Making art with our sublimation printer

In the textiles area, we have an amazing new sublimation printer and heat press. Soon we are going to have orientation sessions on how to use this equipment. Please look for announcements about that in coming weeks.

Here I wanted to show you some things I’ve made with it to test it out. The first was a preliminary test on straight polyester fabric. On the bottom edge, there was a bit of shadowing.

Next up, a t-shirt.

Just yesterday I tried printing directly on to artist canvas with a sublimation coating spray (so that the dye adhered to cotton). The spent sublimation paper is at the top of this photo. The sublimated canvas below. I wanted to see if I could stretch this as I would a painting. For this test, I just went right over a small canvas I already had pictured on the right.

And it worked well. I’m going to be using this in the future for larger pieces.


A lot is possible with this setup, and I’m really excited we have it.

@jamesfreeman - could you share pictures of the cornhole bags you make, as well as the wooden puzzle box top you recently completed?

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As a jiu jitsu family, we are very excited about this re: Gis and rash guards.

ASMBLY branded gis and rash guards for local competitions? Yes, please!

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The puzzle box lid was an awesome experiment gone right. The puzzle picture was direct printed on wood, but I forgot to get a reference picture printed. Sublimation for the win. No special tricks or techniques required, I just tried the same method I used for fabrics. Came out amazing.

Ive also been making cornhole boards off and on for a long time, mostly as gifts. A while back I started using vinyl stencils and fabric ink to customize the bags. Very labor and material intensive. Sublimation to the win again. More creative bags and way less work.

You can also combine two techniques. I experimented with Sublimation on wood, and then Print plus Cut on the laser. Nice results I think.


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Is there a Mug/Tumbler (heat) press in the textile area near the sublimation printer?

There is not a mug press at this time.

That is gorgeous, I didn’t think the colors would be so rich