# Dye Sublimation for business cards?!!



## susy (Aug 22, 2016)

Hello all,
I own a dress shop. We mainly deal in men’s clothing and kid’s clothing. It’s just been 3 months since I started. So, I was thinking of having business cards, because a lot of people ask for it and I believe it’s always good to have one. I wanted some unique ideas for this. Since I don’t know much about different ideas or trends, I was checking online and found that dye sublimation , or sublimation printing is being used nowadays instead of the normal inkjet printing, and how important it is to use dye sublimation printing for your business. Since I have personally never heard about this before, I wanted to know how this actually works and why it is important over the usual inkjet printing. Also, will this be costly ? Can this be use for my business cards and will it look good? Thanks!!


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## WalkingZombie (Mar 15, 2014)

Sublimation is not even in the same field as inkjet printing. At least to me it's not.

If you have no idea what dye sublimation is and what it's used for, I will kindly tell you that you need to research more into this market before diving in. And by that, I mean searching online and not in forums. I have said this before and I'll say it again that I NEVER used this forum for questions on what to buy or how to use this or that and that's because I knew that I was going to get so many different types of feedback that would potentially conflict each other. What works for me, might not necessarily work for you. Making sublimation products can be achieved through so many different types of printers, paper, inks, etc... It took me a little over a month and a half of watching videos after videos after videos and learning about the different websites that are dedicated to sublimation. Learning what printers were optimal for sublimation, what ICC profiles were, learning about the different inks, paper, etc... I wanted to learn all this on my own and if I made a mistake, it was because of me and not someone else's advice on what to buy or use or how to use it.

But I will tell you that the sublimation process (or product-making process) is printing sublimation ink from a sublimation compatible printer onto sublimation paper, then pressing that paper onto a substrate "suitable" for sublimation using a heat press. When pressed at the right pressure, set for the correct temperature and time, the inks go from a solid to a gas (sublimation), bypassing the liquid state and get "fused" into the substrate or special substrate coating.

If you're looking for a better way to make business cards and nothing else for your dress shop, sublimation is not the answer (unless you're looking to make aluminum/FRP business cards). Make them yourself using a regular dye-based/pigment printer or buy them from a company who specializes in professional printing. Sublimation is a niche market. There is nothing automated about it and needs undivided time and attention to perfect the craft.

There is a learning curve and to some, sometimes a steep learning curve, spending hundreds in ink, substrates, etc... before getting it right. It's all about doing your due-diligence.

You can ask people here what websites they go to for sublimation products, equipment, ink, supplies, etc... and use that to paint your own path.

Good luck, if you pursue sublimation! And we're here to help when you really need us!


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

susy said:


> Hello all,
> I own a dress shop. We mainly deal in men’s clothing and kid’s clothing. It’s just been 3 months since I started. So, I was thinking of having business cards, because a lot of people ask for it and I believe it’s always good to have one. I wanted some unique ideas for this. Since I don’t know much about different ideas or trends, I was checking online and found that dye sublimation , or sublimation printing is being used nowadays instead of the normal inkjet printing, and how important it is to use dye sublimation printing for your business. Since I have personally never heard about this before, I wanted to know how this actually works and why it is important over the usual inkjet printing. Also, will this be costly ? Can this be use for my business cards and will it look good? Thanks!!


There is dye sublimation printing and then there is dye sublimation heat transfer printing.

The type of "sublimation" process used in this forum is for creating a _paper_ heat transfer and pressing the transfer onto a non-traditional substrate like tshirts, mousepads, coffee mugs, coated metals, etc.

The "sublimation" application you are considering can make things more found at conventional printers such as ID cards, name badges, and business cards. But those type of business cards are expensive to give out aand not traditional paper, and best done cheaper on high end digital toner based printers.

This type of "sublimation" printer would be printing directly onto polymer coated paper and then typically the card is laminated.

The smaller sized printers are often used for "event photography", allowing instant print on demand.

That companies ad does not reflect the printing business here in the US. "Sublimation" using ribbons are almost all for event photography or making company badges or ID cards. Very little substrates that are done on high volume commercial printers are done using "sublimation" ribbons. So I think the ad is a bit deceptive. Those banners and other items made from cloth are sublimated. To state "Sublimation is the industry standard for all professional printing. " is simply not true, as the ad states.

Those large items like banners and hanging signs are not done with ribbon based printers, those are done on large format inkjet printers using inkjet sublimation inks. Whoever wrote that ad for that company was clearly not a technical person familiar with sublimation technology.

This gives more detail for the _ribbon_ based sublimation systems...


"When Is A "Dye Sublimation" Printer NOT A "Dye Sublimation" Printer?"

DyeSub.org - Article - When is a Dye Sub. printer not...


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## Skee5 (Jul 28, 2009)

You could Dye Sub to Mates and stick them on to card
stock. It makes a nice looking card. Very colorful.


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

That was a great link Mike, Thanks.
We run a Sony instant print dye sub ribbon printer that prints postcard size.
It's to re-print and re-size customers photo's for their lockets. (which have been empty for years) we scan the locket onto postcard size background, outline it in photo plus, use that outline as a template, import their picture and resize to fit outline in a silhouette studio page, copy and paste several which are resized up and down slightly just in case (seeing as there's room on the page anyway) Print it and cut it with the Cameo.
find the one that fits nice and the customer always wants the spares that didn't quite fit.
Okay there's no money in it but you now have a new returning customer for your other items.
Getting back on track though,, you could possibly cut 3 cards out of a postcard size print, they'd certainly be longlived.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Dekzion said:


> That was a great link Mike, Thanks.
> We run a Sony instant print dye sub ribbon printer that prints postcard size.
> It's to re-print and re-size customers photo's for their lockets. (which have been empty for years) we scan the locket onto postcard size background, outline it in photo plus, use that outline as a template, import their picture and resize to fit outline in a silhouette studio page, copy and paste several which are resized up and down slightly just in case (seeing as there's room on the page anyway) Print it and cut it with the Cameo.
> find the one that fits nice and the customer always wants the spares that didn't quite fit.
> ...


I have 2 event printers, one is an Olympus and the other is a Hiti. The Olympus can do 8 x 10. One example is at Christmas many of the Santas at the mall have them so the kids get an instant photo with Santa.

When I did live retail I used mine with a Chromakey setup as some people just wanted a traditional photo and not a gift item like a mug.


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