How to Sublimate on Polyester-Coated Items |T-Shirts & Wood

Sublimating different images on polyester surfaces is fun and classical to watch. It allows you to print unique designs on a proper feeling that is soft and easy to put on. Therefore, this business is booming every day at a great pace or we can call it at a perfect rate.

To sublimate on Polyester items, you need a polyester-coated garment and place your designs on it. A heat sublimation machine is then used to transfer the solid ink into this polyester item in the form of gas as your favorite designs.

Also Read: How to sublimate on mouse pads?

7 Steps & Major Things You Require to Sublimate on Polyester Coated Items:

In this heading, I’ll try to cover both the major steps and the items required in this process. Therefore, make sure to take your time and read this article thoroughly till the end.

1. Choose the Sublimation Printer

Firstly, make sure to choose a premium-quality sublimation printer for this process. You can choose different sizes and models according to your plan. But make sure to pick a multi-color tech-defined sublimation printer for accurate and efficient printing results.

Moreover, I would advise you to go for the small-sized machines. Such as A3 and a4, as they are pretty fast and easy to manage. You can see a variety of different options in the market to buy from so be confident and make the best choice.

2. Choose the Printing Item

Now this one is again a major step. Now you are about to choose the main polyester-made material for the printing actions. If you are looking to print directly on fabrics, just make sure it is made from Polyester or coated with it.

Nevertheless, if you are looking to transfer the designs to some other item coated with polyester, then make sure it is capable of being printed.

3. Select Paper & Ink

Choosing good quality papers and accurate sublimation inks would also assist you greatly in making the perfect sublimation prints. I would say that you should go for double-sided papers so that the extra ink can be absorbed.

This will prevent the color leakage or fading away of your designs from the selected polyester-coated items. Now, it’s time to pick the inks, your quality of the design depends upon the inks that you are using.

If you want to run a successful printing sublimation business, then choosing branded inks is very important. Therefore, pick different sublimation ink packs and try all of them as a test run before you buy them.

4. Select the Designs & Print on Papers

Before we go for the major printing actions, it is important to select a suitable design that you are looking to print on your polyester-coated surface. Covert that design into a printable file and share it with the printer to print on the surface of your sublimation papers.

I would advise you to print 3-4 designs on different papers in case you are trying to print for the first time using polyester surfaces.

5. Place the Papers & Adjust the Polyester items

Place your design containing papers upside down in the Heat press just above the polyester-coated surface and below the heat press’s head. Refill the inks but be sure not to overfill them or this will ruin your whole design and make it worthless.

Be sure to place this paper in this perfect manner above the polyester items in your heat press. Having different printable options will allow you to start the action with confidence and you will get your 100% efficient prints from this step.

6. Start the Heat Press

Since you are all set to print your amazing designs on the polyester surfaces. It is time to start the heat press machine and let be too hot for a few minutes. Set the perfect printable timer and let the game begin with absolute gradient effects for your printers.

Moreover, keeping a certain temperature will easily transfer your designs to the polyester surfaces in a perfect way. Therefore, make sure to know about the importance of this heat press and its suitable temperature.

7. Get the Designs & Let them Cool

Now, talking about the final step, you have to get the designs out of the machine and carefully examine it. In case the design is perfectly transferred then it is all good. In case it is not transferred well, you need to repeat the same steps as mentioned above.

Now since you are happy with the outcome of your designs, make sure to let the designs be cool for some minutes. The hot and freshly made colored designs can be ruined accidentally before you even see them properly.

How Can You Perform Sublimation Coating for Wood?

If you want to know how to sublimate on uncoated wood? You have to follow the similar steps as mentioned above to sublimate the wood items. However, with one major condition. You need to use a POLYNATURAL special liquid-based solution to make wood a suitable polyester-coated surface.

You can easily find PolyNatural in your markets. This amazing water-based solution allows you to cover and print uncoated items and other porous stones perfectly so that its coated surface nearly looks invisible as sublimation coating sprays do.

After this solution is applied, it quickly disappears into the wood. As a result, it is something like a subliglaze. Therefore, all your designs are transferred on the wood in the form of permanent tattoos with decent colors.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Closing Things Up:

Sublimating on polyester items is a pretty fun thing unless you know how to perform such actions. Well, the first thing you require is a good printer and an amazing polyester-made fabric or double-coated material for easy sublimation actions.

Then, you need to print the designs and place them under the heat-pressing machines. Make sure to adjust the temperature in the range of about 350-400 degrees and then heat press your colorful designs for about 40 seconds. 

This will leave your designs with a perfect impression over the surface of your polyester-made items. But, make sure to perform some test runs before you try to print on your expensive fabric materials just for fun.