How to Use Cricut Infusible Ink Pens

Do you want to learn how to use the Cricut Infusible ink pens? Today, we are going to show you just how easy, fun and versatile these crafty little pens are. You can use them with your Cricut machines, or draw freehand. Your designs can be applied to a great selection of sublimation blanks!

How do Cricut Infusible Ink Pens Work?

Cricut’s Infusible ink transfer sheets and pens contain a special ink that, when activated by heat, turns into a gas and bonds with the material of your blank. The process means that the design literally becomes a part of the blank and won’t fade or come off.

Infusible ink pens give a unique, handmade touch to your crafts. If you are a designer who loves to draw, these pens will open up a whole new world of creative options. These pens last quite a long time and can withstand intensive color in projects.

In order to get good results, you do need the right amount of pressure and heat.

Another thing to note about these pens is that they need to be stored upside down. If your pens appear to be dry when you try to use them, store them upside down for a few days and try again.

Do I need a Cutting Machine and Heat Press?

The Cricut Maker and Cricut Explore have a set of infusible ink pens designed specifically for use with those machines. The Cricut Joy, due to its size, has its own set of pens, which will not work in the Maker or Explore machines.

They work exceptionally well when drawing an outline to color in, such as one of these Mandala SVGs. You don’t need a machine to use these amazing pens. You are welcome to draw freehand, get the kids involved and just have some fun.

You do need a heat press (if working on a blank with a flat surface) or a mug/tumbler press (if making mugs). During this tutorial, we will be using an A4 heat-press and hardwood sublimation keyring.

When working with infusible ink pens, you will need to add a few layers of copy paper all around the blank. This is to protect your heat press or mug press from ink bleed that could affect your future projects.

Materials and Equipment Needed

Cricut cutting machine - Cricut Explore Air/Maker or Cricut Joy

Infusible ink pens design - Retro Valentine SVG Bundle

Cricut Design Space - we are using the mobile version

Infusible Ink Pens - we are using the 30-pack of pens for our Cricut Maker

Heat press - you can also use the Cricut EasyPress

Sublimation blank - we chose a hardwood keyring with a sublimation coating

Piece of copy paper - 75gsm sized according to your design

Additional pieces of copy paper

Pliers, Lint Roller, Heat-Resistant tape, Parchment paper

Step 1 - Prepare the Cricut Infusible Ink Design

After opening Cricut Design Space, upload your design and add it to the canvas. Make sure that everything has been selected, then tap on the Edit option at the bottom of the screen.

Resize your design as needed to fit the size of your blank. If you want to size the width and height independently, tap on the Lock icon to unlock.

Tap on the Layers icon at the bottom of the screen. Then, on the right side, select one of the groups. For example, we selected the one that says “Valentine’s”.

While you are still in the Edit settings, on the far left tap on the Basic Cut option to open the menu. Change the operation from the drop-down menu to Pen. In the options below, select your pen size.

We are using the Fine Point 0.4 pens. Below this, scroll down until you see the color names with the word “Infusible Ink” next to them. Now, select a color for your grouped layer.

Do this for each grouped layer until you have selected a different color for each one. Once done, tap on Make It at the top right corner of the screen.

Step 2 - Select the Infusible Ink Pen Settings

With Infusible ink pens, much like sublimation, you need to mirror the design before drawing it. Select your mat size, then, on the left-hand side, make sure the slider is turned on for Mirror. Tap on Next to go to the material settings.

On this page, tap on All Materials and in the search bar, type “Copy”. Choose your copy paper and then click Close. If you don't see your material available, use the closest number e.g. our copy paper was 80 gsm, so we selected 75 gsm for this project.

Design Space will direct you on what color pen to insert first and the colors after that.

Follow the on-screen instructions and load your mat with the paper. Insert the first pen into the carriage on the left and then press “C”.

When the design has been drawn, gently remove it from your mat so that you don't tear it. The colors might appear dark and dull, but once they are heat activated, they will become vibrant and bright.

Step 3 - Heat Press the Infusible Ink Design

Take your lint roller and run it over your blank to remove any debris that may be present. Then, tape the design face-side down on the blank with heat-resistant tape. It’s important to secure the design to the blank properly, so be sure to tape it all the way around.

Take two or three pieces of copy paper and place them around the blank. This will protect your heat press from any ink bleed that may occur. This is very important as ink bleed can transfer to your future projects if the heat press is not protected.

Wrap a piece of parchment paper around everything, then place it in the center of your heat press. For this blank, we set the pressure, heat and time according to the manufacturer. If you don’t have instructions for this, you can use the Cricut Heat Press Guide to give you an idea.

Our blank required medium pressure, with a heat setting of 190° or 374F, for 90 seconds.

Allow it to cool completely before removing the paper as the process will carry on while there is still heat. Attach the rings with your pliers and your Valentine’s keyring is done!

Infusible ink pens are a great way to keep the kids entertained. They can create their own designs and add them to a mug or polyester shirt. Take some time out for yourself with a great design and enjoy coloring in for your own projects. You have the freedom to create whatever you want!

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