Sublimation Blanks

Polymer coating is the hidden variable that makes or breaks a sublimation blank. Cheap coating accepts color unevenly, fades in the press, or spots after cooling — and those failures usually don't show until after you've already committed the ink and time. Every blank in this collection is tested in-house on real sublimation equipment before we add it to the catalog. The coating you receive is the coating we printed on, which means your first batch looks like our samples. One habit that prevents expensive mistakes: test each new batch with a simple design before committing to a large production run. Even blanks from the same supplier can have slight coating variations between lots.

Pre-press every blank for a few seconds to remove moisture. Trapped moisture in the coating causes ghosting and color shifts that look like you did something wrong, when the real problem is environmental. Temperature and time depend on the blank type — tumblers, phone cases, and apparel all have different press profiles. Keep a log of what works for each product you sell, so setup time drops across repeat jobs. Storage matters too. Keep coated blanks in their original wrapping until you're ready to press. Coatings can absorb oils from hands, dust from the air, and moisture from humidity, and any contamination shows up in the finished print as spots, streaks, or uneven color transfer.