I have a question regarding the polyamid powder method to sublimate on cotton. There are many youtube videos about polyamid powder, most of them in spanish. It looks like you have to put some powder on the printed paper and it sticks to the ink but my question is how that works because the ink gets dry really fast on my paper, do you need special paper that stays "wet" for this method? I think the results looked much better than sublimate to HTV
Hi Daninho - Paul on here did a youtube video showing the whole powder printing process, (in English), not sure if its Polyamide powder or another Polymer. See link below, it might answer your questions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-E2mW7mCH0
Daninho (19-02-2020)
Thank you for that video, the method seems similar but what i mean is a bit different. I mean full color prints with sublimation ink on white cotton and the Polyamid powder will melt into the fibres and in the end it feels like HTV. Now i found out that you have to use a special paper which is silicon coated, the seller wanted 50 dollar for 100 sheets which is a bit high. I think he is selling normal paper for plastisol transfers which is silicon coated as well, they are alot cheaper. So because of the silicon the ink stays wet and the polymer powder stick to it, after that you press it for seconds and 200C just like your normal Sublimation on Polyester fabric. If this is durable it could replace printable HTV like Siser subli flex. This would have the benefit that you dont need a cutter because the powder only sticks to the ink, not in the white parts of the paper. If this is durable it would be amazing because my cutter software dont support ICC profiles for print and cut.Originally Posted by knightweb
The only concern i have is that the printhead gets damaged or smeared and the rollers because the ink is actually not dry during the print. 50 dollar + taxes and shipping is a bit much for just for fun. You also need that Polyamid powder which is also like 25 dollar but its enough for hundreds of shirts. I saw alot of videos about this method but they are all in spanish, i guess people in mexico and south america using this method alot.
My cutter software (SCAL5) doesn't support ICC's either, but I get around this by printing to a PDF driverfrom SCAL then doing the main print to paper from Photoshop, which CAN use ICC profiles.
I was told that this is not possible because PDF files have implemented color profiles. I can save as jpg but then the registrations marks for print and cut are missing. Ive tried the next possible method which is "Pix scan", with this method you take a picture of your printed Flex foil or directly scan it, then use a special "pix scan mat" and the cutter will scan and cut it. This method also failed because the cutting lines were way off when i took a picture of the printed Flex HTV, i even calibrated the program for this camera. The 2nd alternative to use a scanner for better precision also failed because my two scanners were not recognized from the cutter software. Both the scanner units of the Canon MP560 and the Epson Ecotank 2720 were not recognized. That means i can not sublimate to Flex HTV which is a disappointment. Maybe i have to buy a stand alone scanner which is compatible with this silhouette software i use. But even then i dont know how accurate this function is.
The print and cut function works really good but you have to print from the silhouette software which isnt possible with ICC support.
Last edited by Daninho; 19-02-2020 at 04:25 PM.
You may have been told it's not possible, but had the person who told you actually tried it? I've done it any number of times and can assure you it works fine. I'm pretty sure PDF's default to the sRGB profile unles another profile has been embedded in the images, so it's simply a case of opening the PDF in Photoshop and printing from Photoshop with the correct sublimation ICC selected and set to let Photoshop manage colours.
Why not just try it?
No, i never tried it, the one who told me was actually cityinkexpress from the UK.You may have been told it's not possible, but had the person who told you actually tried it? I've done it any number of times and can assure you it works fine. I'm pretty sure PDF's default to the sRGB profile unles another profile has been embedded in the images, so it's simply a case of opening the PDF in Photoshop and printing from Photoshop with the correct sublimation ICC selected and set to let Photoshop manage colours.
Why not just try it?
I dont know what he meant with as a jpg with registration marks on because when i save as a jpg there were no registration marks and i doubt that i can set registration marks myself, i mean they need to be exactly on the correct spot.Sorry no you cant as the pdf will have an embedded icc profile, from silhouette export as a jpg with the registration marks on then print the jpg from affinity
Im not sure what color profile silhouette studio will implement in the pdf. Thats another disappointing thing, i upgraded to the business version of silhouette studio because you can save as jpg and it did not put the registration marks in it.
Ok. Thought I'd spend a little time on this.
I have Silhouette Studio Designer Edition (SSDE) that I haven't used in a long time as I never use my Cameo now. However, I can outline the process for saving as a PDF and printing with Photoshop.
1. Make sure your design displays registration marks then PRINT (don't SAVE) to a PDF printer driver. I use the free Bullzip driver. This will create a PDF document instead of a physical printout.
SSDE_Printing.jpg
2. Bullzip will create the following PDF document (shown in Acrobat Reader) ...
Acrobat_doc_regmarks.jpg
3. Open the PDF in Photoshop and you will see it has an sRGB profile. You can now print out the Photoshop document on your sublimation printer with your printer's ICC profile. You will now have a sublimation print with registration marks to be returned back to your Cameo for cutting.
SSDE_PS_PDF.jpg
[ATTENTION!] This was a quick lashup to show you the process. In reality, you would have to FLIP the image horizontally in SSDE so you had a mirror image for applying to your garment. IT'S NO GOOD flipping it in Photoshop as this would also flip the reg marks! Take care!
Hope this helps you out. Contrary to popular belief, you CAN produce PDF's from SSDE and most other cutting software using this method.
Last edited by webtrekker; 19-02-2020 at 09:48 PM.
Daninho (19-02-2020)
In the business Edition you can save as a PDF file as well. I did that today with the registration marks but i wasnt sure about the color profile. I dont have photoshop, i use affinity designer, it make more sense for me because its cheap without a subsciption.
Do you use Siser subli Flex? I think the results are much better when you sublimate to the subli flex compared to print on it directly but if you sublimate on it you have a hard time aligning it later on the shirt.
I will see if this is possible in affinity photo tomorrow. I have to test out the mug press tomorrow, it arrived today, so i have to test many things tomorrow. I also bought an alternative blade CB09 for the cameo because the original blade is already dull after 2 months.
Can anybody tell me where i can get the special paper for the polyamid powder method? I wonder if that is just regular PA 12 powder, i guess people sell the powder way overpriced as a "magic powder", same counts for the paper.
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