The trend of home businesses has elevated to a new level after the outbreak of Covid 19. Among all, sublimation printing is the best idea because of its low running cost, freedom of creativity, and profitability.
As an entrepreneur you have to look after different clients and their requirements,. Sequentially you should know about different kinds of substrates for sublimation using heat transfer machine. For many of us, “how to sublimate on dark shirts” is a big deal, so I tried my best to answer this query below. It is very simple process to sublimate on dark shirts.
How to Sublimate On Dark Shirts – Sublimation on Dark Colors
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In sublimation process, ink is transfer onto different substrates, like sublimation on vinyl, cotton, paper, PVC, glass, wood, canvas, or more. In this process, different kinds of technologies are used in order to penetrate the dyes into materials including laser technology and heat-transfer systems. Among all, I found the heat-press mechanism most reliable, affordable, and technically convenient; however, it depends on your printer quality too.
How to Sublimate On Dark Shirts Without Bleach?
Sublimation on dark shirts is similar to sublimation on colored shirts or even white tees unless you’re not bleaching the shirt. In my opinion, there is no need to bleach the dark fabric to sublimate it because there are some top-notch printers available in the market that offer printing on black substrates too, for instance, a Sawgrass sublimation printer, Epson EcoTank printer, and so forth. Remember not to use a regular printer for sublimation as this way you’ll put your device at threat.
Things Required to Sublimation on Dark Shirts
Once you get your hands on a nice printing machine, you’ll need the following additional materials to complete the sublimation procedure:
- Heat transferring vinyl
- Heat press
- Scissors or cutter
- Dark or black Shirt or fabric
- Lint roller
- Parchment paper
Make sure to line up all the required things before you start the process to avoid any inconvenience in the middle of the process.
Over that, I want a bit of your attention over the ink or hues you’re using as it plays a major role in the end result. Good quality ink is the one that provides vibrant, vivid, well-contrasted, and precise print, and is not prone to fading or rupturing. As per my experience, you should use genuine ink similar to your printer’s brand to end up with picture-perfect results: like Epson ink tank is ideal for an Epson printer only.
Step-By-Step Process to Sublimate on Dark Colors
How to sublimate on dark shirts, here is the step by step process to sublimation on dark shirts. In the first step, you need to select or create the design to be printed on your black shirt. You can draw a creative design using different illustrators, or also download already made patterns or graphics from search engines. Once you have selected the design, it’s time to start the sublimation printing on black shirts.
Now print the chosen graphic on the sublimation paper. For your information, the sublimation paper has two sides: a shinier face and a rough surface–you have to print the artwork over the coarse or matte side as the shiny surface cannot hold ink. By using the scissor or cutter, remove the extra part and keep it aside. After that, it’s time to prep your t-shirt with a roller that removes all the wrinkles.
Place the heat press over the tabletop and set the temperature to 360 F. It is recommended to pre-press the fabric using an iron to reduce the humidity level to zero. Now place the shirt and parchment paper like a sandwich in the heat press and hold for a minimum of 15 seconds. The process is over here, but ensure that you have to wait for the dark shirt to dry completely before you wear it.
FAQs
Final Thoughts!
Now you have learnt how to sublimate on dark shirts. We can easily transform our old tees or customize new shirts using a perfect sublimation printer in simple steps. While performing the process, make sure to gather the required materials at first and write down the instructions given above to avoid any mistakes. You’ll get a super light, fresh, resistant, vibrant, and beautiful customized shirt in minutes.