Sublimation 101

1 For all your Sublimation and digital decorating needs please visit today! Sublimation 101 The Complete Guide To Successful Dye Sublimation Printing Written By Peter Swain With Contributions By Jimmy Lamb For all your Sublimation and digital decorating needs please visit today! SUBLIMATION101 2 Copyright 2013, Sawgrass Technologies, Inc. This publication and the material contained within is the property of Sawgrass Technologies, Inc. and may not be copied, distributed, sold, shared or conveyed in any other form to any other party without the exclusive written permission of Sawgrass Technologies. For all your Sublimation and digital decorating needs please visit today! SUBLIMATION101 3 Welcome To The World Of Sublimation Congratulations on your purchase of a Sawgrass Technologies Sublimation Decorating System.

2 You are about to embark on an exciting, creative, fun and profitable business venture. Without a doubt, dye Sublimation is one of the most effective methods for creating a wide range of customized and personalized products on demand. Your new Sublimation system will make it easy and cost- effective to provide more products than ever before for your existing clients and while bringing in new customers by reaching new markets. Using off- the - shelf graphics software, Sawgrass Sublimation inks, popular desktop inkjet printers from Espon and Ricoh, and a standard heat press, business owners can quickly produce high- margin, full- color photographic images that will not crack, peel or wash away. It truly is amazing how such a simple the process can yield the level of quality and sophistication that it does.

3 To help you get your equipment up and running smoothly so you can start making money as quickly as possible, we have put together the Dye Sublimation Handbook. In the pages that follow you will be introduced to the elements of Sublimation production including step- by- step instructions for the most common applications. We encourage you to read it from the beginning to the end, rather than skipping around, as each chapter builds on the chapter before it. After you have finished the book, we suggest you check out some of our other educational resources (listed in Chapter 1) for additional information on topics such as marketing, pricing, and selling. In fact, we have an extensive collection of educational resources designed to help you do one key thing: make money with digital decoration.

4 Good luck on your journey towards digital decoration success! All of us at Sawgrass Technologies are committed to helping you find the solutions you need to take your business to the next level and are here to support you. Sublimation Printing 101 Table Of Contents For all your Sublimation and digital decorating needs please visit today! SUBLIMATION101 4 Chapter 1 Online Educational Resources Chapter 2 - Introduction to Sublimation Printing Technology Overview A Brief History Of Sublimation Sublimation , Dyes, Polymers And Substrates White Is Best The Product Decorating Industry Chapter 3 Create, Print, Press: The Sublimation Process Image Creation & Preparation Sublimation Printers Heat Presses Product Applications For Sublimation Frequently Asked Questions Chapter 4 Understanding Color And Light Color Gamuts RGB VS CYMK Chapter 5 Color Management And Correction Color Matching Color Management Color Correction Chapter 6 Working With Graphic Image Files Image Formats And Graphics Software Graphic Image File Types JPEG Compression VS TIFF Quality Chapter 7 Preparing Raster Images For Sublimation Resolution Resolution And Resizing Resolution And Equipment Resolution And Dye Sublimation Printing Color Masking Tonal Range Color Balance Chapter 8 Preparing Vector Images For Sublimation Working

5 With Colors Applying Colors To A Vector Image RGB VS CMYK In CorelDRAW Grayscale Images Chapter 9 Dye Sublimation Production & Applications Production Tips & Tricks How - To Application - Sublimating Poly Performance Apparel Method #1 How - To Application - Sublimating Poly Performance Apparel Method #2 How - To Application Sublimating Mugs How - To Application Sublimating Hard Poly Fiber Substrates How - To Application Sublimating Coated Metal Products How - To Application Sublimating Soft Poly Fiber Substrates How - To Application Sublimating Ceramic Tiles How - To Application Sublimating A Ceramic Tile Mural Method #1 How - To Application Sublimating A Ceramic Tile Mural Method #2 For all your Sublimation and digital decorating needs please visit today!

6 SUBLIMATION101 5 Chapter 1 Online Educational Resources Learn More Earn More! Before plunging into the mechanics of the Sublimation process, it s worth taking a moment to note all of the different educational resources that are available to help you launch your business with the ultimate goal of generating positive revenues. While this book is a great starting point for increasing your knowledge, training and education is a perpetual process that should be treated as a normal aspect of successful business growth and development. Sawgrass Technologies provides a wide variety of useful online resources in regards to Sublimation and digital decoration that can be used in conjunction with and in addition to this book. Weekly Live Webinars Each week Sawgrass Technologies hosts a live interactive, educational webinar featuring various experts discussing a wide range of topics.

7 Subjects include: Making Money, Pricing, Marketing, Selling, Troubleshooting, CorelDRAW Basics, Photoshop Basics, etc. All you need to participate is a broadband internet connection, a computer with speakers and a comfortable chair. events/digital- decoration- webinars Archived Webcasts Each online presentation is recorded and stored in our online Webcast Archives. Should you miss a live event or simply wish to review the material, you can view our webcasts 24/7 as needed. You will need to register one time for access, but after that you can freely come and go for knowledge on demand. events/digital- decoration- webcasts How- To Application Videos The Sawgrass How- To Video Series is designed to provide you with visual instructions for accomplishing a variety of digital decoration applications.

8 Quick and to the point, they make learning new processes simple and painless. You will even find a video for each of the applications discussed in Chapter 9. events/digital- decoration- how- to- videos Industry Trade Shows & Events Tradeshows and Conferences are the ideal way to find out about new technologies and solutions for growing your business. In addition to hands- on opportunities with cutting- edge digital decoration techniques, tradeshows also provide a range of educational opportunities in the form of seminars and workshops. On the Sawgrass website, you can find a list of upcoming events, free passes to shows (where available) recommended seminars and lists of digital decoration Dealers that are exhibiting at the different shows.

9 For all your Sublimation and digital decorating needs please visit today! SUBLIMATION101 6 events/trade- shows Digital Decoration Knowledgebases When you need a quick answer to a specific challenge, Sawgrass has the answer. We offer a intuitive knowledgebases for Sublimation and for digital garment printing, easily accessible online 24/7. events/ Sublimation - knowledgebase events/digital- garment- printing- knowledgebase Authorized Sawgrass Dealers The extensive network of Sawgrass Dealers is composed of a diverse group of Business Professionals with a wide range of expertise and knowledge in many different markets and technical disciplines. Dealers are another great source for education and training resources. You can find a complete list of Sawgrass Dealers using our Dealer Locator.

10 Sawgrass Technical Support The Sawgrass Technical Support section of the website contains useful manuals, instructional documents and videos that provide information for installing, operating and troubleshooting Sublimation systems. Plus you can download the latest software drivers for your system as needed. support All of these resources and more can be found at We also encourage you to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, so that you can stay up- to- date with the latest information in regards to educational resources, including training, seminars, webinars, events and more. For all your Sublimation and digital decorating needs please visit today! SUBLIMATION101 7 Chapter 2 - Introduction to Sublimation Printing Technology Overview Dye Sublimation is a digital printing technology that enables the reproduction of colorful images on common everyday items, including clothing and novelties.