You must be truly intrigued as you can’t use regular papers for sublimation. Well, sublimation printing requires special paper known as “sublimation paper” or “transfer paper” and I’m sure you are definitely hearing about it for the first time sorry for your expectations, you can’t sublimate directly to the material with a printer. No worries, I have covered all bits and pieces to guide you about what is sublimation paper and how to use it. So, let’s have a good read.
Well, a sublimation paper looks exactly like a normal paper and it actually is the one except that it holds a polyester coating on the front side. Technically, that is exactly the side that is used for printing. However, there are detailed characteristics regarding sublimation paper and its use so let’s hop right into the details.
Contents
What is a sublimation paper?
As per the definition “a sublimation paper is a special type of transfer paper having a polyester coating on the surface”. Because sublimation ink only supports polyester surfaces so the polyester coating on the sublimation paper absorbs all the ink within. And that is the reason why normal paper gets failed with the sublimation paper because they can’t hold the ink.
Now comes, why it is called transfer paper? Well, you never intended to have the design on the paper, right? So here, you will adhere the paper to the material you wish your design on, and then, with the help of a heat press, the design will be transferred from the paper to the material. If that flew overhead, just understand the paper is an “interim source” you use to hold the design until you get it shifted on the final material. You may also be wondering how the heat press made that transfer possible? Well, as you know about sublimation, where you ready the sublimation paper for the heat press and then the process actually begins in the heat press. The ink from the paper, due to the pressure of the heat press turns into gas, and get the gas solidifies onto the fabric.
How to use sublimation transfer paper?
Take the paper, put it inside the printer, and press “print” NO! This is the last thing you’ll be doing with the sublimation paper if you want the true results.
Well, the first thing is to know the right side of the sublimation printer and that is the brighter one. Now place the sheet correctly onto the printer. Make sure it has no folds and no wrinkles. Double-check the quality as well and be sure you are using the top sublimation paper.
You further have to set the size of the design you wish to print on that paper in the printer so that the print will be exactly as aligned as you want. And finally comes the important part which is “turning on the mirror printing option” especially if the design has any kind of text. Now, let the printer do its work because we are done using sublimation paper.
Commonly Asked Questions:
Conclusion:
Using a sublimation paper can be hard if you previously had zero information about what is sublimation paper and how to use it. Though, we are quite sure of explaining the matter in detail as to how the paper works and how to use the sublimation paper in the right way. So, with all the rights, we are hoping you are now using the paper the right way and not printing on the backside unless it’s for the darker and non-polyester apparel. See you with the next post! Good luck!
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