Artesprix Beverage Caddy

Hello! This is Alison Heikkila and I am really happy you stopped by today. My latest project for Artesprix uses their July Blank of the Month which is the Beverage Caddy. This Blank (or substrate) will only be available for the month of July. I decided to go with a fun stenciled design on the Beverage Caddy, and I have a way to help you use stencils that are smaller than the Blank you are sublimating on. 

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What is Iron-On Ink?
Artesprix Sublimation Markers, Ink, and Paint are specially formulated to allow you to use basic copy paper to: color, stamp, stencil, and monoprint anything you wish and turn it into a heat-transferable design. These designs are then applied to a polyester or polyester coated substrate with heat and pressure. You can use a heat press or a home iron! These designs, through this process of sublimation, will become permanent on your substrates.

Materials:
Beverage Caddy
Acrylic Paint Set (I mixed the colors to make Hot Pink, Violet, and Pool- See Artesprix’s free Color Mixing Chart for details.)
Ink Pads (I used Pink, Blue, and Purple)
Protective Paper

Heat Tape
Heat Source: Home Iron or Artesprix Heat Press
A Colorful Life Designs: Organic Doodles Stencil
Blending Brushes (I have a dedicated brush for each color)
Paint Brush
Copy Paper
Pencil

Step 1: Trace the Beverage Caddy onto a piece of copy paper with a pencil. Your pencil lines will not transfer during the sublimation process. 

Step 2: Paint the area with the colors mentioned in thirds. I purposely kept my edges super brushy and not overly blended. Be sure to go past your outline to ensure full sublimation later. 

Step 3: Once the paint has dried, lay your stencil on the left side of the paper. My stencil is 6×9, so it’s too small to cover the entire Blank. We’re going to stencil one half, then flip the stencil over to stencil the other, creating a mirror image, since the stencil is organic and doesn’t have a repeating pattern. I stenciled the Purple Ink on top of the Hot Pink paint, the Blue ink on top of the Violet paint, and the Pink on top of the Pool paint. 

Step 4: Be sure to realign your stencil when you flip it over to create the mirror image. We are working on what was the back side of the stencil. Our art will be pretty seamless if you line everything up correctly.

Here’s what the completed design looks like. We’re almost ready to start sublimating! Make sure your Heat Press is set to 400 degrees and 45 seconds or if you’re using a home iron, that it’s on it’s highest dry setting.

Step 5: Tape your finished art to the Blank with Heat Tape. Because the piece is so thick, you’ll want to use a good amount of tape to be sure everything stays in place. 

Step 6: Let’s make our Sublimation Sandwich! Add a layer of siliconized paper to the top and bottom of your Blank. Your sandwich will be: Protective Paper-Colored Image-Blank-Protective Paper. The Protective Paper prevents any images accidentally transferring to either side of your Heat Press or to your home iron.

Step 8: Press the Sublimation Sandwich (art side at the top) for 45 seconds.

Step 9: Time for the Peek Test! Carefully lift a small portion of your art off of the Blank to ensure a good transfer. If you need to re-press your piece, you can do it since you haven’t moved the art out of place. Mine looks good, so I can remove the art from the Blank. 

Here is the completed Beverage Caddy with the original art. I especially love how the bottom section came out. 

Check out the finished Beverage Caddy in use. You do not need to use it for wine. It can hold soda, bottled water, etc. You can have your glasses going upright, or use it for something different entirely! Be creative with how you use it. Remember, this Blank is only available in July. How would you like to get more ideas on using Artesprix’s Sublimation Ink Pads, Markers, and Paint? There’s a Facebook Group that’s just for fans of Artesprix! You can click HERE to join. Also, don’t forget to visit the Artesprix store to see all of the available blanks and bundles, so you can get started with sublimation. You can use my code, ALISON10 to save 10% off of your purchase. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!