The Dye Sub Column


Small mistakes, expensive consequences


It’s a tale as old as time. You go into a job with confidence and experience, only to realise the costly disaster at the end. All could have been saved with simple checks, as Anuj Ghaghada, director at Longforte, explains.


O


ne of the frustrating things about sublimation is that the most expensive mistakes are rarely dramatic. Your printer hasn’t exploded; the heat press hasn’t caught fire, and nothing particularly exciting has happened.


You’ve simply ruined 50 mugs because nobody noticed the first one was wrong.


After nearly two decades working in sublimation, we’ve seen plenty of problems that could have been avoided by a five-second check. Here are some of the small mistakes worth eliminating from your workflow.


Leaving the protective film on We’ll start with a classic.


Many aluminium, wooden, acrylic and other sublimation blanks arrive with a thin protective film over the printable surface. Occasionally it’s obvious. Sometimes it’s so perfectly applied that you’ll question whether there is actually a film there at all. There is.


Pressing onto it usually produces a disappointing result, followed by the slightly more disappointing discovery that you’ve just sublimated the protective film beautifully. Get into the habit of checking every blank before pressing, as products can vary between suppliers.


Forgetting the lint roller


A white polyester T shirt can look perfectly clean while carrying tiny fibres that are almost invisible to the eye. Under a heat press, however, those innocent little pieces of lint can become permanent blue or black specks. Once sublimated, they’re not washing out. A quick pass with a lint roller takes seconds and is considerably quicker than explaining to a customer why their pristine white shirt has mysteriously developed freckles.


Letting the transfer move


You’ve pressed the product perfectly. Time, temperature and pressure were spot on. Then, while opening the press or removing the transfer, the paper shifts slightly. Congratulations: you’ve created a ghost. Ghosting happens when the transfer moves while the substrate and dye are still hot enough for sublimation to


www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk Check it before you wreck it


continue. Secure transfers properly with heat-resistant tape and remove them carefully after pressing.


The final few seconds deserve just as much attention as the press itself.


Ignoring moisture


Moisture and sublimation aren’t particularly good friends. Transfer paper can absorb moisture from the environment, and textiles may retain more than you realise. Under heat, that moisture turns to steam and can contribute to uneven transfers, colour problems and other unwanted effects. Many MDF items release a lot of moisture, so we always recommend pre-pressing them before doing your final press. Store paper somewhere dry and consider pre-pressing garments and textiles briefly to remove moisture before applying the transfer.


Trusting your memory


You will remember that a particular coaster worked best at 190°C for 55 seconds with medium pressure. Until three months later, when you won’t. Keep simple production notes for the products you print regularly: time, temperature, pressure and anything unusual about positioning or preparation. If several people use the same equipment, this becomes even more valuable. Consistency shouldn’t depend on whoever happens to be standing beside the heat press.


Not checking the first one


Perhaps the most expensive mistake of all is assuming that because you’ve printed something successfully before, today’s batch will be identical.


Before producing 50, 100 or 500 pieces, inspect the first finished item properly. Check the colour, positioning, surface and overall finish before continuing.


Sacrificing a few minutes at the beginning of a production run is much cheaper than discovering a problem at the end.


Final thoughts


Most sublimation disasters aren’t really disasters. They’re small oversights multiplied by quantity.


Good production isn’t about never making mistakes. It’s about building a workflow that catches them before one ruined blank becomes an entire ruined box.


And if you do accidentally sublimate the protective film? You won’t be the first. Just try not to do the other 49.


November 2026 | 19 |


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