# Printing on rocks with dye sublimation?



## BoniJW (Mar 8, 2008)

I'll admit up front that I know very little about this topic, so I'm asking this question. I saw that you can print on thousands of items with dye sublimation, but can one of those items be a flat rock? I am working with someone who is looking to put a print on a flat rock and I thought this may work. any help or insight is appreciated!
Thanks!


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

In a word NO...sublimation requires a polymer coated surface...which a rock is not..there are DIY coatings but at best they look it...not something I would recommend...a flat rock might not be evenly surfaced...which you need as the heat/paper must be in direct contact with the surface...like a sublimation tile..


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## BoniJW (Mar 8, 2008)

charles95405 said:


> In a word NO...sublimation requires a polymer coated surface...which a rock is not..there are DIY coatings but at best they look it...not something I would recommend...a flat rock might not be evenly surfaced...which you need as the heat/paper must be in direct contact with the surface...like a sublimation tile..


Thanks so much for the info. I will pass it along. Sad, what he's done so far looks really cool, but you can see the clear paper he is using for the image.
I really need to look into the dye sublimation - thinking of adding it on to what I do now - silk screening.


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

There are laser transfer papers for hard goods that release only the toner to the substrate. They do not require any special coating.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

Ron...I have tried a couple and so far found the results to be inconsistent...enough so that I just don't do it... in the case of rocks...even if it worked on tiles etc..would not be effective since you have to have flat even surface


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## joeshaul (Mar 1, 2008)

Believe I've seen a rock printed on with DTG somewhere on this forum, the most common method is usually done by sand blasting and paint filling though I believe.


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

When I think of "flat rocks", I am thinking of the rocks that are cut with a wet saw which have a smooth finish. If they are not flat (for the heat press), then the direct printers would be an option as Joe has pointed out.

We have printed a couple very large orders (10k+ pieces) on bisque (sp?) tile using the laser papers. The bisque does not require post baking to harden the toner as it seems to adhere to the tile quite well. I personally will not use it on glazed tile.


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## BoniJW (Mar 8, 2008)

cprvh said:


> When I think of "flat rocks", I am thinking of the rocks that are cut with a wet saw which have a smooth finish. If they are not flat (for the heat press), then the direct printers would be an option as Joe has pointed out.
> 
> We have printed a couple very large orders (10k+ pieces) on bisque (sp?) tile using the laser papers. The bisque does not require post baking to harden the toner as it seems to adhere to the tile quite well. I personally will not use it on glazed tile.


These rocks are smooth and flat. What exactly do we need to get?


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## rrc62 (Jun 2, 2007)

I can tell you what doesn't work. Goose Juice.... We went through a quart of it trying different coating methods and thicknesses as well as a wide range of press temps and times. Through all of that we were not able to get ANY transfer at all. Nothing. Not even a faint ghosted image. We were coating flat rocks.

If it's something you are dead set on doing and can do a some volume, I'd contact a pro coater like LRI and work out a deal. That's about the only way you'll get professional results. The home brew solutions just don't work.


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## martinwoods (Jul 20, 2006)

We pad print rocks
That may be an option for you if you can find someone to pad print them. Of course you would not want to do just 1 this way because you have to burn plates etc.


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## BoniJW (Mar 8, 2008)

martinwoods said:


> We pad print rocks
> That may be an option for you if you can find someone to pad print them. Of course you would not want to do just 1 this way because you have to burn plates etc.


Thank you!
I'll have to look into that.


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