What Is the Difference Between Screen Printing and Sublimation?
Would you like to create custom shirts with an expert appearance? Screen printing and sublimation make the absolute most solid kinds of T-shirts prints you will at any point find. However, when you analyze screen printing versus sublimation, which cycle is best for you?
Screen printing and sublimation utilize various strategies to make solid and top notch prints. Screen printing utilizes a stencil, thick inks, and an intensity source and demands a ton of investment. Sublimation printing utilizes a synthetic interaction to bond with the filaments of polyester texture and takes brief period.
In this article, you will realize which printing strategy requires some investment and costs more. You will find the vital contrasts in the printing system for every strategy. At long last, you will figure out the upsides and downsides of sublimation and screen printing.
Screen Printing vs Sublimation: The Differences You Need to Know!
What is Screen Printing?
Screen printing uses a stencil and a squeegee to squeeze ink through a screen and layer a design on top of the fabric. This method, also called silk screening, is one of the oldest forms of printed art ever invented! It creates thick, raised designs on the surface of a t-shirt.
Despite its ancient history, this method remains popular with both professional printers and home artists. One of the best things about screen printing is that it makes high-quality designs because it uses such thick inks that they leave a raised, slightly 3D design on top of the t-shirt. Plus, you can screen print on almost any kind or color of fabric using this method.
As with anything, though, screen printing also has some limitations. You have to apply one layer of color at a time through the stenciled screens, meaning that this method works best for designs requiring fewer colors. For instance, it is not a great choice if you want to print a meme or a photo onto a tee!
So, how exactly does screen printing work?
1. First, you take an image, a logo, or some lettering and separate it into its individual color components. Most professionals use graphic design software for this process to make things easy! You can also simply use a one-color design or lettering.
2. For every color you plan to use, you will need to prepare a stencil on a mesh screen. The stencil is the negative space around your image. You can make this stencil using a Circuit and some vinyl, or you can use more professional methods like creating a light-sensitive emulsion just like you would when developing old photos.
3. Next, smooth a layer of thick plastisol ink over the stencil.
What is Sublimation?
Sublimation utilizes intensity and strain to bond color with the strands inside engineered textures synthetically. This more up to date printing strategy is quickly acquiring ubiquity for proficient printers and entrepreneurs since it makes amazingly sturdy and clear plans. It likewise utilizes the full advanced variety size of the CYMK printer model, implying that you can undoubtedly print full-variety photographs or pictures utilizing sublimation.
Sublimation is a substance cycle that includes transforming a strong straightforwardly into a gas. Assuming that you recall your secondary school science, you will know that typically, an item moves from a strong to a fluid to a gas. Sublimation avoids the fluid stage and goes directly to gas.
In shirt printing, it works like this: the outrageous intensity of an intensity press sublimates the color on an extraordinary exchange paper. The color transforms into a gas and invades profound into the texture of the shirt. Simultaneously, the intensity opens up the polymer filaments inside the polyester texture, permitting the vaporous color inside the real strands of the texture.
When you take off the shirt from the press, the ink cools and continues its strong structure, however as of now, it has reinforced with the fabric on a sub-atomic level! This implies that a sublimation print will straightforwardly keep going as long as the texture of the shirt.
Here are the stripped down of how you make a sublimation print:
Here are the bare bones of how you make a sublimation print:
1. First, you need to find a detailed and high-quality digital design. You can use photos or high-resolution images that you make yourself or download into a design program. In most cases, you need to mirror the image to not end up backward on your shirt!
2. Next, set up a sublimation printer with sublimation inks. Sublimation printers work very much like any regular old laser printer, except they require special sublimation ink. They still use the four basic cartridges of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink.
3. Insert a piece of sublimation transfer paper into the printer, and print your design onto the paper. You can use the transfer right away or save it for later.
Screen Printing Vs Sublimation: Key Points
This chart will give you a quick idea of the key differences between screen printing and sublimation.
Screen Printing
Digital Printing
Durability
Durable but will crack and peel after many washes
Extremely durable and will last as long as the shirt fabric
Quality
High-quality with raised designs and good visual and tactile contrast
High-quality with vivid colors and lots of detail
Complexity
Limited
Easily creates detailed, complex designs
Consistency
Very consistent and easily makes duplicates
Consistent, but requires printing a new transfer sheet for each shirt
Cost Efficiency
Cost-efficient for batch printing
Cost-efficient for small custom orders
Multi-Color Prints
Difficult, works better with few colors
Easily makes multi-color images such as photos
Color Blending
Possible but requires time and skill
Easily done digitally
Set-Up Time and Cost
Requires a lot of set-up time. Cost varies based on size of order and complexity of design.
Little set-up time. Does require some pricey equipment as a start-up cost.
Durability
Sublimation prints last longer than screen-printed designs. Screen-prints hold up well through many washes, but eventually, you will see the raised-ink design crack or begin to peel away from the fabric. Sublimation designs will never crack, peel, or fade because the dye bonds deep beneath the surface of the fabric.
Quality
Both sublimation and screen print designs are high-quality but in different ways. Sublimation prints offer vivid, bright colors that will not fade over time. This printing method can also famously create detailed and multi-colored images with ease.
Supplies Required for Screen Printing
- Transfer Tape
- Heat Press
- Screen Printing with Vinyl Starter Kit
- Circuit Maker
- Painter’s Tape
Materials for Sublimation Printing
Few polyester-coated materials necessitate the use of different tactics when sublimating prints on them
Polymer (Teflon and Nylon)
Ceramic (Vases, Mugs, Tiles)
The sublimation procedure doesn’t require much time. If you only need one or two custom prints, it works great. Many different types of items, including hard surfaces like mugs or banners with a polymer coating, can also be sublimated.
The drawback of sublimation is that it only functions on synthetic materials or items that have been coated with a polymer. Cotton does not respond to it.
On dark-colored fabric, sublimation is also difficult to use. On polyester t-shirts that are white or light in color, it works best.
Which in itself is Preferable: Screen Printing or Sublimation?
It really is difficult to identify a clear winner between any of these two approaches to customizing clothing. This same finest one would pretty much entirely be determined by your requirements as well as how you plan to continue to utilize the equipment. Sublimation is a good choice when you have a little really additional money to spend and want to make shirts with photo-realistic designs or only want to do small runs. However, screen printing might be a better option if you are leaning more toward large runs or are trying to start doing garment customization on a tight budget.
Additional Effects
With screen printing, you can use a variety of special effects, but not with sublimation.
A wide variety of specialty inks, including clear ink, glitter ink, 3D ink, and others, are available for use with screen printers. Using unique ink application techniques directly onto the mesh screens, you can produce artwork that appears to have been hand-painted. The only restriction on special effects with screen printing is how much time and money you want to invest in the procedure.
More restrictions apply to sublimation printing. If you want, you can print shirts with a small amount of cotton content and achieve a vintage, faded look. However, since you must rely on the color combinations that your printer can produce, you cannot use glitter ink or anything similar.
Perfect For
For vivid, raised designs on any color of shirt, screen printing works best. Although this technique can be used with multiple colors, it works best with designs that only need a few. Screen printing makes it simple to batch print, which is great for large orders.
White polyester shirts are ideal for sublimation, which also makes it simple to create intricate, multicolored designs. This method allows you to cost-effectively produce just one or two custom-ordered shirts, but it makes it difficult to use many special effects.
Screen Printing Advantages
The cost advantages of screen printing are its main advantages. It is the most economical way to start a business and the most economical way to mass produce shirts. A home screen printing setup is inexpensive to build, making it simple to get started on almost any budget.
Additionally, screen printing can be used on almost any fabric. While most people have opinions and preferences regarding the best shirts for screen printing, almost any material can be used with the technique.
Additionally, a variety of screen printing inks are available that let you produce special effects. If you have the right inks, you can screen print foil and three-dimensional designs on wholesale t-shirts.
Limitations of Screen Printing
Screen printing might not be cost- or time-effective if you are only producing a single shirt or a small run. The process of making screens can take a while, and the cost of the materials mounts quickly.
You can only use a limited number of colors and make relatively straightforward designs using this technique. Additionally, since each color must be added separately, production time is extended.
Benefits of Sublimation Printing:
Due to the specialized equipment needed, sublimation printing is expensive to begin. Nevertheless, depending on the type of shirts you are making, the process might be economical. Sublimation might be the best strategy if you frequently change designs and work in small runs.
When it comes to producing intricate, multi-color designs, sublimation is unbeatable. With the help of this technology, it is possible to use any color and any number of colors without having to spend more time or money on the design. Additionally, photo-realistic images can be added to clothing using sublimation printing.
Customizing hard surfaces that have received polymer treatment is another benefit of sublimation. As long as you have the appropriate heat press, you can use the procedure to decorate coffee mugs, tumblers, signs, and more.
Limitations of Sublimation
Despite being more widely available, sublimation printers are not inexpensive. Each is not a heat press. This strategy is not for everyone because it requires a sizable initial investment.
Another crucial point to remember is that sublimation printing only functions on white or extremely light-colored polyester when it comes to clothing. Dark colors and fabrics with less than two-thirds of a polyester content do not work with it.
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