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What is Sublimation?
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A Brief History of Inkjet Sublimation Transfer Printing
There are different types of dye-sublimation transfer printing, but the one receiving a lot of attention lately is inkjet sublimation transfers.
Inkjet sublimation transfer printing was “born” in 1995: With this innovation people began using desktop computers and inexpensive Epson inkjet printers to print sublimation transfers. The transfers yielded beautiful, photo-realistic results, and because each transfer was printed individually, it was easy to customize a design. Color separations and other artwork setup charges were eliminated, so the new technology was AFFORDABLE for short-run printing. The “mass customization” market began to grow, beginning with items like clipboards, mouse pads and coffee mugs.
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How the Process Works
Traditional color laser, inkjet, and wax thermal transfer papers use heat to “melt” the image onto the surface of the t-shirt, resulting in a heavy, “decal-like” transfer that can fade, crack, or discolor and may only be washed under special conditions. Because SubliJet uses transfer inks and not special transfer paper, there’s no “hand” or feel to the image. The garment is “tattooed” with the image and is as soft and comfortable as the material itself. To overview the process:
- Design image using Hanes SublimationMaker software.
Print the mirrored image onto high-quality inkjet paper via a printer outfitted with sublimation inks. This becomes known as your transfer.
- Place the item to be printed onto a heat press and place the transfer on the item. Press for recommended amount of time.
When heat and pressure are applied, two things happen: 1) The polyester coating opens, and 2) The sublimation inks turn to gas and seek out polyester. When heat and pressure are removed, the coatings close, trapping the ink inside.
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How Hanes SublimationMaker Helps
With more built-in product templates than any other sublimation software product, thousands of pieces of clip art and an easy-to-use interface, Hanes SublimationMaker makes it easy to start making any of a hundred different sublimation items within minutes.
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