# Q: What do I need to do for sublimation to Cotton?



## bryanmc1988 (Apr 26, 2018)

Hi, I am new to this forum and new to the transfer scene. My question is more on the lines of how to get sublimation transfer to Cotton fabric? I heard and seen people using polymer powder but i cant seem to locate them on the web or a person that has them. Maybe there is another way that i don't know and this is why i wanted to see if there is anyone here that could help me out. Maybe point me into the right direction. 

My main goal is to be able to transfer Sublimation (Best quality) to cotton with out the need of weeding. I am trying to stay away from having to buy another printer to make this happen. I currently have an Epson WF-3640 that i am using for the sublimation process and although it is not the best printer for the job, it works just fine for what i need and to play around with. 

I am very interested in the polymer powder that people seem to be using for cotton transfer but is there a specific polymer powder that needs to be used? and where can i find these powder to purchase (a link would be great if possible). 


Sorry for the 21 questions but i am lost in this world of transfer. I have looked around and can't seem to find the information (Maybe i'm blind?). Any help would be great.

P.S. It would be nice to transfer sublimation to cotton on light and dark.


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## socceronly (Jul 22, 2012)

bryanmc1988 said:


> Hi, I am new to this forum and new to the transfer scene. My question is more on the lines of how to get sublimation transfer to Cotton fabric? I heard and seen people using polymer powder but i cant seem to locate them on the web or a person that has them. Maybe there is another way that i don't know and this is why i wanted to see if there is anyone here that could help me out. Maybe point me into the right direction.
> 
> My main goal is to be able to transfer Sublimation (Best quality) to cotton with out the need of weeding. I am trying to stay away from having to buy another printer to make this happen. I currently have an Epson WF-3640 that i am using for the sublimation process and although it is not the best printer for the job, it works just fine for what i need and to play around with.
> 
> ...



Buy a DTG. 

If there was any reasonable way of doing this on cotton, DTG would likely not exist.


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

Yes, it would be nice, but it does not exist (any decent way to print to darks via an inkjet, sublimation or not).

Sublimation is for white or light colors. The color of the garment will show through any ink color that is not darker than the shirt, and shift ones regardless.

Your reason for wanting this ability makes sense, and is understandable--you don't want to get another printer just for cotton. But you cannot sublimate onto cotton. You can sublimate onto plastic or coatings, and stick that plastic onto the cotton. But that is not as durable or as good of handfeel as a regular JPSS inkjet transfer. And all is still only for white/light garments.

There is no low-hand, durable, low-cost/investment way to print onto dark garments. For low volumes, the closest you can get is a vinyl cutter and one of the lighter, thinner, more flexible vinyls (which entails some practical limits on the number of colors, complexity of the design, and volume).

For some purposes (novelties not expected to last long or be worn enough for comfort to matter), inkjet transfers for darks do look nice. But you'll need a cutter to cut away the unprinted (white) areas, or if you can design to avoid that, you can just cut around the design with scissors.

As noted by @socceronly if there was a way to accomplish all that with an inexpensive inkjet and transfer paper, $20,000 DTGs would not have any buyers.

For transfers for darks, you might look into the no-weed laser options. Both the materials and the printers cost more than the inkjet process would, but still far less than DTG (and it is much more amenable to being used as needed, whereas DTGs have issues if not used constantly). That said, the process can be fiddly, the hand less than great, and durability is still not a match for DTG or screen printing or sublimation.


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## danversatrans (Aug 1, 2017)

Another option would be custom plastisol transfers . But it has to make sense from a cost standpoint. But if you have a heat press you can use custom plastisol transfers to use on dark garments. Quality plastisol transfers will out last the garment and give you a screen printed feel. But it has to make sense financially . A lot of business people will use sublimation and add plastisol transfers for dark garments to meet their customers demand. They will also use screen printing and DTG with transfers to cover most demands from their customers.You have a lot of options and which ones make sense is something you need to figure out or decide .

Danny


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## luvmypaints79 (Jul 12, 2018)

Chromoblast from ProWorld


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

It is definitely possible for white, and acceptable for light colors, using the Reveal-S Sublimation paper.
I've actually use this paper on black t-shirts, over screen printed white, and it worked


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