😎Advice For New Sublimation Crafters [Save TIME + MONEY!!] 😎

y'all if you have just started on your sublimation Journey you are in the right spot today we are going to be making a beginner friendly sublimation projects and y'all we're going to have so many tips and tricks so get out your sublimation stuff get out a notebook and a pencil so you can jot down these notes and let's go ahead and get started for today's project there are just a very few things that you all are going to need and that's going to include your sub printer no matter what type of cation printer you use you can use it for today's project I will go ahead and tell you our favorites here at the makers going to learn channel is going to be the Epson ecotank printers whether that is the f170 already set up sublimation printer that Epson makes or if it is a converted Epson ECOT tank those are going to be the ones that we tend to lean towards we have used s Saw Grass and other printers but in our opinion we just think Epson gives makes a really really good printer and really gives us a really good payout So today we're going to be using the Epson ecotank f170 printer as you can see here we do have a Tumblr press now this is not something that you absolutely have to have and as a beginner it's is probably something that you may not have but this is what we are going to use today um I do have a tip for our beginners if you are using a convection oven and I will show you that once we get to the pressing process I will show you that tip but other than that these two pieces of equipment of course our favorite sublimation paper which is the asub sublimation paper and our sublimation blank if you are curious where you can find this blank you can check down below we have all of our materials that we're going to be using listed down below so definitely make sure to check that out so before we get started creating our design the very first tip that I have for beginners is to start small now that doesn't mean a simplified design you can have a complicated design on any blank that you choose but in my opinion for beginners you're going to want to start small you can see here that we have chosen an image that has lots of different colors and it looks so cute but it is small on the cup and not a full wrap if you are starting especially with cups y'all if you are trying to start with a full wrap on a cup unfortunately you are just going to be setting yourself up for failure because full wraps even for a season crafter is sometimes hard so when I say start small I mean start and make your design a little bit smaller so it fits within the size of your blank you may not be creating a cup maybe you want your first design to be on a T-shirt and if you decide to do a t-shirt my advice is just like I said still start small maybe it's just a design here on the shoulder or just a small design across the front you're definitely not going to want to try to piece together a large image on a shirt or any other blank that you create so tip number one for beginners it's okay to start small and I promise you it's still going to look great the second tip that I have for beginners is talking about blanks and I really want to talk about this before we jump into designing and that is start with blanks that are designated sublimation blanks now I'm sure you have seen all over the Internet that there are so many different ways that you can still sublate on different materials and you can but if you are a beginner I truly think you just need to start with blanks that are pre-made for sublimation the reason being is because you're always going to get a really good color payout you're not going to have to worry about if you have coated it with polyacrylic is it going to heat up wrong is it going to stick to my paper so so many things can go wrong when you put polyacrylic or try to make a something a sublimation blank that once again even well seasoned Crafters have issues with that's why for beginners I really just think it's going to be so much easier on you if you start with something designated for sublimation if it's a shirt a 100% poly count shirt is going to be perfect if it is a cup or some other type of blank I know that local craft stores have plenty of sublimation blanks and you can find them all over the Internet um if you'll just type in sublimation blanks you will find so many of them that are pre-made for sublimation now I hope you guys are ready to create an amazing mug because now we're going to hop over to share screen and I'm going to show you exactly how we designed this now that we are here y'all if you are new to sublimation and you have never used canva I truly think this is a great time to start because canva is one of those design softwares that I think really helps those who are sublimating because we can use so much more area versus Cricut design space if that is the software that you're used to designing in I definitely think you need to play around with canva it is pretty simple to use and like I said I'm going to walk you through the process today so first thing that we need to do is create a design so you can see here on the canva homepage once you have logged in or created you a free account you can see this created design up here in the top left corner so what we're going to do is we're going to click create a design now especially when it comes to sublimation this tip is one of my favorite tips to give beginners and that is coming down here to where it says custom size and creating your custom size based on what size paper you are using this is just going to help you you really um determine how much room you have on your paper if you are the type of person that doesn't like to waste sublimation paper because it is a little bit more expensive than regular paper I totally get it this way you can create multiple designs on the same sheet of paper and press a lot of different things so what I love to do whether I'm using 8 and 1/2 by 11 8 1/2 by 14 or the 13 by9 tabloid paper or even a mugs siiz paper I with sublimation love to come down here to custom size of course I'm going to change my units from pixels to inches because that is what we are working in if you are in a different country and you use a different system of course change it to centimeters or millimeters whichever one works best for you but we are I personally think in inches so I'm changing it to inches and then I'm making the width and the height the same size as my paper so that is tip number three from me making your canvas size the same size as the paper you are printing on once you have tapped that in we are going to cre select create new design and then we will have a blank canvas to work from now for our actual design I'm going to hop over to Makers going to learn and we are going to be using this teacher pencil split design it's already set up for you to put a name in the middle super easy if you want this exact design you can sign up for our makers going to learn membership where you get thousands of cut files and fonts that you can use within sublimation as well so we're just going to download this once it is downloaded we're going to come back over here to canva you're going to go to uploads on the left side of your screen now you can either bring in your finder and you can go to your recent downloads or you can and come up here to upload file and it will pull it up for you we are using the PNG version because we are doing sublation that is just the portable Network graphic so we're going to drag and drop that here and then it is going to upload to canva and that's it now we are have not sized it to fit our mug just yet we will do that here in just a second but that's all you have to do drag drop upload it into canva and then we will typ our name now the next step in creating this super cute design is going to be adding the name you can do that using fonts that you have that are readily available here on canva you totally can do that if you have a free account they have some really good fonts so if you wanted to add a text box you can see here we'll add the text box and then if you want to change the font you can see here that they have lots of good fonts now the font that we used for this one specifically is a makers going to learn font and I am going to show you how you can upload your own fonts into canva if you have canva Pro because it is a canva pro only feature but do not fear if you do not have canva Pro use some of the free fonts that they have they have some really really good ones um for this one specifically I think I would go to the handwriting section and this playright looks really really cute if you just put that in there with your teacher name I think that one is super cute there are so many really good fonts that you can choose from that are part of the canva free version but just so you know they are there if you want to make it exactly like we did coming over here to the makers going to learn website we used the font Olivia which we love to upload a font onto canva what you're going to do is you're going to click this arrow pointing down it is going to come in as a zip file we do need to double click that and open unzip that from there we're going to come back to canva we have our text box selected and once we drop down this font menu here you can see at the bottom where it has upload a font so we're just going to click upload a font we are going to come down here to our downloads we see our um Olivia unzipped font here we're going to select SCT it and we're going to open that up because we do have we are confirming that we have rights to these fonts if you are a mgl or a maker going to learn member you do have the right SE fonts and you can use it this way so we're just going to go to click upload anyway and then from there our font will show up under our uploaded fonts and sometimes it's hard to find it so we're just going to top in Olivia and here it is now all we have to do is type in the name that we are using today we're going to be doing miss Savannah I'm just going to shrink that box down and then Center it and make it larger once you have done that you can move your name around to fit where where you want it another cool feature with canva that you can do is if you drag and drop and you can see both of these are selected with both of these layers selected we can go to position and we can actually align these elements together and Center them perfectly and once they are centered what I'm going to do is I'm going to come up here to group and I'm just going to group them together and so it truly just makes it one large image and then I'm just going to scale it now all that's left for us to do is size this image according to the size that we wanted on our blank so what we're going to do before I size it on my canvas is I just like to pull out my blank and get a some measurements so for this one I think really staying within the 3 and 1/2 in in width is going to be where it's at of course I only have I would say 3 in Max to work with when it comes to height so we're going to go three and 1 half by three and let's go to our go back to our share screen and so what I'm going to do now is I am just going to size this accordingly and you can see when I size it down in the bottom right corner that little box that has the W and the height I can size it according to that or if you really want to be precise about it with this selected you can go to position and then in the advance section you can type in your width and your height so as of right now our ratio is unlocked before we type this in we need to lock this first and now we can make our width the highest that we thought it would be which would be 3.5 and what that is due is what that is going to do is that is going to equally shrink it down to fit the height as well and we said we were no more than three so that's 2.93 if you want it to come down even more just to give you a little bit more wiggle room I truly would especially as a beginner so let's just scale it down just a smid and more let's sit at 3.3 and I think that will give us a little bit more room um and other than that we are ready to print now I'm sure you're thinking but Lauren what about mirroring your image so you can do that if you are working with text in canva you can see that when we flip horizontally with it selected if I come up here to flip and flip it horizontally it's just going to flip the pencils and not the actual words so just keep that in mind with canva you can't flip text you would have to go out resave it bring it back in so I'm just going to show you where you need to go to mirror your image from your print settings because that is truly my favorite place to mirror my images I can just create the design exactly how I want it and then I can mirror it in my print settings so now that we have that we are ready to download this to send it to our printer so what we're going to do is we're going to come up here where it says share you're going to click share we are going to download this and we are going to be downloading this as a PNG now if you are just printing it on your paper you don't have to print it with a transparent background because it's fine it really doesn't matter um it's not that big of a deal because we're just going to be cutting this out so we just want to select PNG and we're just going to download it really is that simple once you have downloaded we are going to open that up and then we we are going to go ahead and send it to our printer now here is where you're going to select the printer that you want to use I will show you we have an 8550 that does not automatically mirror and it is a converted printer so what this this is going to look more so like what you might be seeing so I will select that first and show you where we're going to go to mirror so once you select that you do want to come down here to preview we want to drop that that down from there you're going to go to print settings now once you have pulled up print settings you can see down here that ours has Mirror Image sometimes it can be found in print settings sometimes it can be found in uh layout either one flipping it horizonally there so since I've shown you where you can go to flip it from your print settings I'm I'm going to go back up here and I'm going to choose the one that we are using which is the Epson surecolor f170 series now this is a printer that is already set up for sublimation so if you have one of these fun fact I learned this the hard way as a beginner it automatically mirrors your design for you so you don't have to um so once I have done that I am going to come down here to color matching and change it from Epson color controls to color sync what this is going to do is it's just going to give me colors more so like what I see on my screen versus the deeper colors that you will sometimes see with the Epson color control you can come down here and change your profile I like to leave it on automatic I think it's going to be the best for beginners as well so just leave it on automatic and then all we have to do is go to print so now that it is printed you can see that the colors are a little lighter than what you may think y'all do not fear this is what sublation is post to look like it's going to print a lot lighter than what you see once you press if for some reason you are not getting the colors that you need especially for those that may have a converted printer trust us it's not you you just have to learn a more advanced set of skills when it comes to getting your printer to print the colors that you need and I'm here to tell you that we have an amazing course called maker going to sublate that you can jump in on today for next to nothing and it will save you hundreds of dollars in wasted blanks trust me I know this because we spent so much money in blanks trying to get the color profiles right on our printer now like I said getting your color profiles is definitely not a beginner friendly process but we have broken it down for you within Maker's going to sublate and we walk with you hand inand teaching you how to download the print driver giving you the colors that we use to get those color profiles right based on the the ink that we use because each brand of ink is going to be made up entirely different so another Pro tip not beginner tip but depending on what ink you use get on their website they normally have the ICC color profiles for your printer with their ink so make sure you check that out but but like I said we give you all of that information as well within maker going to sublate plus you get all of these other videos that is going to save you so much time and headache when it comes to learning sublation and I also didn't mention that there are 600 plus sublimation files ready for you to go as soon as you get the course sha it's a no-brainer it's a onetime fee you get it for Lifetime plus you get any and all updates that we do within that course so if you're a beginner and you're still struggling I definitely think you need to check out that link down below so let's go ahead and get this pressed so that you all can see the colors on this amazing cup now that we have our design printed we are ready to tape this onto our cup now you are going to want to try to line it up as best you can we are using a press make sure you take the plastic lid off of your cup if you are also using a press so you want to try try your best to line this up as good as possible now it is easier to see in person you can see where the design is so I feel like I can I have a better idea of where it's at probably better than what you can see on the screen but we're just going to line this up now as I'm taping this down let's talk about the importance of having your design truly taped down really really well and snug up against your cup so the way that sublimation works for those that may not know especially if you are a beginner the ink that is printed here is a special D sublimation ink so what happens is when heat is applied heat and pressure is applied to this ink it then turns into a gas what that gas does the gas particles bounce off of each other and they're going to stick to the polymers on this cup so it's kind of like they're looking for the closest glue to stick themselves to so that's why we want to make sure our design stays really tight because if there's room let's say there's a gap here for the gas particles to bounce around they're going to find something to glue down or to adhere themselves down to but it may be somewhere over here so you want your transfer to be very tight up against your design which which is why a lot of times we suggest using a tumbler press on a round surface if this is something that you plan on getting into especially to sell later on now remember at the first of the video I told you guys if you don't have a Tumblr press do not fear I'm going to give you a tip for what we have found works best if you are working with a convection oven and that is going to be these amazing silicone sleeves now they have them for all different sizes and you can see this one is actually made to go through the middle of the the cup right here so if you are working with a convection oven and you still need something to hold pressure up against your blank like I said I highly suggest these silicone wraps this one specifically is made for it is made for a mug so all I have to do if I were not using a press would be to place my silicone wrap and lock it in around my mug and that is going to act like a press it's just going to keep that up there against that and it's not going to really affect the heat at all so like I said if you're not using a press and you're using a convection oven for this I suggest going ahead and investing in some silicone sleeves since we are using a Tumblr press we're not going to need to use the silicone wrap so this is pretty much ready to go in our element now I have not tested to see if it's and I am going to need to loosen this because this is a little bit larger of a cup so I'm just going to loosen this up just a little bit still need to loosen it up a little bit more and then once you have loosened your press up enough to fit in your design some people still some people like to cut cover they're even when working with a Tumblr press some people like to lay in some butcher paper just so there is no chance of transfer in my opinion I have done it without butcher paper I actually had a pretty large order where I did about 150 Cups did not personally use butcher paper and it did not transfer onto my blank but for beginners I would test my press out first before going no butcher paper so we're just going to lay that in there like that I'm going to grab my cup make sure that it goes inside the butcher's paper and that the design is placed all the way on the heating element and then we are just going to we are going to close that down and we are going to press this cup for roughly 120 seconds once you have closed your Tumblr press we are going to press this because it is a metal cup metal cups normally go for about 60 seconds at 385 if you have sublimation blanks I highly suggest looking at the instructions that that specific blank gives you and doing the time and temperature that that blank gives you but if they don't the sweet spots for sublimation is around 385 um like I said for metal it's roughly a minute if you are doing it on ceramic it is going to take a little bit longer it normally takes up to 240 seconds but like I said we're just doing 60 seconds on this one right now once your time is up you're definitely going to need a heat glove of some sort we are going to grab our blank out of here we're going to bring it over here and we are going to reveal our cute design and y'all look how cute now one thing I don't suggest you doing although it is really easy to want to I don't suggest you grabbing a weeding tool to try to get the tape off or you might end up with something like I just did y'all even professionals mess up and I wasn't thinking and grabbed a weeding tool and just scratched it so other than that look how stinking cute these colors came out perfect I think it is such a cute design and so simple and easy and I think as beginners this is definitely going to be a great place to start for you guys and that's it I hope you guys have enjoyed creating this amazing little mug for the teacher in your guys' lives or for really anyone else I cannot wait to see what you all create I know that we've had a lot of information in this please feel free to go back and rewatch craft along with us jot down all of those tips and tricks that we have and like I said if you are a beginner instead of having all of the frustration and overwhelm I think you need to check out maker going to sublate which is going to be the first link down below like I said we're going to save you so much money in wasted blanks it's going to be below your mind when you see it we spent so much time getting those color profiles right teaching you how to set up your sublimation printer taking you from a novice to a pro in no time there are so many things jam-packed within that course I truly think that it is well worth its money and I definitely think you need to check that out if you haven't already and you have enjoyed this video make sure you hit that Thumbs Up Button subscribe to our Channel and hit that Bell notification so that you can get notified every time we get crafty and if you're still wanting to learn more cation tips and tricks check out this video here