Why can’t I find a sublimation printer that has white ink? The reason is that they don’t exist and there is a good reason why.
The sublimation process.
The process of sublimation is the dying the polyester material in t-shirts, it is impossible to dye something lighter than it already is. Read more about the process of sublimation by clicking here. That means that sublimation printing is limited to printing on light colored t-shirts and substrates unless you are doing all-over printing. This process would require a large flatbed heat press and a large format sublimation printer that will cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
Ways to mimic white ink.
Typically the only time you can print white with sublimation is by printing on colored substrates that leave a white area for an image or design. For example, a black ceramic coffee mug will have an area that is white. In this case, you would print your design on a black background and dye any areas you don’t want white. It would be the same for plaques and signage.
This process will yield great results after you dial in your color profiles to match the black coloring on the mug. Be prepared to waste a few blank mugs to get things just right. However, this is not likely to work on fabrics due to a greater variation in base colors of dyed materials.
Things to think about when dye-sublimating t-shirts or mugs.
– Sublimation works best when printing on white blanks (available on Amazon).
– When using items with background colors other than white the white areas of the design will register as the background color.
– Follow the guidelines provided by your sublimation blank provider to achieve the best results.
– Color matching may require you to adjust heating times and temperatures.
Conclusion
One of the most asked questions on the internet regarding sublimation is how do I sublimate dark shirts. Even though this is the case, don’t expect to see any changes in technology to make this happen. You can’t make the impossible happen. If you can invent a method to make this happen, you will be very very rich.