# Sublimation paper confusion!



## HRicky01 (Aug 5, 2020)

Is there any dark sublimation paper for dark t-shirts?
Or,Can I use sublimation papers on both light and dark?

Note:I know there are two types of transfer papers!Light is for light fabrics and dark is for dark coloured one...Not sure about the sublimation papers,that's why asking!


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

HRicky01 said:


> Is there any dark sublimation paper for dark t-shirts?
> Or,Can I use sublimation papers on both light and dark?
> 
> Note:I know there are two types of transfer papers!Light is for light fabrics and dark is for dark coloured one...Not sure about the sublimation papers,that's why asking!


Polyester sublimation only works on white and light color shirts.
You cannot sublimate black polyester fabric for example.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

HRicky01 said:


> Is there any dark sublimation paper for dark t-shirts?
> Or,Can I use sublimation papers on both light and dark?


The way I remember it is the ink always has to be darker than the garment. So black ink on yellow garment, fine. But yellow ink on black garments will not show up.


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## LancerFlorida (Mar 20, 2018)

If your intent is to decorate a black t, you need to understand this process will place a layer of material to adhere to the T while the image is printed on that adhesive material. The result is the opposite of what sublimation is all about.... Sublimation is about NO HAND lifetime durability. 
To reduce the affect of the plaque, the decoration (transfer paper) will need to be cut and weeded to reduce the rigidity of the material to be adhered to the T.
In my opinion, any process that places sublimation ink onto a adhesive material to be heat pressed onto the shirt is not SUBLIMATION because the resulting heavy hand is not the characteristic of sublimation. But one could argue a boat that does not float is still a boat. 

An option you have regarding decorating black t's using transfer is consider texturing. Similar to rasterizing that greatly reduces the hand. (Note: can not be done with Epson (pz) printheads)


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

It doesn't matter what you are printing, dyesub, screen print, HTV, paper, you always put darker on lighter. After all, if you put black paper in a printer and printed on it what would you see? Dark substrates need a white underbase to print on.


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

binki said:


> It doesn't matter what you are printing, dyesub, screen print, HTV, paper, you always put darker on lighter.


Surely this is not right. 
Opaque inks and HTV can be applied on black fabric.
The problem is that sublimation inks are not opaque, so they cannot cover a darker substrate.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

TABOB said:


> Surely this is not right.
> Opaque inks and HTV can be applied on black fabric.
> The problem is that sublimation inks are not opaque, so they cannot cover a darker substrate.


I was generalizing however HTV can have bleed through unless it has a block in it. I have also seen white screen printing turn pink on red shirts, basically not a proper base on it. 

How are Opaque inks applied and to what substrate?


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

binki said:


> I was generalizing however HTV can have bleed through unless it has a block in it. I have also seen white screen printing turn pink on red shirts, basically not a proper base on it.


1. Not an issue for cotton.
2. Not an issue on polyester either, as long as the correct ink is used. There are many options, including cold curing inks, low cure inks, and inks with dye blockers.


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