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So you have spent some time researching printers, sublimation ink, sublimation paper, and heat presses. Now that you have the important(and expensive) stuff, now what?
Butcher Paper
No matter what you are pressing, you are going to need butcher paper, or protective paper, to protect your press and future prints. When pressing, inks will seep through your sublimation paper and if there isn’t anything on top of your sublimation paper, it will be leaked onto your heat press and pressed onto the next item you press. Because of this, every time you press something, you will need a clean sheet of butcher paper. I order this paper and have this holder!
Heat Tape
If you plan on pressing hard substrates(mugs, ornaments, dog tags, etc.) you will need heat tape! This helps hold the paper steady to the item to avoid ghosty or a blurry image. Most places that you sublimation blanks, will sell heat tape. It is a must and is cheap here is a 2 roll set!
Spray Adhesive
If you are planning on doing shirts or anything soft(pillow cases, etc.), you will want a spray. Conde offers a spray that is made for the sublimation purpose that is called DyeTrans ProSpray. I personally use a Loctite General Purpose Spray. Y’all know my Amazon prime obsession and I can get it at a local store if I’m in a pinch. Just make sure to keep the nozzle clean(acetone or rubbing alcohol) so that it mists consistently and doesn’t leave globs on your transfer.
Lint Roller
Blue Smurfs! That’s what happens if you don’t get all the lint off of cloth items! I use a ton of lint rollers so I buy refillable lint rollers to save the Earth and also they are commercial grade and they will save you time(and money in the long run)
Heat Gloves
Items like ornaments and mugs get pretty hot in the press and you will need heat gloves to remove the transfer from it and handle the item. In a pinch, you can use oven mitts but I wouldn’t recommend that as a long-term plan. Here are the gloves I use!
Software
The software you plan on using really depends on your skill and comfort level.
Silhouette software is a free software for just starting out that is great but it doesn’t support printer profiles. So unless you are print with a Sawgrass or Epson Artisan 1430 you will need to print with a software that supports printer profiles within it such as, Photoshop, Illustrator and Corel!
Sublimation Paper
Sublimation paper is designed to release the ink(dye) to your substrate during the heating process. I used TexPrint paper (Also available on Amazon but more $$ after factoring in shipping) but another popular paper is A-SUB Sublimation Paper.
Heat Press
There are so many heat press options! Here is my best heat presses for sublimation. I personally love my Geo Knight DC 16 but they are on the pricey range and may not be in the budget for a beginner.
Sublimation Printer
There are alot of different printers are on the market. The most common beginner printers are Sawgrass Printers or Epson Desktop Printers, like the Epson WF 7720 that have to be converted using sublimation inks. I have a post here about how to set an Epson Printer up with sublimation ink.
Sublimation Inks
If you decided to buy an Epson Printer, you have a lot of ink options. This category needed a whole post to itself so here is my comparison post of the most popular sublimation inks for Epson desktop printers.