# Sublimation ink rubbing off on glossy paper



## Tite003 (May 24, 2013)

Hi guys,

I bought a colormunki to calibrate my epson 1500w (among other things).

I refilled some refillable cartridges with Inktec dye sub ink and obviously, without the ICC profile, the colours weren´t right.

The colormunki couldn´t read the colours properly from a test chart printed on regular plain paper (the colours were quite dull printed on there), so I tried to print the same test chart on a glossy photo paper bought from ebay (glossy, very thin, very cheap) but in that paper* the ink rubs off!* It seems that the ink take too long to dry and the picture is a mess!

So guys, just wondering if anyone knows on which kind of paper should I print the test chart?

Cheers!


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

You need to print the test charts to your normal sublimation paper, and then transfer it to whichever product you are wanting to create a profile for - a piece of white aluminium, a white ceramic tile, white polyester... and THEN you measure the charts.


----------



## Tite003 (May 24, 2013)

Thanks!

The thing is... I want to sublimate it on phone cases! Maybe I should try to fit the chart on an ipad case...


----------



## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

Iphone case is white aluminium - so buy in A4 sheets of white aluminium


----------



## Tite003 (May 24, 2013)

Will try that. Thanks Tim!


----------



## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

Try Digital Grafx out of Miami. They sell 8x12 sublimation aluminum sheets for $1.50 each. You'll pay more in shipping than the sheets themselves. Get extra; you can find a use for them.

But to tell you the truth, when I created a set of profiles using a ColorMunki I got better gamut results using gloss or matte FRP material. You can buy 1x2 foot sheets from Conde, Coastal Business, Johnson Plastics, and the others. It costs more, but a single sheet of 1x2 will suffice. Get the double-sided version, and print on both sides.

I'd advise you try both aluminum and FRP substrates, plus some heavy 700D poly fabric from Joann's. Experiment to find which profiles work with substrates you cannot directly profile, such as mugs, tiles, or small phone inserts.

For me, I print to aluminum iPhone cases, but I use the FRP profile. Both are white and highly reflective. The reflectivity of these materials makes for some issues when profiling with the ColorMunki, as it rejects any color swatches that are too out of bounds from what it expects. In this case, you must "cheat" by printing to something else (like some poly fabric), and placing that over the troublesome swatch. The colors will be close enough to complete the profile, and then you can run an optimization. That will consume more substrate material, so have a bit extra on hand.

As Tim notes, you MUST heat transfer the subbed print to your substrate. Trying to make profiles directly from just the printed paper is a waste of time. The colors will shift when heated. That's why the colors are intentionally "off" in the ink set. It's the heating that activates the inks, and provides true colors.


----------



## Tite003 (May 24, 2013)

Thanks so much for your advice! I will buy those FRP sheets and make tests. I will let you know how it went!


----------

