Just got everything off the truck and will spend the day making space in my studio for the heat press and converting my old Epson 4800 printer to the sublimation inks. This will allow me to do my own in-house printing of the ceramic tile coasters, mouse-pads, cutting boards and some t-shirts*. So I hope to get caught up on outstanding orders of these items in the next few days 🙂
* My current t-shirt designs (Brushy Truck, vw Bug, Old International Pickup, Mean Green Ford, and Salida Chevy are screen-printed on 100% ring-spun garment-dyed cotton and I intend to continue to having most of my tees screen printed. However, I will have the ability to do ‘one-offs’ and small quantities on a microfiber blend white t-shirts until I’m ready for the larger orders for each new design.
In contrast to printing with archival inks directly to my limited-edition canvas and fine art paper prints, the sublimation inks are printed on a roll of transfer medium then heat pressed directly into the target material (coated ceramic tile, rubber mouse pad, glass cutting board, t-shirt, etc.). The inks go directly from a solid to gas – staining the material for a durable image for use: wear, water and so on.
They sent the wrong inks – so will be a few more days 🙁