Dye Sub Unicorns!

By tjh1, Feb 14, 2020

Last semester, the Charles E. Loehr Charitable Trust provided funds to upgrade our heat press to a model that supports making things with the dye sublimation process.  This involves printing designs to a “dye sub” printer with special ink & paper, allowing full-color images to be heat pressed onto a variety of surfaces, notably textiles.

Earlier this season, a community member wanted to make a birthday gift for her daughter, notably custom hoodies with a special message and a unicorn!  The process was easy.  The graphics and lettering was printed from Microsoft Word to the dye sub printer.  These needed to be “reversed” before printing, as they will become “unreversed” after transferring its image with the heat press.  Special care was needed using the hoodie in the press; the plastic zipper had a tendency to melt!  We used a special “pillow” to allow the zipper to sink into it, avoiding the direct heat & pressure.  The result was quite nice!