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New to the printing stage, sublimation printing was put on my radar a couple weeks and I, being the impulsive person I am, went ahead and bought myself a printer so I could try it out. So here we are!

I purchased the Epson ET-4700 from Target. Since it was brand new, I filled it with sublimation ink (and not the ink it came with. We said goodbye to that one). Here are the things I bought to prepare:

• Hiipoo Sublimation Ink - When you first unbox the Epson ET-4700, you must fill the ink tanks first. The Hiipoo Ink comes with syringes to make this a little easier. Recommendation: Wear clothes you don’t care about, they will get stained if you accidentally pop an ink bubble or somehow get ink on your hands and touch anything else. Trust me. I learned this the hard way since I’m also pretty impatient and overly excited (I rushed right into set up because I was so excited)

• Sublimation Paper - I purchased this one, but I really wanted the A-Sub brand, but they were out of stock.

• Heat Transfer Tape - to hold the design in place - there really is no alternative as far as trying to use other types of tape. You don’t have to purchase this one exactly, but it came with two in a pack.

• Blank, white polyester blend shirts (it is recommended to use 100% polyester shirts, but those were difficult to come by, especially living in Hawaiʻi). I ordered the Jerzees brand (in a variety of sizes) and have yet to test it on them (I’m using a shirt I messed up to test various designs on it)

  • NOTE! 100% cotton does not hold the ink well. The test shirt I’m using is 100% cotton and the ink appears faded as the sublimation ink does not absorb into the fibers of cotton as well, hence the reason polyester is recommended.

• Cricut 9x9 EasyPress and the Heat-Resistant Mat

• Parchment paper (any parchment paper will do) - this will be placed between the design on top of your shirt and the heat press.

It is a lot, and it is an investment for sure! Others will recommend the Sawgrass brand or other Epson’s. However, given the fact that this is something I wanted to dabble in and wasn’t sure if I was ready to commit to that level of investment, the Epson ET-4700 was a great alternative. I had looked around to see what others thought and they had success!

While it might be tempting to scour Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist or other sites like that to find the Epson ET-4700 for a lower price, it is highly recommended to buy it new so you can put the sublimation ink. If you do buy it used, you’ll need to completely clean out the ink area of all printer ink and it is still not guaranteed that it will work well unfortunately.

SO! Here are some things I learned with my first weekend with it - and I will continue to share as I learn and grow with using it.

Lessons Learned:

1. Lint roll, lint roll, lint roll! Before you place your design and tape it down, lint roll the area to remove any stray fibers or pet fur to minimize the chance of disruption to your image/design.

2. Heat press your shirt (or fabric you are using) for a few seconds before placing your design. This will help to remove any moisture (which would also disrupt your design transferring nicely).

3. Place a sheet of card stock or a blank towel you don’t care about between the front and back of the shirt (if not, the design will bleed through to the back.)

4. Tape down all four sides. If you are doing multiple shirts, I was able to still reuse the same tape. It pulled off from the sublimation paper easily and held the design in place when used on a new sheet.

5. Apply even heat and pressure the entire time. While an iron could work, the design would need to be small enough to fit under the entire size. I was stubborn and tried with an iron at first and realized the color was not transferring evenly. Thus the reason I invested in the Cricut EasyPress.

So, you might be wondering, what are the pros and cons? While I have not done screen printing or vinyl transfers, I can speak to the general pros and cons of sublimation (but, if you’d like to share in the comments your comparison, please feel free!).

Pros:

• Depending on the ink you select, it is quite affordable (my favorite word) and from what I’ve read, lasts fairly long especially with the Epson ET (ET = Eco Tank) for lots of prints to come.

• The ink transfers directly into the shirt so it becomes a part of the shirt material.

• The ink dries instantly! You don’t have to worry about letting it dry. Once you heat press it, it fuses with the material and sets quickly.

• While I haven’t tried it outside of shirts, you are able to use sublimation ink on things like mugs, plates, mouse pads, etc. The options are pretty open.

• It offers lots of colors! It uses four inks (CYMK), which means the design possibilities are endless!

Cons:

• If you are looking to do high volume, the Epson ET-4700 might not be the best option and you may want to look into alternatives (again, Sawgrass Sublimation Printers were the popular one among those using sublimation)

• Polyester material is a must, at least 50%, but 100% is even better. I scoured the internet for 100% polyester and it is difficult to come by (i.e. via Amazon to run a test batch). There is a few T-shirt wholesalers who have it in stock for bulk order, but if you live in Hawaiʻi, expect to pay an arm and a leg for shipping.

• You are limited on the color of shirts you can print on. Pretty much white is the best and you can try on other light-colored shirts, but the color may not come out as well as it does on white.

• Your printing size is limited.

  • Your image/design resolution must be high quality to meet the size you are looking to print

  • The size of your heat press (like I said, I only bought the 9x9 Cricut EasyPress, so my designs must fall within that parameter)

  • Depending on the printer you buy, you may also be limited to an 8.5x11” sheet.

I wasn’t sure if this was a pro or a con. You must keep an eye on maintenance of your printer! The printheads is the part of your printer that helps to transfer the ink to your paper. You will want to clean your printheads every once in a while if you are not using your printer frequently. One recommendation I came across is to just keep the printer on and it will automatically do so. With the Epson ET-4700, this is as simple as going to the maintenance option in the settings and finding the clean printheads option.

If you do not clean your printheads, it could clog and ruin your printing.

Overall, it depends on your goals with sublimation. While I am starting with shirts, I’m looking forward to expanding to other materials/items. As a small business, I wanted something that I could have access to regularly, that would allow me to print any of my designs that I could think up, and that would still allow me to control the quality of what I put out. All reasons why I went with sublimation.

We’ll continue sharing our journey into sublimation. But feel free to share in the comments lessons you’ve learned!