Create Wedding Day Magic with Sublimation

Create Wedding Day Magic with Sublimation

With wedding season quickly approaching, business owners are considering what personalization technology is the most profitable and practical for creating custom products to serve the wedding market. If you’re interested in learning how to capture a small piece of the ever-growing and always-profitable wedding industry, keep reading!

Readers might be surprised to discover that our top recommendation for wedding personalization technology is sublimation. While sublimation is commonly sought out for imprinting images on common items like shirts and mugs, its versatility and profitability are often overlooked. In addition to adding images to polyester shirts, sublimation can be used on ceramic, wood, metal, faux leather, and even certain acrylics that have the right polyester coating! These materials come in the form of everything from ceramic ornaments and planters to drinkware and home decor, making sublimation a smart choice for weddings and beyond. Other key benefits of adding sublimation technology to your business model include a low cost of entry, low ink and supply costs, minimal maintenance tasks, and a simple print and press process that creates durable, vibrant prints in minutes.

The cost of entry into the world of sublimation could be as low as $1,000! All you need to get started is a sublimation printer, heat press, sublimation inks and paper, a computer, and a sublimation-ready blank. If you’re just getting started in sublimation, the Epson SureColor F170 is a great choice for its compact size and affordability. If you're serious about sublimation or anticipate creating larger pieces, sublimation printers with the capability of printing up to 44” wide are available at jpplus.com.

For heat presses, you can purchase a mug press, a flat press, or convection oven! The Epson SureColor F170 sublimation crafter bundle includes an affordable press if you’re just getting your feet wet in sublimation.

The only maintenance required with a sublimation printer is changing the inks when they run low, emptying and replacing the waste-ink tank and keeping the printer plugged in and turned on to prevent the aqueous inks from clogging and drying. So, if you’re just getting started with your business, sublimation is a great option as it doesn’t need to be run every day of the week.

The sublimation process itself is simple. As mentioned previously, it requires a sublimation printer, sublimation paper and inks, a heat press or convection oven, computer for designing and software, and a polyester-coated blank that can withstand heat and pressure. Simply print your design on sublimation paper using your printer and inks, affix the print to your blank, apply heat and pressure, and your process is complete!

The scientific process of sublimation makes the image hard to scratch off because your print is in the material, not sitting on top of the surface. The bright, vibrant results also make this technology perfect for photographic and full-color images with pressing times as low as two minutes. Perfect for bringing the bride-to-be's dream from wedding vision to reality.

It's important to acknowledge that like any technology, sublimation does have its limitations. One key aspect is that it can't print white and works best on light or white backgrounds. However, this is perfect for weddings, where the bride traditionally wears white, making sublimation an excellent fit!

Despite the small limitations of sublimation, there are endless creative possibilities. Considering weddings as inspiration, sublimation users can create priceless wall hangings with photographs of the special day, custom centerpieces and signage, tumblers for bridal parties, and even wedding favors featuring the couple's faces for the non-traditional crowd —all easily achievable with sublimation.

Let's dive into a step-by-step guide for creating a popular wedding favor: the beverage insulator!

Step 1 - Prepare Your Artwork:

Design your artwork for sublimation printing using your preferred design software. This artwork can be a graphic design, like shown below, or a photograph. Our sample artwork is a classic monogram celebrating the bride and groom’s big day. Don’t forget to mirror your artwork, or you’ll end up with a backwards print on your finished product.

Step 2 - Print Your Design:

Use a sublimation-specific printer to print your design onto sublimation paper using sublimation ink. Typically, your design will be imported into print management software. This type of software is designed to enhance efficiency, streamline workflows, and improve output quality in sublimation printing environments. This software can help with color management, adjust settings for different substrates, and job cost estimation.

Step 3 - Prepare Your Blank for Pressing:

Once you have your design printed on sublimation paper, use heat tape to securely attach it to the sublimation-ready blank. This beverage insulator with a polyester coating ensures a vibrant print transfer.

Step 4 - Press Your Design:

Apply heat and pressure using a reliable heat press to initiate the sublimation process. Protect the heat press platen with blow-out paper to prevent any ink off-gassing from affecting future projects. From the bottom up, your platen should have blow-out paper, your blank with the transfer print out affixed to it, and another sheet of blow-out paper on top. Close the press and use the time, temperature, and pressure recommended in our tech-tips. Once the timer beeps, you’ll have a beautiful, decorated beverage insulator! You can also press more than one item at a time to increase efficiency and maximize profits.

Step 5 - Profit and Repeat:

Admire your personalized beverage insulators and explore endless possibilities for future sublimation projects!

This beverage insulator is just one example of what you can create with sublimation out of hundreds of sublimation ready products. The wedding market offers countless opportunities for personalization—from bridal showers and bachelor/bachelorette parties to wedding gifts and anniversaries. Specific inspiration ideas include tumblers for the bridal party, a customized planter, a honeymoon fund collection box, table numbers and centerpieces, custom wedding favors, and photo panels to remember the special day.

With sublimation, you can create any design in minutes to match any wedding theme and add value (and make profit!) by creating a truly one-of-a-kind piece for your customers.

Get ready to embrace the versatility of sublimation to make every wedding event truly special!