Sublimation Print Test
Print a sublimation colour-target sheet.
Print settings
Print this on the paper you normally use, then examine each section. What a healthy result looks like is described above each pattern on the sheet.
RunTheTests Sublimation Print Test · print at 100% · plain paper
CMYK — solid ink blocks
Skin tones
Banding check — smooth gradients (look for steps or lines)
How this test page works
Sublimation colours shift when heat-pressed, so a test print lets you compare printed versus pressed colour and dial in your profile before wasting blanks.
What the results mean
- Pre-press vs pressed
- Sublimation ink looks dull on paper and vivid after pressing. Use this to build a reference of how each colour transforms.
Common problems and fixes
- Colours are consistently dull after pressing
- Usually the substrate rather than the print. Sublimation needs a polyester content of roughly 65% or higher, or a properly coated hard surface — a cotton-rich blend simply cannot hold the dye and always looks washed out. Check the blank's specification before adjusting temperature, time or profile.
- There is a ghosted double image
- The transfer moved against the substrate during or just after pressing. Tape it down on at least two edges, lift the press cleanly rather than dragging, and separate the paper from the item immediately while it is still hot. Ghosting is nearly always handling and almost never a printing fault.
- Results vary between presses of the same design
- Temperature and pressure are less consistent than press displays suggest. Check the actual platen temperature with an independent probe — a 10 °C error is common and shifts colour visibly — and confirm even pressure across the whole platen, since the corners of a large press are frequently cooler and lighter than the centre.
Frequently asked questions
My sublimation colours are wrong after pressing
Sublimation ink changes dramatically with heat, so the on-paper colour is not the final colour — you need a sublimation ICC profile and a pressed reference. This sheet gives you the printed baseline to compare against your pressed result.
Why does printed colour look nothing like the final result?
Because sublimation dye is not doing its job until it is heated. On paper it sits dull and slightly chalky; under heat it turns to gas and bonds into the polymer, becoming far more saturated. That gap is expected, which is why the only meaningful reference is a pressed chart on the substrate you actually use.
Do I need a sublimation ICC profile?
For colour-critical work, yes — the shift from paper to pressed result is large and not uniform across the colour space, so no amount of eyeballing gets you consistent results. For general use, a pressed reference chart from this sheet on your usual blanks gets you most of the way and costs one press cycle.