Creating 3D Ornaments – 2 ways: Sublimation and Print and Cut

Have you seen these awesome designs for 3D ornaments?

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This past year 3D designs have become more and more popular. With the options to print on many different materials and use in many different projects.

This past week a group member posted about these files and inspired me to create some projects with them. I want to share 2 ways that you can do this with any 3D files you might find.

You’ll notice that in the photo above, I have a Download button. This is because I recently signed up for Creative Fabrica’s All Access subscription which allows access to millions of graphics, fonts, classes, and more. I held off doing this for a long time, but the sale of $4.99/mo when paid for annually finally got me.

Well, what really got me was I was looking to buy a file for $4.00 and I realized that was almost 1 month of the subscription. So I decided to go for it and have been shopping ever since. I’ve actually used more files in projects since I signed up a few weeks ago, which has more than already paid for what I would have spent without the All Access.

Now, I’m typically not a fan of subscriptions, but there are a few that I’m slowly growing to love and a good deal never hurts either. If you are interested, click HERE. This is a limited time offer, but I know they also offer deals throughout the year too!

Crafting 3D Ornaments: Two Techniques

Once I got started creating with these files, I couldn’t stop. I knew immediately what I wanted to do, but had to gather a few supplies before I could start. I’ll share both the steps and the supplies I used for both below. Make sure to read to the very end as I’m adding additional details at the bottom too!

The 2 ways I used these 3D files are:

1. Sublimation
2. Print and Cut – Printable vinyl, sticker paper, Siser DTV, etc.

Not everyone has the equipment to print sublimation designs, so I wanted to share an alternative as well. Whether you use sublimation or print and cut on a material, both are not complex to do.

Sublimating 3D Ornament Designs

Supplies used:

• Both Side 3D Christmas Ornament Bundle
• Both Side Christmas Cat 3D Ornament
• Epson F170 Sublimation Printer
• Sublimation Paper
• Metal Sublimation Ornaments – I picked up at a local supplier
• Parchment Paper
• Heat Tape
• Craft Pro Heat Press – any heat source with adequate pressure and reaching at least 400 degrees F can work for sublimation

Sublimation is pretty simple, but it does require specialized equipment. With a sublimation printer, you can print on sublimation paper from any software program that can print, and then you press it onto a sublimation blank.

I used Silhouette Studio software to design and print from for these ornaments.

The ornament blanks I was using were 3″ circles. Using the Drawing Tools on the left side, I drew a circle 3.125″. This allowed for a little bit of breathing room in lining up the images and eliminate any white edges if I was off just a bit in placement.

Then I used the Text to Path option in the Silhouette Studio software to add personalization to each ornament with a name and the year. This way the kids wouldn’t fight over which one was theirs.

I filled the text with color so it would print and then changed the line color to transparent on all the text.

That’s it! These are ready to send to my Epson F170 Sublimation printer.

Next, make sure to remove any protective paper from the sublimation blanks. This can be difficult to see and sometimes a bit hard to get started to remove. This is to protect the polyester coating that is on the sublimation blanks. Sublimation binds to polyester materials or coating.

Make sure to remove it from both sides before pressing or it can be a mess and melt.

This is where I failed to snap a photo, so I’ll share the steps I took below.

Next, place the sublimation blank down on top of the printed image and line it up as you want. Then secure it with heat tape.

Then, place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the heat press platen to protect it. Sublimation ink turns to a gas when it’s heated and you do not want that to be transferred to the top or bottom platen. Make sure to protect both well with parchment paper.

Place the sublimation blank down on the bottom heat press platen with the print on the top. Then place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the ornament to protect your heat press top platen. Very important!

You will have a sublimation sandwich. Parchment paper, sublimation print, sublimation blank, and then parchment paper.

Follow the directions for the specific sublimation blank you are using. I pressed for 60 seconds at 400 degrees F.

Let it cool and peel away the sublimation paper and heat tape to reveal the image.

I pressed each side individually so I could line it up better.

They turned out so good! I didn’t realize when I bought the metal sublimation blanks that they had a bit of glitter or shimmer to them, but they looked awesome when completed!

Print and Cut 3D Ornament Designs

Now even if you do not have a sublimation printer, you can still create ornaments too! These designs could also be printed onto printable vinyl, sticker paper, Siser EasyColor DTV, and more!

Supplies used:

• 3D Snowman Christmas Ornaments
• Cute Gingerbread Man 3D Ornament Bundle
• 3″ acrylic rounds
• Diamond Tip Reamer
• Silhouette Printable Vinyl – CrafterCuts or Silhouette America
  *use code SECRETS to save 10% at CrafterCuts on supplies
• twine or ribbon for ornament hanger
• Silhouette machine or any cutting machine that can do print and cut
• Canon TS9521C – any good quality home printer will work

Such fun designs! My husband happened by when I was making them and said, “That is the fittest gingerbread man I’ve ever seen.” We had a good laugh and he is pretty cute!

For this round of ornaments, I set up the design page in the Silhouette Studio software for a print and cut.

This time I used a 3″ circle since I would be applying it directly onto a 3″ acrylic blank and did not want the printable vinyl to hang off the edges.

I sent it to my Canon TS9521C home printer and then placed it on the cutting mat to cut with the Silhouette Cameo 5. I did print using the high quality photo paper matte setting.

The first time it cut, it was just a tiny bit off. Well within the normal 1/16″ allowance of a Silhouette print and cut, but I decided to reprint it and add a print bleed.

Print bleed adds a border of color to the outside edge of the design. You can adjust the size of the print bleed as needed and the colors will depend on the actual colors of the image or design.

Print bleed is great for eliminating any stark white edges that might show around a printed design as the color extends past the cut line.

Of course, the second time I sent it to cut, the print and cut was spot on and perfect. But that’s just how it works sometimes. I am probably the only one who would have noticed the small margin.

I removed the protective cover on the 3″ acrylic circle and then peeled the printable vinyl off the backing and placed it on the acrylic circle.

Once I had both sides added, I used the Diamond Tip Reamer to poke the hole and smooth out the edges of the paper inside the hole for the hanger. I love this little tool! It works great for so many things!

Add twine or ribbon and you are done!

Additional Resources & Tutorials:

• Drawing Tools in Silhouette Studio
• Text to Path in Silhouette Studio
• Sublimation Tips & Tutorials
• Using Templates in Silhouette Studio
• Print and Cut in Silhouette Studio
• Print Bleed in Silhouette Studio
• Silhouette Studio Print Quality Tips and Testing – Sticker Paper

As I mentioned above, the 3D designs have really become popular this past year and there are so many different projects you can do with them from ornaments, coffee mugs, tumblers, etc. Some of the designs are created specifically for a sublimation printer, such as the tumbler or coffee mug designs, but here are others that can work for print and cut projects such as cards and more!

I’ll share a few that I’ve had my eye on below. Maybe it will spark a creative idea for you too!

Additional 3D Design Ideas:

• Peeking Out Wall 3D Mug Sublimation
• 3D Landscape Mug Wrap Sublimation Bundle
• Winter 3D Mug Art
• 3D Gingerbread Man Mug Wrap Bundle
• 3D Tumbler Wrap Flower Design
• 3D Flower Sublimation Tumbler Wrap
• Stained Glass Sublimation Designs Bundle
• Christmas Stained Glass Sublimation PNG
• Stained Glass Background Bundle

Remember that any “sublimation” design could also be used as a regular printed design as well. A jpeg or png file does not have cut data, so if you want to cut around it you would need to create that cut line by either drawing a shape as I showed above or tracing to get a cut line around it. There is also the Autotrace feature in Silhouette Studio for transparent png files, but it doesn’t always work the best for all projects.

I hope you’ve picked up a few tips or tricks in this tutorial. Please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions.

Save this for future reference by pinning the image below.

Enjoy !

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