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Sublimation Ink will only work on 100% polyester fabrics or hard items like mugs that are coated with a durable clear synthetic coating. You print onto a matte coated paper that just releases the ink into the surface of your item at 400 deg F. There is no hand, stiffness or feel to the transferred ink since the ink, dyes or penetrates deep into the surface. |
When you design is ready… Click <File> and then <Export>.
You can then save it as a JPG or BMP. When you open it in your graphics program you will need to resize it.
When you are cutting thermoflex heat transfer vinyl in Roland Cut Studio Software,
you need to reverse or mirror image your image/text before you cut it . This way,
when you heatpress it , your image ends up reading the right way.
Select the item(s) you wish to mirror.
Then from the menu select (OBJECT)>>>MIRROR
That’s all there is to it!
This video tutorial will show you how to make your own trendy Rhinestone Heatpress Transfers. It showcases the Roland EGX-350 engraver and the Engrave Studio software that comes free with the engraver. Using a heat press you apply the transfers that you made in the custom template.
Here is a quick demo of our Jet Opaque Heat Transfer.
In this video you will see an Epson Printer, Armur Ink with a ProFlow Bulk Ink System,
Jet Opaque Paper, Parchment Paper, and an Idek Heat Press.
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Sublimation Tile Mural Making |
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One of the great things about Hanes Sublimation Maker 2.0 is that it takes care of all your needs for tile mural making and image preparation.
In this case, our mural of a cowboy will be 12×18 (3 - 6″ tiles x 2 – 6″ tiles). I cropped and resized this image to fit our needs within the SublimationMaker Program. |
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Click New on the Menu. Select Mural in the “I Would Like to Open?” menu item. Click Next. |
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The next box will allow you setup the size of your mural. Here we are using 18.30″x12.20″. |
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The imported image will be displayed smaller than the size of the mural.
Press the shift key and click and drag the lower right hand corner to resize the image. |
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Your image should now fill the screen.
Click on “Mural” to display the “TILES” Menu selections. |
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Click on “Set Tile Size”.
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You now have an image that has been divided into the proper grid for a mural. |
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Clicking on “Preview print” and then “Preview 4″ will allow us to see how many pages our mural will need.
In this example, I am using 8.5″x 14″ known as Legal Size. This will allow me to print two tiles on one page which really maximizes the use of my dye sublimation paper. |
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Then click “Print”. If we are using PowerDriver for our sublijet inks, the PowerDriver will automatically mirror the image. Select “NO” to mirroring the tiles.
Congratulations! You are now ready to print and press your dye sublimation tiles which I will cover in a future post. |
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How to make a tile mural using CorelDraw |
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Using Photoshop, Corel Paint or any photo editing software, you must first prepare your image to the appropriate size. In this case our mural of a cowboy will be 12×18 (3 - 6″ tiles x 2 – 6″ tiles). I cropped and resized this image to fit our needs.
The actual tile size is 6″, so we need to give a little extra “bleed” so that our tile will be fully printed from edge to edge..in this case 6.1″ should do the trick. For a 12″x18″ tile mural, our overall graphic would need to be sized 12.2″x18.3″. |
| Our first step in Corel Draw is to change our working page size to contain our entire mural. In this example, we will set the size to 14″x20″. |  |
| The next step is to create our grid using in Corel Draw what is called the “graph paper tool”. This will create a 3×2 grid as specified in this area here… |  |
| The next step is to create our grid using in Corel Draw what is called the “graph paper tool”. This will create a 3×2 grid as specified in this area here…
Using the Graph Paper Tool, click and pull the box into shape. Here below is the result. Notice that the grid boxes are not properly sized. |
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| Next, we are going to size our grid by selecting it and changing the size in the property size box here… |  |
| Which will give us a grid of the proper size 12.2″x18.3″, shown below… |  |
 It is a great idea at this point to save this template for future use in a template folder on your hard drive. |
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| We are now ready to import our image from the File Menu by clicking here… |  |
| Select your image and now our image now appears. Using our cursor, we choose the imported image and from the Effects Menu, choose PowerClip and then “Place inside the Container”. |  |
| Then click on the grid, which will place our imported image within the grid. It should look like this… |  |
| We move our “PowerClipped” Image over to the side and get ready to separate the individual tiles by choosing the Arrange Menu and then “Ungroup.” |  |
| We now resize our page to reflect what kind of paper we will be printing our transfers on. In this example, I am using 8.5″x 14″ known as Legal Size. This will allow me to print two tiles on one page which really maximizes the use of my dye sublimation paper.
You may now move your tiles one by one over to the blank page. Add more pages until all your tiles are placed. |
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| Congratulations! You are now ready to print and press your dye sublimation tiles which I will cover in a future post. | |
| On a personal note, I enjoy helping out fellow decorating professionals. If you found this blog helpful and would like my direct help to expand your decorating business please call me at 888-431-7385 Ext 201 | |
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Does Your Sublimation Tile and Stone Have Bad Coating Spots?…or do you need to learn some new tricks? |
When we are pressing dye sublimation transfers onto tile and stone sometimes you can get light areas in the surface of the item. Most commonly this happens in the center and edges of the tile or stone.
Mike…What happened here?
Though this can happen for many reasons, the first reaction for many customers is to point to the coating on the tile or product as being “bad” or defective.
A good thing to try is to re-press the already imaged problem tile with a solid dark blue or black transfer. Even better if you reposition or rotate the tile on the press.
If the tile takes the dark image within the light spots, you know it is not the coating on the tile…perhaps a paper problem or a problem with the temp, time or pressure of your press.
Mike…after pressing the dark transfer my spots did not go away…What can I do about it?
If the light spots persist after the 2nd pressing with the dark transfer, well then you have a coating or product problem. Time to call your vendor for RMA and replacement of these items.
Mike…after pressing the dark transfer my spots went away…What can I do about it?
If your tile is light around the edges or has a light circular spot in the center, add a minute to your time until you get the best result. You can also check the temp of your heat press. See my article on having a bad case of BTC.
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It is important to use a high temp Nomex Felt pad when doing tile or stone. This provides best surface results and a great print along the edges of the item. If you are pressing a light image or image with a lot of white in it, the placing a clean white paper between your image and the nomex pad is a great idea to prevent ghosting or staining in light areas. |
Placing tiles face down on the press and heating them from the back is the best way to print ceramic tiles. This procedure provides better contact with the entire surface of the tile and its beveled edges. All you do is place the Nomex felt on the lower rubber bottom platen. The sublimation transfer is placed on the felt, face-up (and slightly towards the back). The tile is centered on the image, facedown. A Teflon sheet is placed over the back of the tile so the tile does not scratch the upper heat platen. Close the heat press for the recommended cycle time.
On a personal note, I enjoy helping out fellow decorating professionals. If you found this blog helpful and would like my direct help to expand your decorating business please call me at 888-431-7385 Ext 201
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