Want to add more artistry and pizzazz to your business or home office, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, family room or bedroom? Look no further than your Corian® or Solid Surface!
Thanks to an exciting new process called dye sublimation, you can now transfer any design, logo, photograph or image (no matter how simple or complex) onto your solid surface material.
Dye Sublimation in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s offices at Inverdee House in Aberdeen, Scotland. Reception desk project by Keppie Design Architects; photo Simon Price. Photograph courtesy of DuPont.
How It’s Done
Although it may look complicated, dye sublimation is really quite simple and the results are impressive! And, as it turns out, solid surface is the perfect medium for the dye sublimation process. This is because successful dye sublimation is dependant upon an acrylic or polyester base for application because of their ability to bond with the gassed ink dyes that are used.
To start, select your desired image or text – a photograph, digital or vector image – and provide it to your dye sublimation specialist. It’s important to check with them beforehand to make sure that your image meets the minimum digital or printed requirements to enable them to create a viable digital image file for sublimation.
After going through their own quality check process, the specialist will then print your desired image to an ink transfer plate and heat up both the plate and the solid surface material. Once the materials reach the proper temperature, a vacuum process is used to transfer the ink on the transfer plate (now in gaseous form) into the Corian® or other solid surface material. (Note: this process may vary slightly between dye sublimation specialists.)
Presto! Your desired image or text is now permanently embedded into the surface, creating a very artistic and unique piece. This printed solid surface piece can now be fabricated, shaped and thermoformed, in the same manner as any other piece of solid surface material.
Think of Your Solid Surface as a Blank Canvas…
Just like Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso or Warhol, envision your solid surface material as a blank canvas just waiting to spring to life with whatever imagery you desire. Through the dye sublimation process, virtually anything you can imagine can be masterfully transferred into your solid surface. Possibilities range from larger endeavors like business signs, paneled installations, wall décor and artistic flourishes added to countertops, to smaller projects like promotional goods, coasters, hot plates, trivets or customized trophies or gifts.
Dye sublimation in various design concepts developed by R.D.Wing Co., Inc., for the AIA 2006 Convention, DuPont Corian Booth. Photo courtesy of R.D. Wing Co., Inc.
Dye sublimation is unique, in that the process permanently embeds and preserves your selected image or text in the actual solid surface substrate. As a result, you also have the creative flexibility to choose between a matte or high gloss finish for the final touch.
Quite literally, dye sublimation allows your imagination to be the limit on what you create. So, what do you say, are you ready to let your inner artist out?
Dye Sublimation in the Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Reception Area of the Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus, Spain, Decoration by FernandezCoca.com; Photo courtesy of curArte and DuPont.