DIY Camping T-shirt + Coaster with Cricut Infusible Ink!
Friends! I have been so excited to share today’s post with you. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Cricut’s latest and greatest new product, Infusible Ink! And of course I jumped at the chance to partner with Cricut so I could pass everything I’ve learned about it onto you so you can start having fun with it yourself. So with that in mind, today I’m sharing a fun DIY camping themed Cricut Infusible Ink tutorial (video!) with you, along with some tips and tricks to getting the best results for yourself.
Infusible Ink is pretty much exactly what it sounds like – the ink comes fused into heavy paper, which allows you to cut it out with your Cricut machine, which in my case for this project, was my beloved Maker. You already know that I cut fabric and leather with my Maker every chance I can get, and now I have another medium to put it to work with! You can get a better look at what Infusible Ink looks like right out of the package in the tutorial video below.
If you’re curious about the difference between iron-on (like this DIY Be Kind T-shirt) and Infusible Ink, while iron-on sits on top of the fabric it’s applied to, Infusible Ink fuses right into the fabric fibres, giving a long lasting, fade proof finish that will stretch and move seamlessly with the fabric. This also means no cracking! I won’t be giving up on iron-on, but Infusible Ink definitely opens up new possibilities.
Infusible Ink also comes in a variety of solids and prints. I’m dying to get my hands on the tropical palm and animal prints, like ASAP. Also, you do need to use Cricut’s blanks as they’ve been tested with the ink and will give you the best results. The good news is that there are a number of blanks to choose from. In addition to coasters and t-shirts, there are tote bags and baby bodysuits!
A question I’ve heard others ask if if you need an EasyPress to apply Infusible Ink to projects. And the answer is yes! The flat heat plate is essential to get a nice even finished product. And in fact, the EasyPress 2 is even better to use than the original EasyPress, as it can heat up to 400 degrees and requires less time to apply the ink to a project. However, Cricut’s heat guide does give settings for the original EasyPress as well as the EasyPress 2.
Ready to get this Cricut Infusible Ink tutorial started? Check out the video tutorial below. You can also find more Cricut and sewing video tutorials over on our YouTube channel! I’ll be focusing on adding more videos this Fall and beyond (remember my lamenting about my baby starting kindergarten this Fall? More flexibility to create videos for you is one of the silver linings ;)).
Camp Themed Cricut Infusible Ink Tutorial
Supplies: (affiliate links)
Cricut Maker or Explore Air II
Cricut EasyPress 2 (or original EasyPress) and mat
Cricut Infusible Ink – Buffalo check/black
Standard grip mat
Fine point blade
Women’s t-shirt blank
Square coaster blank
Lint roller
Scissors
Heat resistant tape
Brayer
Gloves (Optional, but I really recommend them and will show you in the video what can happen if you have moisture or oils on your hands when handling the Infusible Ink transfer sheets! In that instance, I had just washed my hands and thought they’d be good to go but must’ve still had some moisture on them when I handled the sheet.)
CAMP THEMED CRICUT DESIGN SPACE PROJECT HERE
Tips for Working with Cricut Infusible Ink:
As I mentioned, there was a learning curve when I began working with Infusible Ink, and I learned a few things in my first attempts that have been really helpful. Some are shared in the video, but I wanted to list them here for you as well.
- First, although I said gloves are optional, I’m going to mention again how helpful they are to keep any moisture or oils from the Infusible Ink transfer sheets.
- Whether you’re wearing gloves or not, try to touch the transfer sheets as little as possible. Use a brayer to smooth the sheet onto the mat rather than your hands. I try to only touch the corners of the sheets.
- Make sure your EasyPress 2 plate is clean. Any uneven heat will result in an uneven ink transfer.
- In my personal projects, I’ve found that super intricate designs (anything less than 1/8″ wide between edges) are not ideal for the Infusible Ink transfer sheets. Because the sheets are quite stiff, and you bend the sheets as you weed, I found any tiny pieces are more likely to pop off than they would with iron-on, which is more flexible. The good news is that if you’d like to create really thin ink lines, you can use the Infusible Ink pens instead and get beautiful, intricate designs, which I’ll be sharing more about in another post!
- Be sure that you always have your EasyPress 2 covered with cardstock before fusing the ink to your project. This is one mistake I haven’t made myself (yet ;)), but I’ve seen others’ who now have permanent unwanted designs on their EasyPress 2s.
- It is not recommended to re-do an area that the ink didn’t transfer evenly to, meaning take the Infusible Ink transfer sheet and reapply heat with the EasyPress 2. It will cause the present ink to darken in a sort of muddy way, and can make an uneven finish even worse. However, I will say that when I experimented with re-doing a small area while covering the rest of the transfer with cardstock to decrease the heat to those areas, the results were actually quite good. I’ll do more experimenting with that later and share more about the results.
As you can see, the possibilities really are endless! I can’t wait to keep experimenting with new ideas, and would love to see your projects that you make using this Cricut Infusible Ink tutorial!
Be sure to tag me on Instagram (@sewmuchado), and you can also join us in our FB group to share your creations!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.