# is printing with regular ink better than printing with sublimation ink



## vanessarios21 (Jun 18, 2016)

I am starting a new t shirt business, I can create vinyl images and transfer them to shirts but i'm looking into creating detailed images which seems very difficult to do with vinyl. I was planning on printing images from my epson printer onto transfer paper but i'm debating if I should use regular printer ink or convert my printer to be able to use sublimation ink, can someone tell me the pros and cons? Also, I've heard jetpro softstretch transfer paper is the best to use? Is this still true, and can I use that with sublimation dye?


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## Creative Pile (May 5, 2012)

Hi vvanessarios21,
What type of t-shirt business? If you are planning on selling t-shirts or printing for people I would learn how to screen print with ink and screens. The look and feel of heat transfers are not as nice as screen printed artwork. In my opinion, I wouldn't want to buy a heat transfer tee because the way it feels and looks on the tee.

It would be great to have the heat transfer as a cheaper option in case the customer needs small quantities, but the pro way to do it is to print with ink and screen. You can get detailed artwork printed by increasing the mesh count of the screen. The more mesh holes the smaller they are and the more small details it can print. Think of it as pixels. The more pixels the more detail.

Good luck on your business venture!


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## GTP30 (Dec 18, 2015)

vanessarios21 said:


> I am starting a new t shirt business, I can create vinyl images and transfer them to shirts but i'm looking into creating detailed images which seems very difficult to do with vinyl. I was planning on printing images from my epson printer onto transfer paper but i'm debating if I should use regular printer ink or convert my printer to be able to use sublimation ink, can someone tell me the pros and cons? Also, I've heard jetpro softstretch transfer paper is the best to use? Is this still true, and can I use that with sublimation dye?


Jet Pro Soft Stretch is good but can only be used for light garments and you need to use pigment inks with JPSS which your Epson most likely already uses in Durabrite ink. If your printer does use Durabrite inks you can purchase a sample pack of JPSS and test it out, see if it has the look and feel you are comfortable selling.

I personally do screen printing, I use JPSS, heat transfer vinyl, custom plastisol transfers as well as stock transfers. Each method has a time or order where it is the right choice. Starting out with JPSS is maybe the cheapest way to go.


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## john221us (Nov 29, 2015)

Sublimation only works on Polyester (at least 80% or better) and needs to be white/light colored, so it is limited what you can print with sublimation, but the results are great. No hand at all, as the dye goes into the fabric.


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