# Sublimation Transfer Issues



## mamagetscrafty (Sep 6, 2021)

I am new to sublimation and having a hard time getting my sublimation to transfer to my shirts and sweatshirts.
I’m using a Sawgrass SG500 and the paper and ink that came with it. I’m trying to transfer onto Gildan products (cotton/polyester mix). The ink is slightly transferring onto the product but is hardly visible.
Does anyone have suggestions or tips that could remedy this problem?


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## DrivingZiggy (Apr 24, 2017)

It sounds like you are probably attempting to sublimate onto dark fabrics. This will not work. For the best result you must use white 100% polyester fabrics. Sublimation only "sticks" to the polyester, not the cotton. Also, the darker the shirt the less you will be able to see any of the image. Someone on here likened it to trying to get your printer to print something colored onto black paper. Same thing.


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## mamagetscrafty (Sep 6, 2021)

DrivingZiggy said:


> It sounds like you are probably attempting to sublimate onto dark fabrics. This will not work. For the best result you must use white 100% polyester fabrics. Sublimation only "sticks" to the polyester, not the cotton. Also, the darker the shirt the less you will be able to see any of the image. Someone on here likened it to trying to get your printer to print something colored onto black paper. Same thing.


I’ve tried on solid white as well as bleached portions of other colors, it’s still super faded. I’m ordered some 100% polyester to see if it’s any better.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

What is the percentage of the cotton/poly mix?


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

Many people do this with Gildan 64000 (or sometimes called G640). _Most_ of the *heather* colors are 65% polyester; Sport Grey and all of the Antique colors are *only 10%* polyester. The solid colors are 100% cotton, including white and all the rest.

The 65% heather shirts are generally the ones you see people bleaching and sublimating on YouTube, as 65% is enough for most prints to look reasonably good after the first wash (the cotton content loses 100% of the ink in the first wash, so that produces a 35% fade).

What are you using for a press? What time and temp? 400F for 60 seconds might not be perfect in terms of color balance, but it should result in an obvious image. Do you have an IR temp gun or candy/meat thermometer with which to double check the heat press's temperature?

Which specific Sawgrass ink and paper are you using?


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

NoXid said:


> Many people do this with Gildan 64000 (or sometimes called G640). _Most_ of the *heather* colors are 65% polyester; Sport Grey and all of the Antique colors are *only 10%* polyester. The solid colors are 100% cotton, including white and all the rest.


All Gildan 64000 heathers are 65% polyester.
The problem is as you are saying... people don't understand how sublimation works and try to sublimate the 100% cotton ones.


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

Their Graphite Heather is 50/50. Their Sport Gray is what many others call Heather Gray, and is 90/10. The Antique colors have a mild heather look and are also 90/10.


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

NoXid said:


> Their Graphite Heather is 50/50. Their Sport Gray is what many others call Heather Gray, and is 90/10. The Antique colors have a mild heather look and are also 90/10.


You are right about the Graphite Heather.
Small difference though and appearance is not the right way to pick a shirt suitable for sublimation.
The fabric content is easy to find by looking at the neck label, and trying to sublimate cotton is pointless.


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

TABOB said:


> You are right about the Graphite Heather.
> Small difference though and appearance is not the right way to pick a shirt suitable for sublimation.
> The fabric content is easy to find by looking at the neck label, and trying to sublimate cotton is pointless.


Content is easy to find on the distributor's (sometimes) or manufacturer's web site too  I put together a spreadsheet for my own reference for my sublimation experiments over the winter.

Some other brands/styles I was looking at hold the poly % constant regardless of color or heathering, so I almost didn't notice that some of the non-solid G64000 colors were a different poly %. My point of mentioning it at all, is that I understand firsthand that someone surfing all the possible poly-blend offerings from all the brands is going to have their neurons floating out their ears by the time they get around to ordering some samples, so easy enough to miss that little bullet point on the distributor's site that calls out all the exceptions (assuming that particular site even displays it).


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

NoXid said:


> My point of mentioning it at all, is that I understand firsthand that someone surfing all the possible poly-blend offerings from all the brands is going to have their neurons floating out their ears by the time they get around to ordering some samples, so easy enough to miss that little bullet point


Buying the wrong variation of a product is easy... I've done it countless times.
My point was about people following instructions blindly, without understanding what they are doing.
Sublimation needs three things:
a) sublimation ink,
b) polyester fabric, and
c) 170°C to 200°C temperature.
No transfer means one of these is missing.


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

TABOB said:


> Buying the wrong variation of a product is easy... I've done it countless times.
> My point was about people are following instructions blindly, without understanding what they are doing.
> Sublimation needs three things:
> a) sublimation ink,
> ...


Hey, never misunderestimate people. No transfer means that _at least_ one of those three things is missing


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

NoXid said:


> Hey, never misunderestimate people. No transfer means that _at least_ one of those three things is missing


Very true...


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