How To Sublimate A Mouse Pad

Welcome back to the craft room and today’s How To Sublimate A Mouse Pad post. I wanted to bring you along for the ride as I make a few sublimation projects for some family members. The first project is a mouse pad for my niece. I have a YouTube video that you can watch showing the process, or you can stick around and read all about it here on the blog. If you do watch the video, please consider hitting the Like button and subscribing to the channel. If you also ring the bell, you will be notified every time I upload a new video.

The Floral Design

When I spoke with my niece about making her mouse pad, I asked what design she wanted on it. She loves sunflowers, so the best place to look for images is Creative Fabrica. She found the beautiful Vibrant Flower Bouquet PNG image below.

After downloading the image to my computer, I resized it to fit onto the Make Market mouse pad from Michael’s. I printed the floral design out onto a piece of A-sub Sublimation paper with my Epson SureColor F170 Sublimation printer. Probably the most disconcerting thing about sublimation is the difference in image quality from screen to paper. Sublimation ink is special in that it must be heat activated in order for the colors to be bright and vibrant.

To prepare any item for sublimation it is important clean it thoroughly. For the mouse pad I will go over the surface with a lint roller. It may not look like there is anything on there, however, even a small piece of lint can create an unattractive mark on the final project. Next, line up the mouse pad face down onto the image. You can cut the image down to size, but I prefer to leave the page full size for a project like this.

It is important to tape the image and mouse pad together with heat resistant tape. One thing we do not want to happen in any sublimation project, is for the image to shift during the heating process. This will cause double printing, or ghosting. Taping your project will prevent this from happening. I am using a clear heat resistant tape from Amazon. With the Purple Heat Tape Dispenser not only am I able to have 3 rolls of tape at my disposal but two of the rolls are precut lengths and the third can be any length I need. I highly recommend both the tape and the dispenser for your crafting needs.

Sublimating The Mouse Pad

Now it’s time to carefully transfer the prepared mouse pad to the heat press, I am using my HTVRont Auto Heat Press. When doing any sublimation project, precautions need to be taken. During the heating process, the sublimation ink turns from a solid to a gas. During this process, it is possible for that gaseous ink to adhere itself to the upper heat plate or the bottom platen. Should this happen, there is a chance that ink will then transfer to your next project. To prevent this from happening you should use always use White Kraft Butcher Paper above and below your project.

Another important thing to remember; all sublimation projects should be done in a well ventilated area. Some items, like these mouse pads do not smell that great when heated. For the sublimation process to work on this brand of mouse pad, I have found the best time and temp for my heat press is 380 degrees for 65 seconds. After the 65 seconds it is best to let the project sit and cool for just a bit. I moved the mouse pad from the heat press to my desk and let it cool on my Cricut EasyPress Mat for a few minutes before the big reveal. As you can see in the image below this combination of time and temp produces a beautiful result.

Thank you for joining me for today’s How To Sublimate A Mouse Pad post. I can’t wait to give this to my niece! Today’s project is one of a few different projects I have planned for some family members. Come back next week to see the next project. In the mean time, if you would like to check out my other sublimation blog posts you can find them here: Sublimation. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back in the craft room soon!

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