Blank of the Month Fairy Garden Flag with Iron-on-Ink

Hello! I’m Alison Heikkila and I am really excited to share the April Blank of the Month with you. I have been patiently waiting for this Sublimation Garden Flag to hit the Artesprix Shop, so I am glad it’s finally available for the month of April! I love gardening and changing out my flags seasonally, this is a perfect Blank for me. There’s plenty of space to create your design on, giving you have the opportunity to make something really unique and personal. I decided to make a “Fairies Welcome” flag using some really pretty dies from Hero Arts. 

What is Artesprix Iron-on-Ink?
Artesprix Sublimation Markers, Ink, and Paint are specially formulated to allow you to use basic copy paper to: color, stamp, stencil, and monoprint anything you wish and turn it into a heat-transferable design. These designs are then applied to a polyester or polyester coated substrate with heat and pressure. You can use a heat press or a home iron! These designs, through this process of sublimation, will become permanent on your substrates.

Supplies:
Garden Flag
Sublimation Markers- Bold Chisel

Sublimation Markers- Pastel Chisel

Brown Sublimation Ink Pad

Acrylic Stamp Block

Protective Paper
Heat Tape
Hero Arts: Mushroom and Ferns Die Set
Canson Mixed Media Paper

Craft Foam

Heat Source: Home Iron or Heat Press

Pencil

Scrap Paper

Step-by-Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Die cut each of the elements from the Mushroom and Ferns die set out of scrap paper and craft foam. You’ll use the foam pieces for stamping and the paper pieces as masks for your design. 

Step 2: Find the center of your paper. I used a T-Square with the zero centering ruler on my glass mat. This is so you can make sure your design is centered and straight. 

Step 3: Temporarily adhere a mushroom to your acrylic block using a dry adhesive. You can now use it as a stamp. You'll want to start stamping with the die cuts you want in the foreground first.

Step 4: Color the foam with your Sublimation Markers. Try to avoid creating harsh lines by going back and forth. Instead, try circular motions on large spaces.

Pro Tip: “Huff” on the colored die cut (breathe on the stamp….the moisture from your breath will keep the pigments wet longer) and stamp it on to your paper. 

Step 5: You can use multiple Sublimation Markers on one die cut. Here, I used two shades of green and blended them together. It’s a little hard to tell here, but once you see my finished Garden Flag, you’ll be able to see the variation of colors.

Step 6: Place the masks on top of the stamping you’ve already done to start creating the background. Here, you can see I covered my two mushrooms to apply the fern, which will look as though it’s behind the mushrooms. 

Step 7: Continue to build your design using the masks and stamps until you’re happy with how full it is. You can see that I started adding additional ferns and mushrooms. 

Step 8: Start adding the ground under and around your ferns and mushrooms with the Brown Sublimation Ink Pad. I used a small ink blending brush to apply the ink, and I made sure to have it heavy in some spots and lighter in others for more visual interest.  

Step 9: Tape the paper (design side down) to a window, glass door, or use a lightbox. Write “Fairies Welcome” with pencil. Taping the paper to a window allows you to see your design through the paper so you can plan out your lettering.

Step 10: Flip the paper over and retape it. Now you can trace your lettering with a Sublimation Marker and it will be backwards. 

This is what my finished design looks like. I think it’s really sweet. 

Step 11: Using Heat Tape, attach the design face down to the Garden Flag. Be sure to have your heat source warming up! 

Step 12: Let’s make the "Sublimation Sandwich". Put a piece of Protective Paper under the Garden Flag, and then on top of the taped down design. 

Step 13: Press the design at 400℉ for 55 seconds if you’re using a Heat Press. 

Step 14: Time for the "Peek Test"! Let’s make sure our design sublimated properly before we remove all the Heat Tape, so that we can redo the process if necessary. My design transferred great, so I can remove my paper. 

Here’s my finished Garden Flag next to the original design. It’s so cute! Now I can display it in my garden. 

This is such a great project, especially because it can be seen by everyone that goes past your garden! Don’t forget you can only get the Garden Flag in April, so be sure to grab it.  There’s a Facebook Group that’s just for fans of Artesprix! You can click HERE to join. Don’t forget to visit the Artesprix store to see all of the available blanks and bundles, so you can get started with sublimation. And if you'd like to learn more about me and see more of my design work, click HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Alison Heikkila 

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