Today, I'm excited to introduce you my favourite crafts,
which is Sublimation.
So a lot of people hear about
sublimation in crafting groups
because it can be a really good companion
for your vinyl-crafting business,
or just a vinyl-crafting hobby.
But sublimation is actually
a completely different monster of its own.
Now, if you have ever dabbled
using the Cricut infusible ink,
then that is
basically the same process
that we're going to talk about today.
Infusible Ink is based off
the same types of principles,
and I only bring it up because
infusible ink is
often used as an introduction
to test out the process of sublimation.
So what exactly is sublimation?
What can I use sublimation for?
What can I use it
on?
And what do I need to get started?
We are going to answer all that and more,
and give you a nice little welcome guide
into the world of sublimation.
Let's get started.
So the first thing to know about sublimation
is I call it 'my 'special craft.
And there's a reason for that, I promise.
Not because I just really like it,
but I do.
But I call it 'my special craft' because
you need a special printer
that has special ink,
and you use special paper,
and you need special substrates.
So what that means is,
to break it down,
you need a sublimation printer
that's able to print using sublimation ink.
Only sublimation ink can be used
with sublimation substrates,
which are specifically coded substrates,
or they're made of a certain material, okay?
So hopefully you're following along.
The two most common printer types
are going to be a
Sawgrass printer, or an Epson printer.
And of course, there's a whole slew
of reasons, why you would want
to choose one or the other.
So we won't get into that today,
but just know that you have
two options
to research,
and of course, we're going
to have a video on that for you,
because I really want you guys
to have as much information as possible
for making this decision.
But to finish your introduction,
let me show you some examples first,
and then we'll talk about,
how you can create
your own sublimation items.
So literally, everything that you see
on this work table right here,
is sublimation, all right?
This is a book pocket pillow.
This is a glitter water model.
Alright, so we talked about the printer.
So that's step one: Buy a printer.
Step two: Either make sure
it is using sublimation ink,
or
buy sublimation ink,
okay?
And again, that will depend on your printer.
So those go hand in hand.
You also want to use sublimation paper.
Now, let's hit the pause button.
A lot of people are having
fairly good success or pretty good success,
depending on how you look at it,
using regular copy paper, okay?
Now that is true,
if you are going to print and press.
The difference is a sublimation
paper is specially coated,
so that the ink pretty much
sits right on that top layer.
I have been able to use sublimation prints
that I printed last year,
and they still look good
after pressing them today.
Now the reason I go into that
is just to prepare you that of course,
you can do some research
and you can use regular copy paper,
but there is a reason why
you would want to invest
in the sublimation paper too.
So one more topic for you to research, right?
I recommend using the sublimation paper.
So printer, ink, paper.