Sublimation Tips

Production

Peel First, Then Press!
One of the most common mistakes sublimators make is forgetting to take the plastic peel coat off of their pieces first. It happens far more often than you might think it would.

Most, though not all, of Unisub’s products have a protective adhesive film on them for storage and shipping. Always check and double-check to make sure you have removed this film before applying your transfer.

Pesky Plaque Edges!
Occasionally, you may notice some of the black or cherry edge foil from your Unisub plaques coming off on the face of your finished product. There is a very simple solution to this annoying problem. And all you need is a pair of scissors.

After you remove the protective peel coat from the surface of your plaque, simply take one side of an open pair of scissors and run it gently across each side where the surface meets the foiled edge. This scrapes off those little particles of foil that flake off during sublimation. No more little black dots in those otherwise outstanding plaques!

Want a full plaque tip sheet? Find it at www.unisub.com/tips.html

Don’t Get Burned
A helpful tool when working with sublimation is a good oven mitt. However, not all mitts are made equal.

A cheap mitt can often start to unravel and leave fibers and strings floating about the area and even onto your press. As a result, these fibers may come off onto your items when heating, producing bad finished products. However, finer quality mitts are available in many places. These are made of tighter woven fabric and better material. There are even some that have rubber and/or teflon padding on them (like the one seen here). These types of oven mitts will help protect both your products and your fingers. And to make things even better, you can find them in the housewares department of most major retailers.

Design

Corel Draw: PowerClip
PowerClip is a handy tool found in the Corel Draw program. It allows you to take one object and put it inside of another in just a few simple clicks. This tool is a great asset for sublimators. You can easily apply a design or photo to a pre-made Unisub template CDR file quickly and efficiently. Depending on your version of Corel Draw, this can be found under Object or Effect in the top menu bar. Just click the object you want to place, click PowerClip from the menu, and click what you want to place it in and you’re done. You can even move the object around and resize it inside the shape. Quick and easy, just how everyone likes it.

Design Tip: Fonts
A common “rule” among graphic designers is to not use more than two fonts in a single piece of artwork. This is a useful guideline to go by as it keeps your work clean, flowing, and void of distraction. If the viewer has too many fonts shoved in their face, they get distracted by them and lose their focus on the piece at hand.

Still using Arial and Times New Roman? There are thousands of fonts out there besides the default ones on your system. You can find lots of them at websites such as Font Freak and 1001 Fonts. These sites feature unlicensed fonts at no charge, but there are also sites where you can purchase fully licensed ones.

*Unisub does not sponsor these websites. Please use them at your own discretion.