We spend a lot of time training our sublimation customers on proper printing and pressing techniques, designing with available software product templates to reduce waste and other standards of implementing and using this full-color, photo-quality embellishment technology. As every awards and engraving professional knows, there’s a lot more to bringing in a new technology than a quick start guide, and an early phase of the relationship involves finding your equipment’s quirks, limitations and comfort zones. This is the phase where you separate the marketing from the realities, where you determine the actual production capabilities in real time and where you learn the all-important lessons on how not to make products.

When asked to identify the secrets of successfully implementing sublimation, we usually mention the importance of knowing the science behind sublimation, paying special attention to time, temperature and pressure or the need to venture outside the box to decorate many products. This is only one side of the coin, however, and speaks more to the physical preparation, pressing and post-production of the products themselves. It’s also important to focus on the pre-press stages, before the sublimation image is printed and the press is closed. Each stage of the process flows into the next.

Image 1: This shows the five basic process zones for creating sublimation products.

While the sublimation process itself occurs under heat and pressure, with varying ink amounts and pressing times matched to the type and hardness of the substrate’s polyester coating, the heat press time, temperature and pressure can be automated; all you need is the quality sublimation print to match to the blank product. For example, most Unisub products—whether it’s a thicker wooden plaque, a thin metal keychain or a uniquely shaped product like an FRP door hanger—can be decorated using the same heat press settings with transfer prints using the same high-quality print settings. That being said, there are differing techniques that allow for better results on the many, varied types of Unisub blanks.

It’s important to remember, especially if you are testing many substrate types, that like any embellishment process, what you do in the sublimation pre-production stage directly affects the production stage which directly affects the post-production stage. However, sublimation, unlike most other embellishment technologies, allows for decorating a wide range of alternative materials. As your numbers of product types grows, so does your repertoire have to adapt to the new printing and pressing techniques necessary for each new product type or style.

Looking at the process as a whole, then, it could be said that successful sublimation businesses are the following:
1. Proficient in graphic design software (e.g. CorelDRAW suite or Adobe Creative Suite)
2. Able to recognize and differentiate between quality and sub-standard graphics
3. Regimented

Image 2: More complex products require more complex working environments and space.

We’ve written a few articles over the years with a focus on numbers one and two, and we stand by these tenets. The better you know graphics software, the easier the whole process becomes. Barring your own proficiency in software (which we still think is a good idea), have a good graphic designer or graphics department on staff. But a graphic designer and professional software still have certain requirements when it comes to graphics.

Never has the adage garbage in, garbage out been more applicable than with the sublimation technology. Inkjet sublimation, by its very nature, takes whatever graphic you decide to send it and reproduces said graphic in vivid full color, and in extreme detail. Printer maintenance issues aside, if the transfer image looks bad on the screen or on the page before pressing, there’s a high probability it’s the image itself. [e-mail training@johnsonplastics.com for a free sample of an “artwork specifications guide for sublimation”]

We’ve spent more time over the past year talking about the third item. Because you’re printing high-quality images to a photo-grade printer matched with specialty sublimation inks (which react to heat by gassing from the page and changing colors), even the smallest changes in your computer operating environment can throw off the whole process. This means that all output settings, whether from software by Corel and Adobe or from print drivers by Sawgrass Technologies, Epson and Ricoh, need to be consistent from day to day, product to product. These, in turn, need to be consistent with your pre-press process, your heat press settings, the paper that you use, etc. If you get good results today by following steps one through ten, you should be able to recreate these same results next month by repeating these same ten steps. It also helps to narrow down where the problem occurred when you’re troubleshooting “oops” products.

Part of being able to regiment the sublimation process includes setting up your work flow. This is especially useful when pressing a couple of hundred sublimation products for one order or unique products like the SubliMural. Whether the product is a performance apparel T-shirt or a photo panel, all desktop sublimation products follow the same process steps, and you can set up your sublimation area to maximize any line by focusing on five key zones (See Image 1):
1. Pre-Press Zone: The design process occurs here with your Corel or Adobe software, customer graphics, logos, etc. This includes all processes up to printing a usable sublimation transfer.
2. Staging Zone: Have plenty of room to get the products ready for the heat press or convection oven. This is the area where you tape the transfer to hard substrates, spray tack transfers to soft substrates like mouse pads or microfiber cleaning cloths and assemble oven wraps over mugs in preparation for the convection oven.
3. Pressing Zone: Obviously, this usually means your heat press, but this can also be a convection oven for producing mugs, dog bowls and other drinkware. Once the press is closed, the production process begins (e.g. you can’t back out).
4. Cooling Zone: An important part of the overall process, if a recently pressed product holds on to its heat for too long, it can ruin the final image (and, by extension, the product). This area can be as simple as wire cookie cooling racks and clip-on fans or a galvanized metal bucket with hot water for finishing ceramic glassware.
5. Packaging & Shipping Zone: Perfect for housing recently cooled products (be careful that they are fully cooled before stacking), for completing the production process (some products require joining the sublimated piece to an accessory like a hitch cover or a jewelry box) and for putting the final touches on finished products before delivering it to a customer.

Image 3: For space-saving needs, consider furniture which will serve multiple functions.

As you start to make more and more products or focus on more specific substrate types, you will start to get a feel for which zone or zones need tweaking. For example, if you focus on the apparel markets, you might need a much larger Staging Zone to accommodate the larger apparel items. In addition, this might mean adding additional racks in the Cooling Zone more catered to T-shirts. In this example, the production bottleneck might very well be the Pressing Zone, as you can only produce as many T-shirts at a time as you have heat presses. If you are making tile murals, your needs will be different based on the mural-making process (See Image 2).

We recently added a piece of office equipment for its functionality and not for its intended purpose, but it worked perfectly for our needs (See Image 3). We found that a kitchen island cart works very well in a cramped home office and serves a variety of needs. It came with a stainless steel top which is great for cooling products, a cupboard on the left and right for oversize storage and three drawers down the middle for accessories and supplies. In addition, it has locking caster wheels, a towel rack (which houses blue shop towels) and additional hooks and shelves for multi-purpose use.

Image 4: This office combined multi-technology work flows with an equipment rack placed between zones one and two.

If you work out of your home or if space is an issue, you might also consider adding a sturdy, steel shelving system for your printers and other pieces of equipment (See Image 4). When we found ourselves without sufficient counter space for staging or cooling, we had no other choice but to build up. By adding a rack specifically for your printers, cutters and other similarly sized pieces of equipment, it makes it easier to manage your network. We were finally able to get rid of the cable clutter with a single RT-45 cable running to a 5-port Ethernet switch (for those with a network card) and a single USB cable running to a three-station USB hub (for those with a USB 2.0 connection). Now, we can run any product type (sublimation or otherwise) through its respective embellishment process hitting each zone without interruption and with plenty of working space.

By focusing on regimenting the sublimation process, you’ll know that repeating each step of the process in the same order exactly as you’ve done in the past will result in the same results. Focusing on your work flow and each step of the process will result in better final image quality (provided you had a good graphic to begin with), easier troubleshooting and less wasted products. This is true for sublimation and many other technologies. Though everything might start with a graphic, each step of the sublimation process contributes to the amazing final results, and the more you familiarize yourself with the process, the faster you’ll establish a proper routine.