DSF

The absolute minimum i would say you can "get away with" is 60-75mm each edge. So at A4 you would be looking at a visible width of 90mm

Try a large fabric store Especially in the curtain section They often have 100% polyester canvas available. I am in Australia so really can't recommend who would have it over there Maybe google it??
Also some art supply stores carry Polyester canvas.

pisquee;79745 wrote:poly bed sheets are bloody awful to sleep in/on!
you'll need poly canvas for sublimation.
A4 canvases will be really small by the time you've wrapped them around the stretcher bars.

If you decide to sublimate 100% cotton canvas, first make sure it is nice and white - not cream. Beware of using 'artists' canvas' because it often has a special white coating that peels off after heating. I actually DO use artists canvas and rarely have problems, but I have had one where the 'gesso' peeled.

Once you know your canvas is 100% cotton and not coated - just use the same method as for dye sub printing into 100% cotton tee shirts. The thing with canvas is that you won't have to wash it and get the initial fade out of the way. If it is gesso coated, spray it with the same treatment as I use for cotton.

I messed around with sublimating onto cotton canvas for a while because I couldn't find anywhere that sold 100% polyester canvas in small quantities. Then I realised (as a yachtsman) that a lot of the sails we use are made from dacron, which is polyester, so I tested sail cloth. It worked fine (except that some sail cloth is laminated).

Then my sail maker showed me some nice 100% polyester canvas he uses for awnings. problem solved.

My ordinary canvas prints are printed onto an A3 piece of canvas fed through my pigment printer. To get around the problem of size after a 'wrap' stretching, I only stretch gently to the edges of the frame, then overlay the top of the frame with a beading of timber, so my stretching frame is 'framed' all around.

With dye sub, whether it is on polyester or cotton, I just leave make the canvas about 6 inches longer and wider than my print. After it is pressed there is a nice white border all the way around and enough canvas to do a full wrap.

If you use the 100% cotton shirt method for dye sub into the cotton canvas, you can get it wet, and it won't run.

Thanks for all of the comments/Advice - all welcome.

I tried the canvas I have just as a test, didn't expect much but had the press heated so wanted to make use of it.

Here's how it turned out - 190c 60secs:

NikGrey;79852 wrote:Thanks for all of the comments/Advice - all welcome.

I tried the canvas I have just as a test, didn't expect much but had the press heated so wanted to make use of it.

Here's how it turned out - 190c 60secs:

Nik in box me your address and ill send you a sample of canvas over to play with

As is pretty obvious, I do sublimation mostly for fun and as a way to use some of my other equipment. So I do all the stuff that is not possible, like sublimating 100% cotton t-shirts.

Here's one of my sublimated prints into the normal cheap artist's canvases you can get at the 'dollar shops'. In this case the stretched canvas was $7.99 and I just prep the surface as if it is a cotton shirt, then print with sublimation paper and ink.

The surface of these canvases is already coated with acrylic gesso, but I treat mine with a spray on acrylic. Unlike tee-shirts though, with canvas it is not necessary (or in fact possible) to saturate the fibres. You just need enough polyester to sublimate into.

With a cotton shirt you need it so wet that you can wring the stuff out!

Here are a couple of pics of one canvas and a pic of the original photo, but there are some differences in colour due to lighting and because I don't have ICC profiles available for my printer. Having said that, I'm pretty happy with the Brother for dye sub.
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