My Sublimation Journey

I often get asked why and how I got into sublimation business. The answer because I thought it would be easier.In the past I worked with local businesses to print my artwork using screen printing or DTG. I'll make another post on why I still think this is a good option for people starting in the apparel decoration business and why I changed course. I received a cricut maker as a gift and I cut and weeded 144 shirts for a vendor event 2 months later using that cricut and an affordable amazon heat press. For me the in house production was a game changer. I still relied on my local vendors -but for items that I was testing or items that didn't meet their minimums -I did it myself. Not to mention that using HTV opened up the opportunity to add texture to my garments using brick, glitter, holographic and reflective vinyl.I started seeing mention of sublimation in some of my Facebook groups and it peaked my interest. I joined several sublimation focused group and started watching videos on YouTube. Full color prints, no weeding and only one addition to my current equipment. I was in...

My best friend gifted me my first 7720 and it sat on my dining room table for close to a year because I was terrified by what I thought was a complicated conversion process. It sat there mocking me until I went to a convention in Charlotte and another attendee invited me to a meet and greet with Angelo of cosmos-ink.com a group that I followed on FB. That meet and greet inspired me, I went home, ordered some cosmos ink, watched his printer conversion video, then watched the conversion video by Debbie of debbiedoesdesign.com (another great FB group) and BAM I was in the sublimation biz. Well almost...

The printer sat several more months, with me testing it every so often but not using it to produce any merchandise. Then I finally got tired of simplifying my designs so I could use vinyl or spend less at the screen printers. I wanted to make vibrant colorful designs. I still raise my heat press, pick up my shirts and say "Damn" at the vibrancy of the color. Sublimation is my goto, and although there are some restrictions I love it!