my only problem with sublimating directly on normal wood is that the lamination pouches or polycrylic spray tends to darken the wood a bit. And you really need as close to white as you can get to make those colors pop. But it WILL work.
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Not sure what kind of blanks you’re looking for, but I sublimate on white and clear acrylic all the time. Also white hardboard. I know JPPlus sells sheet materials for sublimation and they used to have wood…but I just checked the website and I don’t see it anymore.
I haven’t tried PG wood though, never occurred to me, @nancyrich9781 or @kanati do you know if the sealcoat on PG is sublimatable? I honestly never needed to sublimate wood before so I never tried.
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I’m expanding my photography business into sublimation and was just thinking if I could cut out the material in the shapes I want instead of ordering pre-made materials. I will check out JPPlus and see what is available. Thanks.
I do not know if the sealcoat on proofgrade material is subbable or not. I don’t have any PG material to try or I’d let you know. You CAN sublimate on some materials that aren’t poly coated though… it’s just that the colors are usually very muted if they do “stick”.
I guess I should try it later. I have some PG plywood scraps. I always think the maple looks like it can be done.
I have sublimated on white and clear acrylic with good results. Although I have pouches for my laminator and have purchased the Polycrylic just for sublimation, I have yet to try either. Do you have any tips or settings you would recommend? Do you paint the items white first? If so, spray or brush?
Update - These are all done on acrylic except the last one which was done on dry erase board from Lowe’s.
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I’m still kind of new to sublimation myself. So I’m still in testing mode. I have TRIED painting and then spraying polycrylic over the top of it. That didn’t go well. The paint wound up melting and everything sort of smeared. I’ve thought of trying a high temp paint and see what happens, but haven’t gotten that far yet. With the polycrylic by itself I’ve not had many problems short of, as said above, it seemingly darkening the wood a bit. My press died on me the first time I tried it so I bought one of the cricut portable 12x12 presses. It’s a big iron basically. That, I have had good luck with 400 degrees for 90 seconds and sort of… medium to light pressure.
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I need to run to Lowe’s for some other things, I’ll pick up some hi temp paint and try it out. I’ll let you know how it holds up (may be a day or so before I can get time between projects)
With no other sealant? I thought about trying whiteboard without anything on it…
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A lot of people use the eucalyptus hardboard from Home Depot in place of Unisub. From what I’ve read, you don’t have to use any coating with the eucalyptus.
I did buy eucalyptus and had my husband cut it for me, and also ordered some blanks for JPPlus (including one piece of Unisub to try it out). I haven’t much yet, though. I’m new to sublimation and still immersing myself with reading things in hopes of less wasted materials on my part. 
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those eucalyptus white hardboards have an acrylic sealer on them which is likely polyester based. So if it works well that’s probably why. 
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Ah! Well there you go. It is really cheap! Looking forward to trying it. I just need more hours in the day, or to win the lotto. lol
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One of the whitest woods but stains a bit with cutting is Aspen, spray before cutting and it could be great.
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I used the polyacrylic spray on Maple and it sublimated. The colors were fairly bright and it cut well. I’m scared to try acrylic because there are so many variables and I don’t want to ruin a sheet of acrylic or the machine.
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I was at Home Depot yesterday and now it is $12.25 a sheet ( in South Florida anyway). You can get a lot accomplished with one sheet!
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Just plain dry erase (the back side is black for chalk) from Lowe’s. I’ll locate a barcode to send you.
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This is a piece of that Eucalyptus hardboard sublimated on the right with the picture on the left. I didn’t put anything on it this time and it came out better than ever. This was 350 degrees for 1 minute. The printer is an Epson 2720 from Office Depot that I put the sublimation ink into. The printer was $99 on sale. Sorry, the picture is sideways but I can’t figure out how to turn it on here.
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Very nice. I went with the epson ecotank 2760 myself. Had no idea you could dump sublimation inks in the epsons til someone here posted about it.
(Basically… people on this forum will get you in trouble. ALL THE TIME.)
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The Epson is perfect for what I use it for and the ink is reasonable. This forum is like a master class and I learn something new every time I am on it.
Hope someday I can be of more help cause right now I am still in the learner phase!
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Can you sub print on stone or slate?