# Sublimation on cotton



## Creational Cutz (May 7, 2017)

ok, so i was trying to see if i could press white onto a black COTTON shirt, i chose a picture and i typed a word and turned it to white? nothing is coming into the shirt not even colour. doing this with sublimation. is it because its cotton? i have managed mugs, but not working on shirts  i have an order for black hats white writing am i going to have same problem?
Thanks Tyia.


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## proworlded (Oct 3, 2006)

You must use polyester shirts for sublimation. Only white or very light pastels.


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## adriatic (May 5, 2011)

Creational Cutz said:


> ok, so i was trying to see if i could press white onto a black COTTON shirt, i chose a picture and i typed a word and turned it to white? nothing is coming into the shirt not even colour. doing this with sublimation. is it because its cotton? i have managed mugs, but not working on shirts  i have an order for black hats white writing am i going to have same problem?
> Thanks Tyia.


You can do it easily but not with sublimation ink

You have 3 different option. But always you need some suitable transfer paper

Than you have two more option
1. Laser printer
2. Inkjet printer

First you print your image on B&W laser on transfer paper than you transfer your black image on T shirt Than you convert black image on T shirt in white image with suitable white transfer paper 

With inkjet printer your can made the same with 
A.suitable white ink or adhesive ink
B with suitable white developer in powder
C with suitable white transfer paper

Hire is one example with Laser + White or Color transfer paper

Next one with inkjet with adhesive ink + adhesive developer + white transfer paper

And the third is DTG ink transfer + white developer or toner


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## Creational Cutz (May 7, 2017)

Bugger! Can i use htv on cotton? Thanks for helping guys


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

Vinyl is the straight forward way to go if you haven't got zillions to buy all the new equipment and 3 months to learn how to use it effectively. (but it would pay off in the end)
There are many work arounds to printing on black but all are a big learning curve.


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## Creational Cutz (May 7, 2017)

Thanks, sucks because I have a hat order and hats he wants are cotton! Does anyone know if sublimation will work on stubby holders?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Creational Cutz said:


> Thanks, sucks because I have a hat order and hats he wants are cotton! Does anyone know if sublimation will work on stubby holders?


Only if made of polyester or have a polyester coating.


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## rastoma (Sep 21, 2014)

Creational Cutz said:


> ok, so i was trying to see if i could press white onto a black COTTON shirt, i chose a picture and i typed a word and turned it to white?


What exactly are you using? You're not using sublimation inks if you actually printed something out in white on the paper. There is no such thing as white sublimation ink.

If you have sublimated mugs before are you not familiar with what exactly causes the image to show up on the mug? I don't mean this to be rude but you'll be a lot better in your work if you research and understand exactly what sublimation is. The process shows up on the first page of a Google search. If you read that you would know it's impossible to get white out of sublimation. 

The better you know your products the better you'll be at using them.

So what did you actually print? What ink? What paper?

Other than that, do you have a hat press? I think heat transfer vinyl would be the best choice for a small run of hats. A craft cutter such as the Cameo 3 would be more than adequate for jobs like that.


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## adriatic (May 5, 2011)

splathead said:


> Only if made of polyester or have a polyester coating.


Yes there is no White sublimation ink. But there is White DTG ink.

You you can substitute your Black sublimation ink with this White ink. 

First you print on suitable transfer paper with CYM sublimation or Chromablast compatible sublimation inks. Than on the same paper you print white background with white ink Then you treat your print with suitable white developer for sublimation 

And you transfer this to your black fabrics. Here is an sample how it could look like on black synthetic silk


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

Creational Cutz said:


> ok, so i was trying to see if i could press white onto a black COTTON shirt, i chose a picture and i typed a word and turned it to white? nothing is coming into the shirt not even colour. doing this with sublimation. is it because its cotton? i have managed mugs, but not working on shirts  i have an order for black hats white writing am i going to have same problem?
> Thanks Tyia.


You need opaque that can be sublimated with either laser toner or inkjet ink sublimation.

Attached is a sample I received from ATTTransfer that used Imageclip Laser Dark. The color image was printed with sublimation ink on the B sheet and the white toner of the silhouette of the color image on A sheet. I married the A and B sheet to transfer the color image from B sheet to A sheet. The registration is a bit off because I did not tape the sheets together when I married them to weed the excess background. The image was pressed on black 100% cotton. The color is vivid and the black is true black. The hand is softer because there is only one layer of toner controlled amount used which is white.

You need at least CMYK with extra K-toner/drum set filled with white or translucent toner and Inkjet sublimation printer. In the past I experimented with inkjet printer and translucent toner using Imageclip Laser Dark. The process was the same as ATTTransfer method except I used dye ink.

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/heat-press-heat-transfers/t450257.html?highlight=bizzare

The second photo was printed by accident in single pass with laser printer with K-toner/drum set filled with white or translucent toner. I forgot to switch back the K-toner/drum set to black before I printed the color image. Normally it is printed 2 passes. The color image is printed on A sheet with k-toner/drum set filled with black toner in place. The K-toner/drum set is replaced with K-toner/drum set filled with translucent toner. Print the white silhouette of the color image over the color image on A sheet. Marry A and B sheet then press the A sheet on the fabric. It could have been done with sublimation ink and white laser toner instead of pure laser toner.


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## Creational Cutz (May 7, 2017)

Yes, i have a large cutter as i have a small sign based business. the shirts and other little things are add ons to the business. we have mastered the mugs, i am only using a epson printer with sublimation inks and tranfer paper. i have a 5 in one heat press so i can do flat presses, hats, mugs etc.


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## pixvia (May 21, 2017)

Creational Cutz said:


> ok, so i was trying to see if i could press white onto a black COTTON shirt, i chose a picture and i typed a word and turned it to white? nothing is coming into the shirt not even colour. doing this with sublimation. is it because its cotton? i have managed mugs, but not working on shirts  i have an order for black hats white writing am i going to have same problem?
> Thanks Tyia.


Try this 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v5RVblLcCg


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## TREALMACBLAK (Jun 13, 2017)

Hey as much as I continue to research I get more and more confused. My question is can I use the sublimation process to print on black 100% cotton?
Thank you for being so understanding about my denseness.


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## adriatic (May 5, 2011)

TREALMACBLAK said:


> Hey as much as I continue to research I get more and more confused. My question is can I use the sublimation process to print on black 100% cotton?
> Thank you for being so understanding about my denseness.


Yes you can. It is called Eco solvent sublimation
But you have to work with two merged printers or.
You have to sacrifice black channel for adhesive transparent ink for white background

On suitable transfer paper you print with sublimation ink
Let it dry
Then you print over the same image with glue transparent ink. 
You dust on with White Developer over adhesive transparent printout.

Then before you are going to transfer the image you wet a T shirt with suitable Eco Solvent Fixative. And you transfer you image on wet.
Simply Eco Solvent Fixative dissolve the printed image and white Developer and impregnate the fabrics
Here is an sample on dark silk
I do not where from you are but this product is available only in Croatia so you need to look after some simila product in you area


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

adriatic said:


> Yes you can. It is called Eco solvent sublimation


Quality looks like it's not quite ready for prime time.


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## adriatic (May 5, 2011)

splathead said:


> Quality looks like it's not quite ready for prime time.


That is not a problem with sublimation
You can not compere sublimation with DTG white
Why?

Because these are two complete different technology.

If you want sublimation that means that you want to colorize a fiber. Not to have some pigment floating over the fibers

So if you takie a closer look at these two samples you would see a great difference

First one looks like cut out solvent print on same Roland printers
And the second one is the same printout but in beaded in fibers. Something very similar to sublimation on white polyester.

How you are able to get that.

First you need to colorize dark fibers with a a white developer. Then you colorize white fibers with sublimation colonizer.

But this process does not work on all black fibers

Why?

Because some dark fibers are already colorized with sublimation dyes in manufacturing process- And when you do apply Eco solvent Fixative for Sublimation on dark you at the same moment activate dark sublimation colorant and it colorist you white developer. So you get dull white not a clear and punch out white

Then in these samples the colors are not spot on because we used one printer not two different printer. And the black channel has been used for adhesive ink. And you can not get the same quality on 3 chancels like with 4 channels


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## FOREVERCS (Apr 24, 2017)

TREALMACBLAK said:


> Hey as much as I continue to research I get more and more confused. My question is can I use the sublimation process to print on black 100% cotton?
> Thank you for being so understanding about my denseness.


Not directly on the black cotton fiber, but with a printable vinyl that can take on the dye-sub inks of your printer.


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