So what is sublimation paper exactly? To best answer this question, I think you should first learn how sublimation paper actually works.

Sublimation paper is made up of paper and a special polyester coating. This coating is key to holding the ink within the paper.

When it comes to printing on this paper, the process is much like using your home printer and normal printer paper. While sublimation printers use inkjets for printing, you can’t use just any ink.

You need to use specialized sublimation inks with sublimation paper. Without this special ink, your transfer project will fail.

The magic of sublimation paper happens when the paper is placed on a blank surface and heated. When heated, sublimation ink temporarily transforms into a gas. At the same time, pores in the polyester coating expand to allow this gaseous ink to escape the paper and deposit onto the blank surface.

If you’re still confused, think of sublimation paper as a temporary holding cell for your printed image. The point isn’t to have your image stay on the paper permanently. Instead, it is just holding onto the ink until it can be deposited onto fabric.