Aside from the hardware we also need sublimation paper - this specialized media for dye sub printing is treated with a coating on the ‘print side’ designed to release the ink under high heat to your chosen substrate. It is worth noting that sublimation paper does have an expiration date and should ideally be used within one year if stored in low temperature/low humidity conditions - but hopefully you are flying through your dye sub transfer paper with your booming new sublimation business! Any sublimation transfer media should be considered expired one year from purchase date and will need to be replaced and this is especially true if it has encountered any moisture. Testing with a small print onto scrap material is advised when you are unsure when the paper was purchased.

Now that we have covered our core essentials lets take a look at some recommended supplies to be successful with sublimation printing. Up first I am going to advise heat tape - if you have taken a stab at sublimation printing before you may have heard or even experienced image ghosting. If prints are transferring blurry this is a tell tale sign that the transfer moved or shifted during the application process, very common. Heat tape is a temperature resistant adhesive that will hold the printed transfer in place at the application area - must have for hard surface substrates. Next up, we want to protect the heating element of our heat press from any of the ink change processing - that is where parchment paper comes in. This layer of protection will keep any ink from gassing out and making contact with our heating element. Why does this matter? If ink gets onto the heating element, until it is properly cleaned, that heating element is going to tag everything we press.

Sublimation is a great process for personal home use, small business application or even industrial/commercial production. With so many options for hardware or substrates, there is no reason to not be offering this service to your current and future clients. Happy dye-subbing!