What are Sublimation Markers?
Artesprix Sublimation Markers and Ink are specially formulated inks that allow you to use basic copy paper to: color, stamp, and stencil anything you wish and turn it into a heat-transferable design. These designs are then applied to a polyester or polyester coated substrate with heat and pressure. You can use a heat press or a home iron! These designs, through this process of sublimation, will become permanent on your substrates.
Materials:
Poly T-Shirt
Sublimation Markers
Protective Paper
Heat Tape
Heat Source: Home Iron or Artesprix Heat Press.
Pencil
Copy Paper
Step-by-Step Tutorial:
Step 1: I drew out my bat on copy paper with pencil. I was going for a woodcut feel, so I kept the design pretty simple. Normally at this step, you would trace your blank on to a sheet of copy paper so you knew the size of the area that you need to work in. But since I was working on a project for a shirt, I didn’t need to do that. After I finished my main design (I left out some of the detail lines to save myself some time), I made a copy of the drawing in case I made mistakes while I was re-drawing the bat with my Sublimation Marker. This way, I always had my original.
Also, please note that the words need to be backwards so that they transfer facing the correct direction. I held my bat up on a glass door backwards and wrote out “save the bats.” Then I flipped the paper over, held it on the glass again, and traced the letters to the front side of the drawing.
Step 2: Re-draw your creation with the Black Sublimation Marker. Add in all of the details. This is a good time to turn on your Heat Press to 370℉.
Step 3: I trimmed my finished drawing down to an oval shape, leaving a large border around it. Before securing my design, I lint rolled then pre-pressed my garment to wick out any moisture and get rid of the wrinkles. After lint rolling & pre-pressing, I adhered the drawing to my t-shirt with Heat Tape.
Step 4: I need to reiterate, that since we are working on a shirt, some things are done a little differently than if you were working on an ornament or a bookmark, partially because the shirt is so much bigger than other blanks.
Since you need to make a Sublimation Sandwich with your Protective Paper, I opted to add a piece to the inside of the shirt (so that the image doesn’t transfer through to the back) before I adhered my drawing. This way I didn’t have to worry about accidentally shifting my drawing to get the Protective Paper in the shirt later. You can see that layer in the photo above.
Step 5: Place the top layer of Protective Paper on to your t-shirt. It is a good idea to cover the bottom of your Heat Press with Protective Paper to ensure the back-side of your shirt stays white, you never know what ink could be hiding. Don't forget we have a piece of Protective Paper inside the shirt too, to prevent ink from transferring to the backside.
Good news, Protective Paper can be reused if there is no ink on it, better to be safe than sorry and be more generous with the siliconized Protective Paper.
Step 6: Press the shirt at 370℉ for 35 seconds. If you’re using a home iron, set it to high and dry, place your Sublimation Sandwich on top of the Artesprix Project Mat, press firmly for 3 minutes, and keep your designs small.
Step 7: Peek Test! This is a very important (and exciting!) step. Very carefully peel back part of the copy paper to see how your design has transferred. Be sure to not remove any tape during this step, in case you need to press the item again. Look at how rich those black lines are!
Step 8: The grand reveal!!! It is so cool to see a drawing I created from scratch permanently transferred to a t-shirt! I can wear this shirt to advocate for bats any time I want. Think of all the possibilities!
It is amazing what you can do with one Black Sublimation Marker and a little imagination! How would you like to get more ideas on how to use Sublimation Markers? There’s a Facebook Group that’s just for fans of Artesprix! You can click HERE to join. Also, don't forget to visit the Artesprix store to see all of the available blanks and bundles, so you can get started with sublimation.
Thanks so much for stopping by.
Have an inspiring day!
Alison Heikkila
**This post may contain affiliate links. That means that I may receive compensation if you purchase through the links I have provided. The price you pay for the product or service is not higher, but I may get compensated.**
So awesome!