Welcome back to the craft room and today’s How to Sublimate 8″ Wind Spinners – Success or Fail? post. I have been seeing a lot of YouTube videos lately in my feed about sublimating wind spinners. So much so that during a recent trip to Hobby Lobby, there wasn’t a moment of hesitation when I saw they had wind spinner sublimation blanks! With two of them in my possession, it was time to find images, figure out the process and have fun making them. Come along for the ride as I show both my fail and success of sublimating wind spinners. Check out the corresponding YouTube video, or stick around and read all about it.
Hobby Lobby Wind Spinners
I was so excited to see that Hobby Lobby now carries wind spinner sublimation blanks. They are 8” in diameter and also come with the hardware to hang the finished project. As with most sublimation blanks, they included suggested time, temperature, and pressure settings. The recommendations are as follows Temp 392 degrees for 190 seconds with medium pressure. When I first looked at the time, I thought, DANG that’s a long time! After consulting the Jennifer Maker sublimation facebook group, the suggestions that came back seemed to point to 400 degrees for 60 seconds. So that is where I set my temperature. However, before that, I needed to pick some images.
Sublimation Images
My typical Go-To for any images is Creative Fabrica. They have so many amazing images in all different styles for so many different craft techniques. Even though I did find and save a ton of images, I wanted to go a different route. For a while now, I have been trying my hand creating images with Bing AI. I became aware of this image generator through an internet source, although I can’t remember where. It is free to use, with a caveat and is integrated into the Microsoft Web Browser. As mentioned the software is free to use. They give you 15 credits a day, and these credits allow the image generation to happen more quickly. You are still able to use the software after this 15 credit limit, but the image will take so much longer to generate.
If you aren’t familiar with this program, it is a free image generator. Enter any prompt you like, such as, “a stained glass sunset beach in a circular shape”. That is approximately the prompt I entered to get my first image used in today’s project pictured below.
There are a number of ways that you can print images for sublimation. For today’s project, I chose to print both of them in Microsoft Word. Below is a short clip on the process I used to print with my Epson SureColor F170 sublimation printer onto A-sub sublimation paper.
One thing to keep in mine when printing your wind spinner images is the mirror feature. When printing my first design, I allowed the print software to mirror both prints. For my second wind spinner, I only mirrored one print, and turned off mirror for the second print. The reason for doing this is two-fold. When the spinner is in motion, it tends to look more symmetrical with the image “looking” the same direction. The second reason is a pure time saver; it is so much easier to line up the second page! In the close-up image below, I hope you can see why. Because of the design of the wind spinner you can see between the fins and you are able to follow the pattern.
Sublimation – Success or Fail?
The Fail
The question of the day is, was this project a success or a fail? The simple answer to that question is: YES! It started out as a fail because I did not trust the suggestions and the packaging. Because I thought a time of 190 seconds was way too long, I went searching for other options. The resounding opinion, using different brands of blanks, all agreed 400 degrees for 60 seconds was the best option. So, that’s where I started, and I was sad to see how little of the ink actually transferred to the blank.
For the second side of this blank, I left the temperature at 400 degrees but I increased the time to 90 seconds. Yes, it turned out better, but it was still not enough time as you can see below.
I am also going to share a side-by-side photo of the A-sub sublimation paper for these two sides. You can see just how much ink was left on the paper.
The Success
For try second wind spinner I sublimated both sides at different times, just to see what they would look like. The first side was processed for 100 seconds. It is even better than side two of the first spinner, but still not perfect. More ink was transferred, however, there was still ink left on the paper.
The true win for today’s project was 400 degrees for 190 seconds. As you can see the majority, if not all of the ink has been transferred to the wind spinner. It is difficult to see in pictures, but the second side is just a little bit crisper.
Final Thoughts
Was today a fail? In a way it was because I did not even consider the recommendations on the packaging. However, even that first spinner is a win. Hanging up in the yard and watching it spin from the dark to the light side offers an interesting perspective to the picture. That makes today’s project a total success!
Fanning out the blades is something I still need to figure out. In my video listed above, I show one way to accomplish this. Before I even attempt to open the eagle spinner, I am going to do a little more research! One thing to keep in mind, because these will be out in the elements, spraying a UV protectant on it them is a good idea. The image will also last longer if they are not hung in direct sunlight. Having said that, I am in love with both of these designs. I also plan on purchasing more of these Hobby Lobby spinners so I can make some more.
Thank you so much for joining me for today’s How to Sublimate 8″ Wind Spinners – Success or Fail? post. Let me know down in the comments if you have ever made a sublimated wind spinner before? If you would like to check out some of my other sublimation projects, follow this link here: Sublimation Crafts. Until then, have a fantastic week and I will see you back in the craft room again soon!
Shop For Supplies Here
PIN THIS POST FOR LATER!
