Artesprix Wine Stopper

Hello! I’m Alison Heikkila and I am excited to share my take on the January Blank of the Month from Artesprix. It’s a Wine Stopper and is only available in January, so you’ll want to plan ahead, because come February 1st, they will no longer be available. This is a great Blank for beginners and experts alike, plus it’s tiny, so you can create something fast in a pinch. 

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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:
Artesprix:
Wine Stopper
Sublimation Stamp Pads: Black, Brown, and Pink
Pastel Sublimation Markers: Periwinkle, Sky, Tangerine, and Mint
Heat Tape
Protective Paper
Multi-Purpose Cleaner

Other:
Altenew: Cherry Blossom Tree Stamps (retired)
Copy Paper
Heat Press or Iron

Step 1: Stamp the outline of the branch with the Black Sublimation Stamp Pad. Because our focal stamp is so much larger than our Blank, we can choose the areas we want to sublimate after our design is finished. 

Step 2: Stamp the interior of the branch with the Brown Sublimation Stamp Pad.

Step 3: Stamp the flowers with the Pink Sublimation Stamp Pad. Don’t forget to clean your stamps with the Multi-Purpose Cleaner!

Step 4: Stamp one of the birds on the branch with the Black Sublimation Stamp Pad. Then, color it with the Periwinkle and Sky Pastel Sublimation Markers.

This is what my completed design (almost!) looks like. I wind up adding a second bird, which you’ll see shortly.

Step 5: Now we need to figure out what area we want to sublimate. Hold the design up to a light or window (you can see my light in the background) and put the rectangle that gets sublimated behind the paper. Move it around until it gets to the area you like, then use a pencil to draw where the section is. Then you can realign the Blank in the correct spot when it’s time to tape it. 

Step 6: I added a second bird and colored it with the Mint Sublimation Marker. It doesn’t matter that it’s going in a different direction from the other bird, because they’ll be sublimated on a different Blank.

Step 7: Repeat Step 5 and decide where you want to sublimate the second bird.

Step 8: Remove the clear film from the front of the Blanks. Tape the 2 Blanks, white side down, with Heat Tape to the design.

Step 9: 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 10: Press the Blanks for 45 seconds at 385 degrees.

Step 11: It’s time for the Peek Test! Carefully lift the paper away from the Blank (or vice versa) to make sure the design sublimated well.

Here are our two finished Blanks! They look fantastic, and they were so quick to make. 

Step 12: Remove the paper from the adhesive that’s attached to the Wine Stopper and adhere a Blank to either side. Press firmly. 

I love how both sides of the Wine Stopper came out. Even though the design area is small, there is so much you can do with it. I hope you’re inspired to get a couple of these and try them out. They’ll make fantastic gifts. 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!