How to determine printable side of sublimation paper

Sublimation paper is a commonly used consumable in our thermal transfer printing. Both sublimation paper and heat transfer paper use thermal transfer ink. The difference is that sublimation transfer paper belongs to coated paper, which sublimates the ink to the fabrics through high temperature. so the pattern transferred with sublimation paper has no hand feel.

Since the sublimation printer paper is the same as ordinary paper, the size of sublimation paper sheet is generally A4, A3, A3+, and the packaging is similar, so many friends can’t tell which side to choose for printing with their eyes.How to determine printable side of sublimation paper?

First of all, we must understand an important characteristic of sublimation paper, that is, the difference between sublimation paper and other printing papers is that there is a layer of thermal transfer coating on the surface of sublimation paper, so we use it to distinguish the front and back of inkjet sublimation paper as an important consideration. We know that the side with the coating is the side where we need to print the image, which is what we often call the front.

Now that we know the important feature of sublimation printing paper, then we can use this feature to distinguish the front and back of dye sublimation paper. Here are a few ways to share with you:

sublimation paper

1.Hand feeling method
Since the thermal transfer coating is viscous, if we feel it with our hands, we will find that this layer is relatively viscous. Generally, this method is not recommended for the new, because this method requires a certain amount of experience, and the first attempt may not be so accurate.

2.The thickness of the sublimation paper
The thickness should be an important method to judge the sublimation paper. Since the printing surface of the sublimation transfer paper is the side of the carrier, you should look carefully at the rough and matte surface of the paper. This side is the printable side; the other side is relatively smooth, so it will look more delicate and cannot be printed. We generally use mirror printing for sublimation paper.

3.Folding method
This method is a more extreme one, but it has the highest accuracy. Unless the above two methods are indistinguishable, you will try this method. Because the coating is sticky, it folds over time if exposed to air. You will see the side of the paper facing up is the print side, which is the front side. The accuracy of this method is indeed relatively high, but when the sublimation transfer paper is folded, it will be troublesome to print, and it may also affect the result of the transfer.

sublimation printer paper

Vision is a leading sublimation paper factory from China and has rich experience in producing heat transfer paper for fabrics.If you have any questions in using our transfer paper,please contact.Or you want to be our global distributor,send E-mail or call us at any time.