Sublimation printing is done widely nowadays and the biggest regret of people doing sublimation is printing the wrong design, image, size, color, or anything(not wanted in that manner) on the substrate. And now they don’t know how to remove sublimation ink from the substrate.
But don’t worry, your every query related to how to remove sublimation ink will be answered here. So, in today’s article, I will be explaining these,
- How to remove sublimation ink from T-Shirt and Shirt
- How to remove sublimation ink from mugs
- How to remove sublimation ink from polyester
- How to remove sublimation ink from a metal
- How to remove sublimation ink from a stainless steel tumbler
- How to remove sublimation ink from ceramic
- How to remove sublimation ink from glass
- How to remove sublimation ink from fabric
How to remove sublimation ink from T-Shirt and Shirt
There are 4 popular and useful ways to remove sublimation ink from t-shirts and shirts. You can use any on the basis of convenience to you. Those are,
- Remove sublimation ink with bleach
- With cold water
- With heat
- With soda water
Remove Sublimation Ink With Bleach
The most used method of removing the sublimation ink from the shirt or t-shirt. Use good quality bleach and place the shirt in it for half an hour. You will be able to see the clear difference in the print once the process is done. Simply wash the shirt with standard washing soap and water and you are done with removing the sublimation ink from the T-shirt.
Also, you can use a sprayer and fill the bottle with bleach and spray on the painted area on the shirt. Once spraying is done and makes sure to cover the whole printed area. Place the shirt in the sun for a few hours. Boom your sublimation ink will be gone from the shirt or t-shirt (recommended/preferred).
With Cold Water
The second method of how to remove sublimation ink from a shirt or t-shirt is the cold water. Place the shirt in a basket or something and add some cold water. Water should be very cold and if possible the put some pieces of ice as well to make it even cooler. Then leave it for a few minutes and then with the help of some stick hit the shirt and ink will start getting removed part by part.
With Heat
This method is working but not many people use it because it requires a dryer and there is a chance that ink will be removed from the original print but get displaced in different places of the shirt. In this method you place the shirt in the dryer, in the dryer it gets heated with time, and after a few minutes ink changes its state from solid and leaves the shirt(printed area). Ink changes its state because it’s a sublimation ink and when sublimation ink is heated it becomes gaseous from solid.
With Soda Water
You can use pre-made soda water as well as make your own at home. Simply mix 6 parts soda and 1 part water in a bucket. Put the shirt in it and leave for 30 minutes. After every 15 minutes stir a shirt a bit. Once the process is done. Most of the sublimation ink will be removed.
NOTE: The best way to remove sublimation ink from shirts or t-shirts is with Bleach.
How to remove sublimation ink from mugs
Mugs that are being used for the sublimation are very expensive and you don’t wanna waste a mug just because you printed it wrong or it’s sublimated wrongly for whatever reason. Now it’s time to remove the sublimation ink from the mug in order to make it look as new as it was before. The best tried and tested method is removing the sublimation ink from mugs using apple cider vinegar and white vinegar.
As we tested both and we concluded that white vinegar works the best for removing the sublimation ink from the mug so I will tell you the process of removing the sublimation ink from mugs using white vinegar.
Simply in a bowl place your mug and add white vinegar until the mug is fully dipped in the white vinegar. Then leave for 45 minutes and after that start scrubbing the ink part after every 15-20 minutes. 2-3 times this needs to be done and all the sublimation ink will be removed from the mug after that. Also, any scrubber will work for scrubbing the ink off the mug.
How to remove sublimation ink from polyester
Removing sublimation ink from polyester is almost the same as removing the sublimation ink from the shirt or t-shirts. The best tested and tried method for removing the sublimation ink from the polyester is the bleaching method. For this, let’s take the example of any piece of the garment made up of polyester.
Now assume that that piece of garment is somehow sublimated wrongly and you want to remove that print and ink from the garment. Simply use the spray bottle having bleach in it and start spraying all over the printed ink on the garment. Make sure to cover the complete ink area. Now let the garment expose to the sunlight for a few hours. Wash the garment once the exposing is done and you have the new-looking polyester garment ready again.
How to remove sublimation ink from a metal
Most of the time when there is a discussion about sublimation printing on the metal. It refers to the tumbler specifically. So I am gonna take it as an example here. We tried removing the sublimation ink from the tumbler with the heating method, white vinegar, and bleaching method as well. The bleaching and white vinegar method still work somehow but the heating method just doesn’t work with the metal tumblers.
The best solution we have concluded is a bit different. Let me explain it in detail. So, let’s assume your metal tumbler is sublimated wrongly and you have tried bleaching and white vinegar, etc but no luck yet. Now it’s time to change the print completely of the metal tumbler. Simply, use some printable vinyl sticker paper and print your design on it. Peel off the sticker and paste it on the tumbler.
Then place the metallic tumbler in the shrink wrap with the help of a heat gun. Start giving heat from top to bottom or bottom to top. Make sure that the wrap is wrapped tightly on all the edges of the tumbler. And boom your new sublimated waterproof tumbler is ready which once was sublimated wrongly.
How to remove sublimation ink from a stainless steel tumbler
How to remove sublimation ink from stainless steel tumbler? The tumbler comes again. Not making the post long, the process for removing the sublimation ink from stainless steel tumbler is the same as the process of removing sublimation ink from a metallic tumbler which is already explained above.
How to remove sublimation ink from ceramic
Removing the sublimation ink from the ceramic is super simple. We have tried over 5 different methods and the most effective and fast method was the bleaching and white vinegar method. Let’s take the example of a ceramic mug here. In a bowl place the ceramic mug and pour the bleach or white vinegar until the mug is completely dipped in it. Then leave for 45 minutes and then start scrubbing the printed ink area with any scrub after 15-20 minutes.
After scrubbing 2-3 times, the sublimation ink will be gone completely from the ceramic mug. We recommend using white vinegar. It gives better and fast results.
How to remove sublimation ink from glass
Removing sublimation ink from glass is a bit tricky but it’s possible. We have tried multiple methods and in most of them, I personally didn’t see any result(best quality result). The only two methods that worked really well as white vinegar and bleach. Same as doing with the tumbler or etc. First, place the glass object in a bowl and add any of the liquid mentioned until the object is fully covered. Leave for 45 minutes.
After 15-20 minutes scrub it and do this 2-3 times. All the sublimation ink will be gone. But I would recommend not to do this because there is a high chance that you will break the glass because while scrubbing you need to put pressure on the scrub and it might break the low quality or thin glass.
How to remove sublimation ink from fabric
How to remove sublimation ink from fabric is one of those questions that every sublimator asks during the sublimation printing journey. The best answer to this question is,
“In order to remove sublimation ink from any fabric, you have to use the bleach. Place the shirt in bleach and leave for half an hour. Then rub the printed ink area. All the sublimation ink will be gone. Another method is to your spray bottle. Fill the bottle with bleach and spray on the area where ink exists. Completely cover the ink area and expose the fabric direct to the sunlight for few hours. Wash that fabric off and all the printed sublimation ink will be gone(spraying the bleach method is recommended by InkGuiding).”
Also Read:
1. Can You Use Sublimation Ink For Regular Printing
2. How To Preserve Sublimation Ink Correctly
3. How To Make Sublimation Brighter
FAQs – How To Remove Sublimation Ink
Q: Can sublimation print be removed?
Yes, a sublimation print can be removed using bleach and white vinegar.
Q: Can you remove sublimation from a tumbler?
Yes, you can remove the sublimation from a tumbler using white vinegar.
Q: Why is my sublimation paper sticking to my mug?
Your sublimation paper is sticking to your mug because you are overheating it as well as removing the paper very late. Make sure to use the perfect pressure and heat while sublimating and remove the sublimation paper when the mug is newly sublimated and warm. If you let it cool down, the paper will definitely get stuck to it.
Q: How do you remove sublimation paper stuck to a tumbler?
Removing the stuck sublimation paper from a tumbler is hard but possible. But before that, let’s see what causes this issue. Giving pressure more than required and not removing the paper from the tumbler while it’s hot. Fix these two issues and you won’t face the paper sticking issue anymore. And in order to remove the stuck sublimation paper from a tumbler, try to do it with water and gently remove the paper from the tumbler.