# Creating your own Photo Rocks for Sublimation (like SubliSlate)



## gshirt (Jun 15, 2013)

I have a client who really likes the photo slate pieces I personalize and they have gotten a number of them already. However, now they specifically want a 20'' x 16'' photo slate piece and I can't find a piece that size anywhere!

So, what I plan on doing is buying a piece of slate, coating it so it can be sublimated, and then personalizing it with the client's picture.

But I'm not sure what would work or not work in this case! Would a slate tile used for flooring work? My concern there is they are chemical resistant and they may affect the coating process. Should I just get a natural slab of slate? I can't seem to find any reasonably priced pieces of slate outside of flooring tiles! Is there anything I should be aware of or watch out for?

All help is appreciated!


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## miannco (Mar 19, 2013)

What do you plan on using to coat it with? I've purchased a popular coating kit for my son to use on odd items for sublimation. Some items have taken to the coating quite well while others have not. However a number of factors can account for the different results. So far in the experimental phase it's okay. I would love to know how your project turns out.


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## gshirt (Jun 15, 2013)

I have a kit too - 'dyepress PolyNatural' which is for sublimation coatings on wood and stone. What sort of factors do you think make a substrate better or worse for sublimation coating?


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## miannco (Mar 19, 2013)

I purchased the same kit for my teen son. So far he has used it on wood, ceramic tile, and some other items to crazy to mention. As far as the factors, I was referring to the brushing techniques. We've found that using a cheap dollar store roller brush works better at coverage on larger items. I have noticed that the sublimation can be scraped off of the ceramic tile items if you try. We were checking for quality control issues and that's why we noticed this. When he first received the kit he must have covered everything that he thought could withstand being sublimated.


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## gshirt (Jun 15, 2013)

So it does work on ceramic tile? Good! The cheap roller brush sounds like a good idea. And thanks for the note on how it can be scraped off! I don't think it will be an issue for this piece necessarily but at least I will know to be careful about it. Could you scrape it off anything else besides ceramic tile? I figured the chemical resistance might have some effect like that but I'm glad it would still work even if it's not as protected.

The client wants a dark slate piece too so is there a trick to getting as white a coat as possible? Would it be feasible to use regular white paint on the slate, let that dry, and then use the sublimation coating on top of that?

Thanks for all your help!


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## miannco (Mar 19, 2013)

I bought him the kit with everything in it. There's a a bottle of Polywhite that you use when you need to make something white before pressing, but then you would use the poly gloss on top afterwards. You wouldn't need to use the poly natural because you're not leaving the stone in its natural state. 

It only scraped off because I dug a knife into the surface to see what would happen. I was only testing out the finished product.


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## FatElvis (May 6, 2008)

Did it work????



gshirt said:


> I have a client who really likes the photo slate pieces I personalize and they have gotten a number of them already. However, now they specifically want a 20'' x 16'' photo slate piece and I can't find a piece that size anywhere!
> 
> So, what I plan on doing is buying a piece of slate, coating it so it can be sublimated, and then personalizing it with the client's picture.
> 
> ...


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