Sublimating on acrylic will create custom acrylic sheets, but if you're not careful you can ruin your acrylic.
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In this beginners guide I'll take you step by step on exactly how to sublimate on acrylic without warping AND while getting bold, beautiful colors at the same time.
Before you begin you'll need to make sure you have a heat press, a sublimation printer and sublimation acrylic. You can sublimate onto white acrylic, but I find specialty sublimation acrylic is ideal. I'm using glitter sublimation acrylic for this beginner project. You'll also need either a second heat press or something flat and heavy.
As I almost always do, I'm designing in Silhouette Studio. Pretty much the only thing I need to do for this Christmas countdown design is scale it to the size I want and mirror.
I printed directly from Silhouette Studio to my Brother SP-1 sublimation printer.
Make sure your heat press is warmed up to 400 degrees.
Remove any film from the acrylic.
Trim down the sublimation print and place it printed side down on to the acrylic.
Use a piece of high temp tape to keep the print in place to avoid ghosting.
Place into your heat press and press for 45-60 seconds on medium pressure.
The manufacturer recommends 120 seconds. I found at that temperature the color transfer was the same as at half the time, but the heat to the acrylic was excessive causing warping.
When the 45-60 seconds is up - leave the sublimation print in place - and immediately place the acrylic piece onto a closed cold heat press or place something big, flat and heavy on top. You need to keep the acrylic flat while it cools.
Wait a few minutes for it to cool and then peel away the transfer.
I placed mine into a little wood stand that I made to create a miniature sign.
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