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The Basics of Full Color Laser Sublimation
There are major differences between ColourMagic! sublimation, single color laser sublimation and inkjet sublimation.
The first fact is that all colors are printed on the transfer, before it comes out of the printer. The second fact is that because the printer holds four sublimation cartridges (blue, red, yellow and black), you can adjust the shades of the colors. This provides true process printing laser sublimation.
While there are also other advantages, the big difference between inkjet and ColourMagic! laser sublimation is the fact that our powerful sublimation toners easily sublimate beautiful full color prints onto regular gold and silver metal plates, while inks look faded.
This is very important to you. While good inkjet sublimation does a very nice job on white aluminum, it cannot produce the deep colors of laser sublimation on gold. The buying public views gold and silver as symbols of ultimate achievement, and they willingly pay a premium for that perception. Adding good looking color increases that perceived value even more. This happy fact provides our ColourMagic! awards dealers with tremendous opportunities. We'll share more about that later.
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Producing Full Color Laser Transfers
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The actual production of full color laser transfers is not much more involved (or expensive) than doing black single color sublimation.
After the layout is completed, the transfer is printed onto ordinary laser paper (about $65 for 5,000 sheets).
The transfer is put into a heat press, face up, and the metal is placed over it, face down. The plastic cover is left on the metal because the toners are powerful enough to blow right on through it, with great results. When you peel the transfer off, the plate is ready for mounting.
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After 20 seconds and 375 the transfer and metal is removed together and allowed to cool. After cooling, the paper and plastic peels off as easily as an onionskin. This is exactly how the beautiful "Palma" plaque above, was produced.
The actual transfer cost for the 8x10 plaque was about a quarter and this is the average cost for all transfers. A set of four ColourMagic! cartridges produces between 4,000 and 6,000 prints.
Producing Nice Colors for Fun and Profit
Like everything else, the more skilled you are with your equipment and programs, the more you are able to creatively produce. However, producing highly desirable (and saleable) recognition awards for your customers does not have to be "rocket science."
Our expert color consultant created the first two plates that you saw. He scanned in a line drawing and colored and shaded it in CorelDraw.
The plate to the right was created entirely with an inexpensive ($69.99) and simple desktop publishing program called "PrintShop Pro Publisher 12," in about 15 minutes, by us.
Please overlook the light reflections on this (and other) plates. Making nice graphics is easy, compared to trying to take nice pictures of gold tone plates.
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The point we are trying to make, of course, is the fact that you can easily create dynamic and profitable awards with ColourMagic! sublimation. In fact, we have noticed folks, while holding the plate in their hand, subconsciously trying to pick up the pencils.
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Before we move on to the next step of learning, look at the gold brass key tag to the left.
With ColourMagic! great looking colors can be produced even on dark brass. Many of our customers use this advantage to their benefit, in producing premium, high-end awards.
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We sometimes refer to our ColourMagic! laser cartridges as producing "Magic on Metal". To learn about them, follow the...
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