# Can you Dye Sublimate on Silk



## ASID Clothing (Aug 9, 2013)

Hi Everyone

I have been doing some research but I cannot find the answer to this question.

I want to get into producing accessories and clothing of made of the fabric silk, however I do not feel DTG Printing is the best way to go about it.

How are other people creating items of silk suck as ties etc?

I called epson, and they stated their dye sublimation machines cannot be used to transfer to silk or print directly on it.

However, I have seen videos online printing directly onto fabrics such as silk (I believe).

I am just very confused as to if dye sublimation is only paper to fabric and not directly to fabric, and if it is possible to be done on silk.


Thanks in advance for your replies!


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Did you see this thread during your search? http://www.t-shirtforums.com/dye-sublimation/t124223.html


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## ASID Clothing (Aug 9, 2013)

splathead said:


> Did you see this thread during your search? http://www.t-shirtforums.com/dye-sublimation/t124223.html


Yes I did see about the roller print process, but I have not seen much information in other places online.

I also did see it says Satin, but just checking as this post is old and it has been a couple of years.


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## ASID Clothing (Aug 9, 2013)

Also, I do not want synthetic silk as this is not the real thing. I am sure the high-end companies do not use synthetic silk, yet it seems like they are still able to produce silk items with various different images on them. which is why I am a bit confused on the whole process


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

You need to use acid dye inks for silk. It requires a post treatment process of steaming the fabric to set the dyes.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

cprvh said:


> You need to use acid dye inks for silk. It requires a post treatment process of steaming the fabric to set the dyes.


Here is a video on that method: youtube.com/watch?v=1OaCHr9Gqps

How Hermes does it: youtube.com/watch?v=u8U83wPA_ZI. (More elegant but identical method.) 

What looks like ink, as Ron says, is actually dye.


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## ASID Clothing (Aug 9, 2013)

Thank you both so much for your help. I now understand the process more and know what needs to be done. I really appreciate the aid and quick responses. Thanks again!


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

There is also a digital process for printing silk. Check out Jacquard Inkjet Fabric Systems


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## wml22 (Oct 26, 2016)

I took some scarves to a print shop to get custom dye sublimation prints on them. Some of the scarves were silk and some were polyester.

The prints were of a JPEG that just contained a personalized written note in black lettering.

On the polyester scarves, the lettering is the darkest and appears basically black, maybe a slight off-black color.

On the silk scarves, the lettering looks faded (pre-washing, I haven't washed any of these), and it is a purple color instead of black.

Question 1) Is the lettering on the silk scarves purple because the ink used for black in dye sublimation will just appear purple when it is present in a lesser density (like from a partial amount of ink transfer)?

Question 2) Is there any type of black ink for dye sublimation that will appear as gray (i.e. light black) instead of purple when the ink is only partially transferred due to the material being silk instead of polyester?

Question 3) I was under the impression that the ink would fully transfer to the silk but would wash out of it if the silk got wet. Is this wrong, or is there actually a way to make the ink fully transfer pre-washing (even if it will in fact wash out when wet)? Because if it's possible to fully transfer the ink pre-washing then one could just always keep the material from getting wet in order to prevent the ink from fading.

If anyone knows the answer to any of my questions it would be very much appreciated.


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

Dye sublimation is only to be used on material made by the petrochemical industry and absolutely not on any organic material. even if silk worms are owned by the petrochemical company they are still producing an organic product. The dye will wash out, end of. Satin can be a mix of silk with an artificial man made material, not organic,in varying proportions, guess who by?
if blacks are appearing any other colour than black it is the printers fault for not having the correct set-up or knowledge for his business.


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## wml22 (Oct 26, 2016)

Dekzion said:


> Dye sublimation is only to be used on material made by the petrochemical industry and absolutely not on any organic material. even if silk worms are owned by the petrochemical company they are still producing an organic product. The dye will wash out, end of. Satin can be a mix of silk with an artificial man made material, not organic,in varying proportions, guess who by?
> if blacks are appearing any other colour than black it is the printers fault for not having the correct set-up or knowledge for his business.


Thanks but I'm not sure if this answers my questions.

> The dye will wash out, end of.

I understand that the dye will wash out, but can it still mostly transfer to the silk garment prior to washing? Or is it only possible for the dye to partially transfer, which will result in a faded appearance even when the silk has never been washed?

> if blacks are appearing any other colour than black it is the printers fault

The print did look very black (maybe not perfect pitch black, but close) on the polyester scarves. So is it possibly not the printer's fault that the ink on the silk scarves looks purple, either because the black ink looks purple when partially transferred (and therefore present at a low density), or because the silk fiber itself causes black sublimation ink to change color into purple?

I already know that the ink will fade or disappear from the silk if it's ever washed. I just want to know if it is possible, using the proper type of sublimation ink and process, to get a "complete" (or "almost complete") ink transfer to silk from dye sublimation that will look black instead of purple, and that will not look faded *pre-washing*.


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## john221us (Nov 29, 2015)

Dye sublimation transfers the ink into the polyester fibers (sublimates) using heat. This does not work with silk or cotton for that matter. Dye sublimation ink is a special type of ink that is designed to do this, therefore it doesn't bind well at all with other materials such as silk.


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## wml22 (Oct 26, 2016)

john221us said:


> Dye sublimation transfers the ink into the polyester fibers (sublimates) using heat. This does not work with silk or cotton for that matter. Dye sublimation ink is a special type of ink that is designed to do this, therefore it doesn't bind well at all with other materials such as silk.


I actually don't care that the ink will wash out if the silk gets wet due to poor binding. But does anyone know if the poor binding to the silk is what caused the black ink to appear purple in this particular case? And if so, is there another type of black dye sublimation ink that would still appear as a lighter black, instead of purple, in the case of poor binding?


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## john221us (Nov 29, 2015)

wml22 said:


> I actually don't care that the ink will wash out if the silk gets wet due to poor binding. But does anyone know if the poor binding to the silk is what caused the black ink to appear purple in this particular case? And if so, is there another type of black dye sublimation ink that would still appear as a lighter black, instead of purple, in the case of poor binding?


Correct. Because the ink failed to bind, it wasn't a complete transfer, hence the lighter color that appeared purple (not Opaque). You will need other printing processes for silk as mentioned above. It will be a completely different process, not just different ink.


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## adriatic (May 5, 2011)

ASID Clothing said:


> Hi Everyone
> 
> I have been doing some research but I cannot find the answer to this question.
> 
> ...


You can not print with sublimation ink but you can print directly with Eco Acrylic ink on wet silk. Here is an sample

And I think this is only way to go for silk


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