The wife finally tried subbing. And she liked it.

pixmedic · Mar 22, 2021

With all the different types of crafting the wife has done over the years, you would think sublimation would have been in there somewhere....especially with her already doing the stainless steel tumblers and t-shirt HTV. But nope. She never did any sublimation. Until now.
Picked up a mug press and some sublimation prints and she did some test runs. Pretty good for a first try at subbing.

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jcdeboever · Mar 22, 2021

Very cool.

K9Kirk · Mar 22, 2021

Not bad.

Space Face · Mar 23, 2021

I didn't know what sublimation was so have learned that. Every day is a school day

Looks like she's done a fine job on the mug.

pixmedic · Mar 30, 2021

and now a sublimation printer. the possibilities are endless.

limr · Mar 30, 2021

First of all, my first thought when you said 'subbing' was substitute teaching.

Second, if she makes a mug exactly like that but with cats, I will buy one right meow! :laugh2:

pixmedic · Apr 1, 2021

Winona · Apr 1, 2021

Cool!

Space Face · Apr 2, 2021

I'm not a cat fan but they do look brilliant.

Dean_Gretsch · Apr 16, 2021

I hope you/she comments on her printer experience. I am giving the thought to buying one myself and giving sublimation a try. Please keep us updated

pixmedic · Apr 16, 2021

Dean_Gretsch said:
I hope you/she comments on her printer experience. I am giving the thought to buying one myself and giving sublimation a try. Please keep us updated

Epson eco tank, because the ink tanks come empty and you don't want any regular ink in the printer.
the wife uses Hippoo sublimation ink (because next day amazon prime) and its about $25 for all for 4 ink colors. she also uses an A-sub sublimation paper in 125. you can also get 120g and 110g but you want heavier paper if your printing something with a lot of color or ink. the wife just uses the A sub 125 for everything.
she has the expensive eco tank 4760 (which is stupid overkill since the printer is no good as a regular printer once you put in sublimation ink) but you can get the $200(ish) 2720 and it will do exactly the same thing.

epson workforce printers are also a viable option, HOWEVER, you have to buy third-party empty cartridges to use with it which can sometimes not be recognized properly by the printer. I recommend just going with an epson eco tank... all you do is put in sublimation ink instead of the inkjet ink and your good to go.

the printer settings need a bit of adjusting for sublimation, but once dialed in it has been working great.
I definitely recommend the $200 Epson eco tank 2720 instead of the $500 model 4760. (unless you want the fax function)
I originally ordered a 2720 and there was an issue with the print heads so I had to return it. I got so fed up with dealing with it that i went down to my local office depot and, of course, none of the cheaper eco tank models were in stock....only the most expensive one.
but I said #&@^ it and got it anyway because i just wanted to be done with it.

also, be aware of two things....
1: you REALLY want to buy the printer NEW so there is NO ink in the lines. otherwise, you will have to flush and clean the printer, which is a pain in the buttocks. I bought both of ours new to avoid that.
2: buying new is a double-edged sword...you get a clean and empty eco tank, but once you put sublimation ink in it you will void the warranty. (which is why I recommend the cheapest model since the printing is no different)

other than that, it has opened up a literal metric crap-ton of new crafting possibilities for the wife as well as greatly expanding what she was already doing with shirts and tumblers.