REVIEW – Sublimation is all the rage in the craft world, and while I didn’t know much about it when I opted for the Vevor Mug Press, I feel like an expert now! Let’s just say the learning curve is low and the Vevor Mug Press does all the work (mostly).
What is it?
The Vevor Mug Press is a contraption that grips on and heats up a coffee mug to allow for sublimated transfers.
What’s in the box
- The Vevor Mug Press
- Some instructions
- A Power cord
Hardware specs
- Material: ABS & Silicone & Teflon
- Power: 280W
- Voltage: 110V 60Hz
- Temperature Range: 0-392℉ / 0-200℃
- Time Range: 0-100s
- Compatible Mug Size: 11-15oz
- Compatible Mug Diameter: 2.9 – 3.3 in / 7.5 – 8.5 cm
Design and features
I’ll admit I had no idea about the sublimation process when I said “I’ll review it!” I just knew that I bought a lot of fun mugs for gifts and things, and I thought it had to be cheaper to make them myself than pay someone on Etsy. And that’s sort of true, if you have the stuff to print the transfers, which I didn’t. You need to have a special printer, ink and paper to make these transfers. Luckily, you can still pay someone on Etsy to print those, and it’s a lot cheaper to ship a piece of paper than a mug, so you do come out ahead. If you happen to have a Cricut, you can make your own transfers that work with this press as well, but more on that later.
I designed some fun mug designs and uploaded a .pdf to my Etsy friends and within a few days, I had some transfers to try out. I also bought some premade transfers and I bought a few mugs for sublimation from my favorite online retailer. Then I did a little research and found out that blue painter’s tape works just as well as heat-resistant tape for holding your transfers on your mug. Once I had them taped, I preheated the Vevor Mug Press by pressing the button on the top of the machine. Part of the reason the Vevor Mug Press is such a great gadget is that there is only one button to worry about, and there is an indicator light that changes from red to green to indicate your press is hot enough to start sublimating.
The Vevor Mug Press is pretty hard to screw up. It has a Teflon and gel liner that presses the mug and transfer together so the imprinting can happen. It automatically adjusts to fit mugs that are between 11 and 15 ounces. It heats up to 392 degrees, but it comes pre-programmed for most mugs and it takes about five minutes to make a mug at the default setting. The instructions said to start with the preprogrammed settings and adjust from there, but it seemed to work for me so I didn’t need to adjust anything. If you do need to adjust, it’s a matter of reading the directions and long pressing the button for six or ten seconds to adjust temperature or time, respectively.
Once you have your transfer taped on, you put your mug in the machine. The Vevor Mug Press senses the weight and automatically closes to grip the mug, which is critical to making transfers. There are five lights on top that light up based on where you are in the process. When all the lights are on, it makes a little chime to tell you it’s finished. Make a mistake and need to stop the process right away? Just push the button on top.
I own a Cricut machine and I knew that Cricut had introduced a mug press too, so I wanted to see how that process differed and whether this mug press would work for Cricut users since it’s about half the price of the Cricut version. I bought some infusible ink pens that Cricut sells and designed a transfer. The beauty of the Cricut system is that you can use special pens and regular copy paper with your Cricut machine to make the transfer. I’m kind of lame with my Cricut, so it took a couple of tries, but I got a nice transfer that I made all by myself. I slapped it on a mug, threw it in the press, and voila! The Vevor Mug Press worked perfectly!
What I like
- Super easy to use
What I’d change
- Nothing! It worked great!
Final thoughts
All in all, I’m really happy with the Vevor Mug Press. It works great and takes almost no skill to make great mugs!
Price: $108.99
Where to buy: Vevor or Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Vevor.
