Works with both light and dark garments

Cons

• Leaves a textured film on clothing
• It is only for use on fabric, and doesn’t work on rigid products
• Much less durable and fades a lot with washing
• Can crack and peel over time
• Cannot iron design (although you can iron the rest of the clothes)
• Not self-weeding (you need to cut your image out – especially on dark fabric)

I’m going to go ahead and start off with an apology for the amount of links that this post is about to include!  Today we are going to be covering a lot about the major supplies needed to get yourself going with Sublimation Printing — and in order to do that I’m going to be dropping links left and right.  And before we get to it, here’s a note about affiliate links.

Disclosure: As always, you’ll find some affiliate links scattered within my post, which means I receive a small amount of compensation if you end up purchasing something I’ve recommended.  Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.  Purchasing from my links does not alter the pricing in any way for you, it simply helps feed my sewing, creating and blogging habits.  Thank you for your support!

Alright.  Let’s get to it with the printer, ink and paper talk.  Because of course, these are the most important step in making dye sublimation happen out of your home.

There are three key things to decide upon before you make your purchase:

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• Print Size.

    Just how big are you wanting to be able to print?  Most basic printers can only do 8.5″ wide, which means you’re limited in size right off the bat. **You can print in tile format and tape the prints together to achieve larger sizes if desired.

• Budget.

  This goes hand-in-hand with the first point above.  Wider format printers are going to cost bigger bucks, but in the end are less hassle.  The letter sized printers are generally a lot more easy on your wallet.

• Tanks vs Refillable Ink Cartridges.

  Essentially, how do you want to convert the printer?   Epson tank style printers make it so easy, by just allowing you to fill the tanks with sub ink instead of printer ink and getting on your merry way.  However, there are conversion kits with empty ink cartridges that you can fill with sub ink and print away as well.  It just depends on the direction you want to go, and your comfort level with the process.

WHICH PRINTERS CAN BE USED FOR AT-HOME SUBLIMATION PRINTING?

Ya’ll.  This list is not exhaustive.  There are so many printers out there that can be converted for sublimation printing that I’d never be able to talk about all of them.  But I’ll share a bunch that I think would be PERFECT for some sublimation fun.

— TANK STYLE PRINTERS —

**Updated 12/30/20.  After doing a bit more extensive research on printer types, HP printers are not sublimation compatible.  Why?  They use a print technology where their printers disperse ink onto paper using a thermal heat process.  This heating process creates a problem for sublimation printing because the sublimation ink basically is going through the chemical process and turning into a gas before it hits the transfer paper….and in other cases is baking onto the paper.  Big thanks to the HP rep who was able to help me through this understanding.

Perhaps this is why Epson holds the market on this style printer.

My printer that I currently have is pictured here.  It’s the Epson EcoTank ET-2720.  So far, this baby purrs like a kitten and hasn’t given me any fits.  I’m very happy with my decision to go with it.  While it only prints 8.5″ wide, I’ve been able to use (so far it’s all I’ve tried to extend it to) 17″ long paper in it.  Which means I’m limited more by width than I am length.  And for the majority of my purposes, 8.5″ is all I really need for width.  I can easily tile my image to spread it across two pages without any issue also — so if I REALLY need to go beyond the 8″ width, I’m completely capable.

Some other Epson EcoTanks to take a look at:

— CARTRIDGE STYLE PRINTERS — 

With this style printer, you’ll need to make two purchases.  First, the printer.  Obviously, right?  But second, you’re going to need some empty, refillable printer cartridges for you to put your ink in.  And they have to match up with the printer that you have.  This restriction means that there are less printer options out there, but it’s still a completely feasible thing to do!  You will need these refillable Cartridge for Epson Workforce printers

I’d like to point out that the reason you’ll see the Workforce printers mentioned the most in the sublimation world is because they are all “wide format” printers…meaning they can print up to 13″ wide.  The ease of having the ability to print that wide is a huge perk.  But these printers will run you a bit more — so first scour the used markets and see if you can score them for less than the retail price.

This particular cartridge works with the Epson Workforce series printers:

— WIDER FORMAT PRINTERS —

I’ve already mentioned the Workforce printer line above that will all print at a 13″ width, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Epson has a printer that is both wide format AND uses the tank style ink.  Again, the price point is much higher when you start to get into this size printer, but if you’re planning on turning this into a business (or adding onto a business) it might be worth the expense with the Epson EcoTank ET-15000 or the Epson EcoTank ET-7750.

OKAY, I HAVE A PRINTER.  NOW WHAT ABOUT INK?

Ink is a much easier thing to talk about than printers.  No matter what you do, DO NOT USE REGULAR PRINTER INK in your sublimation printer.  You will have a heck of a time cleaning it out and making sure it’s running only the special ink that is needed for the dye sublimation process.

The minute you unpack your printer, say adios to the ink that came with it.  I took the bottles that came with it, emptied it into my sink, rinsed the bottles out, and refilled them with the sublimation ink that I purchased.  It’s the easiest way to get ink into your printer, as these bottles were meant for filling the EcoTank printers.

I’ve not used any brand besides Printers Jack sublimation ink and it has been FABULOUS so far.  I probably won’t be switching, as I’ve had success with it.  The colors are super vibrant and the price point is awesome.  At this point, I’ve printed hundreds of full-color designs and the tanks on my printer are still incredibly full.  I am not mad!

Other sublimation ink brands I’ve seen around:

WHAT KIND OF PAPER DO I NEED FOR DYE SUBLIMATION AT HOME?

You cannot print on regular paper and expect the process to work.  Sublimation paper has a special coating on them that allows for the sublimation process to happen.  I know there are a lot of brands out there for this as well, but I’ve had wild success with the A-SUB brand sublimation paper and would highly recommend it.  Personally, I’m a fan of having the 8.5 x 14 paper for printing on, so I have that extra length.  But they also have them in other sizes for your use.

Whew!  We made it through this list pretty quickly, didn’t we?  If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask!  I hope I didn’t send your head spinning too much.  Once we get through all of these informative posts, we will be going over printing ALL THE THINGS together!  Thanks for coming along with me on this journey!

Please follow me at Wild + Wanderful Blog on Facebook / Wild + Wanderful Blog Facebook Group / Wild + Wanderful on Instagram so you know when the newest posts come out.  They’ll all make their way to my new resource page on the blog: Sublimation.

For more information, please visit large format sublimation paper supplier.