Stained Glass Flamingo Coasters

Love how vibrant the colors are! :heart_eyes:

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Thanks so much! I agree they are very vibrant. I will have to find some other (non-flamingo) options that turn out just as good!

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I love how bright and vibrant the colors are, great job!

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wow amazing. I would like to make similar but only just got my loklik autopress 2 and have no clue on how to start. i pressed for sublimation but do i need to chose polyester for the substrate as no option for ceramics. also what temp in F what weight and for how long, im so confused any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Deb

Beautiful.

Welcome to the community @debbie.harper49high. Those are all great questions! You do not have to make any material selection when it comes to pressing on substrates with the Auto Heat Press 2. Most of the blanks that you order online will have some type of standard pressing recommendations that you will need to adjust slightly based on your machine. The 3 things that you can select with the Auto Heat Press 2 are the temperature, the pressure, and the time. As with a lot of substrates when you press, you will want to pre-press the blank to remove any excess moisture. And always make sure to clean your β€œrigid” surfaces like coasters and tumblers with alcohol prior to pressing.

For these types of coaster which are aluminum on top with a cork backing, I do a temperature of 400F with 50 pounds of pressure for 40 seconds. These require less time because the aluminum is a natural heat conductor and will help sublimate faster.

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For these types of coasters that are ceramic coasters with no backing, I do a temperature of 400F with 50 pounds of pressure for 240 seconds. These require more time because ceramic, by default, is not a great conductor of heat. So it will take longer to heat these up to get them to sublimate correctly.

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For these coasters that have a MDF core with a substrate on top and a thin cork backing on the bottom, I do 365F with 110 pressure for 65 seconds. The MDF in these types of coasters are prone to warping after being pressed, so you will need to lay something heavy on them right after they come out of the heat and leave that heavy item on until they cool completely. Even then, that may not help.

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Start with the recommendation from the manufacturer and then make adjustments based off your results. Remember that it is just a starting point and what works for one person will not necessarily work for you. There are always going to be variations in the manufacturing of the machine and of course differences based off of where you live (high elevation versus low elevation), the time of year (winter versus summer), and humidity (high versus low). I hope this information helps and look forward to assisting with any other questions you may have. Welcome to this amazing community and happy crafting!

Hi,

Thank you so much for the info very helpful.

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Of course @debbie.harper49high! Lots of helpful people in this group who are very willing to help answer questions and troubleshoot when needed.