ImagesMagUK_July_2021

www.images-magazine.com JULY 2021 images 49 KB TIPS & TECHNIQUES are coasters, cushions, flip flops, vacuum bottles and more recently facemasks.” Adding sublimation printing to your business is not just about having another service to offer your customers. “Having the ability to affordably produce a personalised sample for a customer’s evaluation is a massive marketing advantage, especially when the sample is free and unexpected,” he says. “It’s far easier to get an order when the customer understands they can have what they want, when they want. The cost to produce a sample sublimation white mug for a target customer is around £1.50, which is about the same as a mug of tea on the high street! This method of marketing gets results and offers the opportunity to create new business cost- effectively.” Establish what your competition is doing and go in a different direction is the advice from Jimmy Lamb, manager of education for Sawgrass Technologies, which manufactures dye sub inks and printers. “The most successful sublimators are the ones who are doing something new and different. When you are doing the same thing as everyone else, you rarely stand out unless you are the cheapest one. That leads to little or no profit, no matter how hard you work. On the other hand, if you are producing unique products or original artwork, that sets you apart from the others. That means there is no other source but you, and that enables you to charge more. Of course, it’s not an overnight success as you have to do a lot of marketing to be seen, but it does put you on a path to higher margins and a select group of customers willing to pay your price and spread the word about your products.” Practical tips Once you’ve got your equipment, business plan and consumables in place, it’s time to get decorating. Ian McDowall, technical support at Nova Chrome, a UK-based supplier of dye sub products and equipment, says that many new starters believe that for sublimation to happen you just need to get the ink up to temperature – but while this is a necessary step, it’s only half the picture. “It’s just as important to get the product itself up to a temperature that helps to speed the process along, and this is especially important in the case of products that are dense, like ceramics or slate, or products with a large surface area. It’s also worth bearing in mind that transfer paper will usually shrink slightly, whilst certain products, like aluminium, can actually expand during the heat pressing process. “Another point to consider is moisture and how it can impact on cooking times – printers or profiles that lay down higher ink loads, and substrates like wood or MDF are common culprits, and it’s worth ensuring that these are either allowed to dry out fully, or else that additional time is factored in to the cooking time. This means the moisture can dissipate and allow the ink to transfer properly.” Alex Mighall, operations manager at digital printing equipment supplier R A Smart, warns new users to be aware of ghosting, which is when a faint image appears around, or next to, the main image being printed. “It’s typically caused by the sublimation paper moving during the printing process, but can also occur if your fabric is shrinking due to the heat used in sublimation,” he explains. “You need to make sure that your sublimation paper cannot move during the print process. As soon as you start to apply heat to it, the dye will begin to react, so it’s essential that it stays in one place. If you’re using a flatbed heat press you can always enlist the help of some heat-proof tape to keep things under control. You need to take extra care when it’s time to remove the print from the heat press as well. Try to separate the sublimation paper and textile as quickly as possible, whilst ensuring not to burn your fingers. “If your fabric shrinking is causing the issues then the solution is to ‘pre-shrink’ the textile. Put it through the heat press process without the sublimation paper, so the fibres can contract before you add your print. Then, second time around, when you add your sublimation paper there will be no shrinkage and you’ll get super-sharp results!” Another tip from Alex is to remember that more ink doesn’t always mean more colour – oversaturating your substrate can cost you in wasted ink, as well as causing problems. “There needs to be a balance where you are using just enough ink to achieve the bright colours we associate with dye-sublimation but not enough to swamp your paper. This is when a good RIP (raster image processor) software comes in handy. Your RIP is what translates the design file you input (jpeg, tiff, pdf, etc) into a raster image (bitmap). It lets the printer know where to place the image on the substrate and, more importantly, the colour profile, ink limits and resolution to print at.” Some signs that the profile you are using isn’t right, he notes, include paper cockling, ink pools appearing, banding and missing print nozzles due to print head ‘starvation’, and ‘gassing out’ during heat pressing. Test runs Running a test on your chosen fabric before starting on the print job is recommended by Encarna as a way to avoid costly errors and ensure the final application is of the highest quality. “Generally, the sublimation process requires a temperature of 190-200°C with a processing time of 20-35 seconds, however this can vary depending on the fabric,” she notes. “Run a test print on a white version of the media you want to use; if a yellow effect can be seen, reduce the temperature and adjust the time until you find the right combination.” She also advises looking out for shrinkage in case some of the materials have not been through manufacturing shrink tests. Ian says his final, and best, piece of advice for newcomers to sublimation printing is to never be afraid to contact your supplier for support. “Most suppliers offer recipe sheets containing advice on preparing and pressing their products, as well as sizing templates for industry standard designs packages, which can save a lot of guesswork and speed up the process considerably.” According to Ian McDowall of Nova Chrome, getting the product up to temperature is just as important as getting the ink to the right temperature