4 Projects in 1 hour
Tonight I tried out 4 new products with my new heat press. The heat press I'm using now is a clam shell style press. I wanted to get a press that had a drawer style platen however, after reading the reviews I decided on the clam shell after all. I was worried about the ease of getting burned but so far so good. It definitely takes some getting use to when your use to the Cricut press. I do like the clam shell press for the main reason of now I don't have to use so much of my core muscles to keep consistent pressure for pressing.
The first item I decorated was a luggage tag. I was slightly nervous to do this item as this was the first time I've done a luggage tag with a heat press. However, this was so easy that I could have done 20 at the same time. I was amazed at how easy this was. The luggage tag came from Amazon and I just added a heat transfer. Mission complete for this mini project. I will definitely be making more of these.
The next item I decorated was a t-shirt. This may be my next go to for a t-shirt brand. It's a cotton t-shirt but super comfortable and the perfect weight as well as durable. For this shirt I had to increase my temperature up to 365 degrees and turn up my pressure to be sure I had medium to firm pressure. I placed the t-shirt on the press making sure to leave the collar off the platen. I pre-pressed the material to be sure to get the moisture out for 5 seconds. I then placed the transfer onto the t-shirt and pressed it for 35 seconds. I removed the transfer as a hot peel. I was super nervous to see it but pleasantly surprised that it turned out exactly as it should. Hooray! Another project completed successfully!
For my next project I decorated a cinch sack. I was very excited to make this one for my daughter. She absolutely LOVES hoodie style sweatshirts. You can see in the picture this cinch sack looks and feels just like a hoodie sweatshirt!
First I had to turn down my pressure of the heat press as this is thicker than the t-shirt I just did. Once I got the pressure correct I put the bag onto the platen and made sure the strings hung off the edges. I pre-pressed it for 10 seconds to let any moisture out the material it may have. Then I placed my transfer where I wanted it and pressed it for 35 seconds. Peeling the transfer away when it was still hot, I was excited to see this bag come to life. Super cute bag complete! My daughter was extremely excited to have a new bag to put her current reading book in.
Project number four. The stash bag, These items are all travel themed so this simple bag would be great for simple things like cash, cards and a phone perhaps.
This project made me super nervous. It's a nylon ripstop material with a screen printed transfer. I was afraid that I was going to melt it.
First I had to turn up the pressure because of how thin this bag is compared to the sweatshirt like material of the last one. I placed the bag on the platen very carefully. I made sure the zipper and the strings were hanging off of the heat press. I then did a quick 5 second pre-press to let out moisture if any. I added my transfer to the bag and pressed again for 20 seconds. I checked my transfer and wasn't too sure it was working so I pressed it again for another 10 seconds. Once it was done it appeared to have turned out the way it should. What I forgot was that sometimes with this mater the adhesive can go through the top layer. My layers were stuck together. I carefully just pulled the 2 layers apart. If I were to make another one of these bags I would put a piece of thick tagboard or a small pressing pillow inside so the two layers wouldn't get stuck together next time.
Overall I would say upgrading my heat press was completely worth it. I can do more products faster compared to my other Cricut press.
Four projects in one hour... not too bad. I can't wait to try some other new items.