Hey guys, hope you are doing so well! 5 year back on my birthday my sister just gifted me a cup. And after watching that cup I feel oh god! What an art! One of my candid pictures with some lines of love and best wishes from my sister was just printed on that cup. I just fell in love with it. As you know I love art. That time I decided to study that art, try it, learn it and master it. And today I’m here to discuss and teach that art to you guys. An art that stills my heart.
I hope you also love to do that. To do the home décor, to customise the gifts for your loved ones or you can use this art for your customers also. Do you want to dive deep into this artistic ocean? So let’s get started.
Materials and tools used for the sublimation on the mug:
For anything you do, you need some specific materials and tools. The materials used in this art are:
- Design/Picture (You want to print on)
- Printer
- Sublimation Paper
- Sublimation Ink
- Substrate (Sublimation Mug)
- Butcher Paper
- Heat Source (Heat Press/ convection Oven)
- Heat Resistant Tape
- Heat Resistant Gloves
Sublimation on Mug: Step By Step Guide
The systematic step-by-step guide to making that art happen is as follows;
1. Finalise your design:
This is the art in which you want to blast your picture/art/design onto a mug with sublimation printing. Right! So here your first task is to finalise your design/picture. This picture should be clear and crisp. And try to use the picture in the PNG format as it gives a better result.
What do I do as I want to write something on the mug with a picture?
This is not tricky work. Just go with any software/application and customise your design with the picture. I use ‘Canva’ for this process. Canva is best suited for me as it is free and provides all the customisation features.
2. Print your design:
With the customization of the design, now is the time to print your design on the sublimation paper. But before printing just do the mirroring of your image.
Why mirroring the design?
Because while doing sublimation, you have to stick the design in the reversible direction. If your design is not mirrored then the design will appear mirrored on the mug as the final result.
Use an inkjet printer only and sublimation ink while printing.
3. Wrap your mug :
In this step, you have just wrapped your print onto the mug you are using for the art. Here your main aim will be to perfectly wrap the paper around the mug. For that what you have to do, just take your mug. Place vertically in front of you in such a position that the handle of the mug will be just in front of your nose. Take a printout and wrap it above the mug in such a way that the last edges of the print will meet at the handle of the mug. Now secure your design with the heat-resistant tape.
Tip: Tape your design onto the mug perfectly and tight.
Now it’s time to go for the sublimation. But wait! Before going to the sublimation just wrap the butcher paper around the mug.
Why Butcher Paper?
While sublimating the colour vapours stick to the inner side of the heat source. And in the future when you use the same equipment it will ruin your work as these colours will smear on the new work. The butcher paper will save you from ruining your work in future.
4. Start Sublimation:
There are 3 methods which are tried and trusted by me.
Method 1): Sublimation with a mug press:
Turn ‘ON’ the mug press
Hold your wrapped mug with a handle and place it in the heating chamber
Check the mug position in the heat chamber by closing the clamps If the position is not good, just adjust the mug’s position. The mug’s position in the mug press is such that the heat plates completely cover the design
Now just close the clamp and with that sublimation starts. It normally takes 5 to 6 minutes.
After finishing the sublimation, just take out your mug from the mug press. And take it on the heat-resistant thing to get completely cool.
While removing the mug from the mug press, just hold the handle of the mug and don’t touch any other part of the mug.
I just keep it on the mat from my side to cool it completely and I normally give it 30 minutes to cool it.
After total cooling, remove the butcher paper and the transfer paper from the mug and with that blow your creativity on the mug.
Method 2): Sublimation with mug wrap/ Convection Oven Method:
This is the 2nd method I’m going to introduce you for mug sublimation. For this you have to wrap your design around the mug and secure it with the heat resistant tape. Also, cover it with butcher paper and secure it with heat-resistant tape.
Preheat the convection oven to 4000 For 2040 C. And if possible use the oven thermometer to check the temperature of the oven and adjust it accordingly.
Now it’s time to wrap the mug. For that, I just pull down my mug on the wrap and trim out the excessive wrap with the help of scissors. Secure it with heat-resistant tape.
Now it’s time for your gloves. Wear your gloves to save your hands from the heat. Use a heat gun and try to heat the shrink wrap to confirm my design onto the mug. Be sure that your shrink wrap will be tight and mostly focus on the area around the handle. But you should not give a lot of heat otherwise it will be pulled apart in the oven.
- Now place the mug in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, remove your mug from the oven and let it cool for 20-30 minutes.
- Remove the shrink wrap and the transfer paper very carefully with the help of a scissor.
Method 3) Air Fryer Method:
This is the 3rd method of mug sublimation I’m going to introduce to you.
While going with this sublimation method, you have to follow each and every step the same as the convection oven method.
- Heat it at 4000 F for 8-10 minutes.
- Remove the mug carefully and give it some time to cool.
- After cooling remove the shrink wrap and the sublimation transfer paper carefully with the help of a scissor.
Tip: the air fryer should be for craft purposes only and it should never be used for the cooking
You may also check – Sublimation Heat Press Settings
Precautions to be taken while doing sublimation:
- Use the substrate which is labelled as the sublimation blank. Here you have to use the mug which is labelled as the sublimation blank.
- While doing the sublimation the room you are using for the sublimation is fully valinted and fans should be turned ON.
- Use heat-resistant gloves while doing the sublimation.
You may also check – Sublimation Vs Heat Transfer
Conclusion
With all these things from materials, equipment and all the 3 methods, I hope you get good enough knowledge about mug sublimation. So with that use this blog as a tutorial, follow each and every step carefully and shock the world with beautiful sublimated mugs. With that keep growing, keep learning and keep sublimating.