Hi crafters! It’s Debbie from Debbie J’s Crafting Corner, and today, we are creating some fun holiday décor; a color changing decorative sequin pillowcase.
What is Artesprix Iron-on-Ink?
Artesprix Iron-on-Ink is a game-changer for crafters. It’s a specialized sublimation ink that allows you to transfer vibrant designs onto compatible surfaces with heat and pressure. Unlike traditional sublimation, which requires expensive printers, Artesprix makes it accessible for all makers. Once your design is transferred, it’s permanently infused, making it durable and long-lasting.
Supplies:
Step-by-Step Tutorial:
Step 1: Designing Your Pillowcase
For most of my projects, I add color to create the design and leave a lot of white space. Today I decided to do the opposite! The pillow measures about 16in x 16in, and I don’t have any paper that large. So I took 2 large sheets of watercolor paper and painted the whole thing with red Artesprix paint. Then I did a little paint mixing (there is a mixing chart on the Artesprix website to help with this) to make a darker red, and stamped snowflakes from the Catherine Pooler White Christmas Stamp Set randomly in the darker ink.
But we aren’t done. That was just the background.
Next I die cut out a BUNCH of snowflakes from the coordinating die set out of Artesprix’ Heat Transfer Mask. It’s the same material as the Heat Tape, but comes in 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheets.
Once I got them all die cut, I removed the backing on each and randomly placed the snowflakes all over the sequin pillowcase.
Step 2: Taping and Preparing for Pressing
I decided to trim the red panel down an inch or so in order to fit it onto the pillow case. Trial and error taught me that the heat tape really didn’t want to stick to the fabric back, to it was better just to tape it (and tape it well) to the sequin fabric.
Step 3: Create Your Sublimation Sandwich
Make your sandwich like this:
1. Protective paper on the bottom (bottom bun)
2. Your blank with taped design (the blank is the burger, the design in the cheese)
3. And another layer of the protective paper on top. (top bun)
Step 4: Heat Pressing the Design
Artesprix has temperature and time settings listed with each blank on their website. For the Sequin Pillow, it calls for 400 degrees for 60 seconds.
Normally I cover the entire design with my press. But the blank and design are too big. So I did this in 4 pressings. I did a sneak peek at one corner after the first press to make sure that I had good color transfer. Since it looked good, I kept going.
Step 5: Reveal
I did another sneak peek, and it looked good. So I removed the watercolor paper with the design.
Then I discovered my mistake. Instead of being a bold red, the designed turned out red and pink. It kind of looked plaid and is still pretty cool, but it wasn’t what I had intended.
Here is why this turned out the way it did… the multiple pressings. Each time I pressed an area, it reactivated the sublimation paint that was already on the blank. This lightened the color there.
(This also means that this may be a way to salvage any blanks that you may have messed up in the past. Repressing them may release some of the color, and if you do it enough times, it MIGHT lighten it enough to put a full coverage design over. This is not a guarantee, but it might help)
I wasn’t sure that I would like this pillow, but I wasn’t completely done yet. There were all those little masks to remove to reveal the WHITE snowflakes covering the pillow.
And that’s just what this project needed and I love the end result!
Final Thoughts
Want to give this a try? Head over to Artesprix’s website and check out their starter kits—they include everything you need to dive into sublimation crafting!
Don’t forget to share your Artesprix projects with us by using #debbiejscraftingcorner and #Artesprix or post it to the Artesprix Facebook Group and to my Crafting with Debbie Facebook Group! I’d love to see what you create!
Because if I can make it, You Can Too!
~ Big Hugs, Debbie J
Want to see more Artesprix Projects? Check these out!
