I broke my favorite coffee mug a few days ago ðŸ˜. Naturally, that means I need a replacement, and of course nothing available on the market was exactly what I wanted. I had considered using vinyl on a mug, but that isn't guaranteed to survive the dishwasher. So searched for other possible materials. I then discovered Cricut Infusible Ink - it's permanent after heating it using a heat press.
Off to the craft store I went, where I purchased a Cricut Mug Press.
I suppose I could have chosen something like a sublimation oven, but at this time, the Mug Press was on sale and it is able to do exactly what I needed it to do - press designs onto mugs.
I pondered designs for a while, then stumbled upon this silhouette of a dragon pouring coffee (or tea, perhaps, depending upon one's interpretation of the image). I selected a font and added "Dragons also need help waking up" for the other side of the mug. The Cricut software already has mug templates, so it was easy to lay out the image and text for the mug.
I reversed the image in the software because infusible ink has to be printed mirrored for the text to turn out correctly. I then sent it to my Cricut Joy for cutting.
The infusible ink is thicker and stiffer than vinyl and I wasn't certain exactly how to handle it, but figured it out pretty quickly.
On the light pad, I could see where the cut lines were. I first peeled off the outer square of material, which left me with a mug-sized rectangle of material. I then carefully plucked out the dragon in a single piece.
I originally thought the dragon would break into several pieces, but I was pleasantly surprised when it popped out in a single piece. I will use the dragon on a garment. I then removed the letters to finish weeding the design. The infusible ink has a clear backing, so you can tell all of the ink has been removed from a section when you can see the clear backing.
I first pressed the loose dragon on a skirt.
I then took the main design and wrapped it around my blank mug. I used a Cricut mug because those mugs are already prepared for taking Infusible Ink or Sublimation prints. I placed it in the Mug Press and pushed the button. It felt like it was taking forever, but really the mug press can complete a mug in a few minutes. After it finished its pressing time, I carefully removed the mug and sat it on my ironing board to cool.
The final step was to peel off the Infusible Ink backing sheet and enjoy a nice hot mug of coffee.
~ Happy Crafting! ~
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