Today in sublimation testing - merit badges and art paper

stepho · May 7, 2023, 10:29pm

With the new sublimation printer in textiles, today’s intro class included some more experimentation.

First up - merit badges. I got a package of sublimation patches from amazon. My very first attempt used a painting of mine, and the results were good, but clearly showed the material limitation. The blurred edges is a pretty cool look, but designs that have a white background will likely look best. @michleon100 - could you share your shop “achievement” badge you tried out today?

Next up - revisions of previous experimentation on paper. I’d took one of my paintings (center) and previously sublimated a copy of it onto watercolor paper (left), and I loved the result. Today I tried on paper intended for Acrylic painting, and the results weren’t good. That experiment is on the right. Ah well. Onwards.

Lastly today, sewing pattern paper. This was an extension of using tissue paper, and it came out really well I think. There is a wrinkle in the middle because I didn’t iron that out in advance. This technique is something i’m likely to use in collages.

valerie · May 8, 2023, 2:57pm

I love these experiments!

michleon100 · May 8, 2023, 6:33pm

Here is a pic of the patch I tried. For this test I sized the image to be the same as the inner part of the patch. Then cut the transfer to fit that inner circle. Next time I would probably make it slightly bigger and try to get the edges to just slightly cover the black border.

I also experimented with acrylic using art done by my niece. Keep in mind we did this without knowing the optimal settings for acrylic sublimation. Next time I’ll try dialing down the heat and time. And will overlap the transfer paper so that its edge goes beyond the acrylic edge. A word of warning the heat press made the acrylic “wobbly” until it cooled. You’ll need to weight down while it cools

This pic is taken with the acrylic sitting on paper.