Comprehensive Guide to Cricut EasyPress

October 12, 2020 by Paula W

This comprehensive guide to Cricut EasyPress will outline everything you need to know about the EasyPress, the different models, and whether you need one or not. You’re going to love these EasyPress tips!

If you are a die cutting craft fan, you have probably already heard of a Cricut EasyPress. You might be wondering though if it’s the right choice for you when it comes to your iron-on and infusible ink projects. We hope to answer all of your questions in this guide.

Comprehensive Guide to Cricut EasyPress

WHAT IS AN EASYPRESS?

When you work with HTV (heat transfer vinyl), also known as iron-on, you need a heat source to activate the adhesive.

The Cricut EasyPress machines are made to act as a source of even heating for these types of vinyl. Other options available for heating up HTV include a household iron or a heat press.

An EasyPress or other heat source is also needed when working with Cricut Infusible Ink.

Different Sizes Of Cricut Easypress Machines

WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THE CRICUT EASYPRESS

SAFETY

You are much less likely to burn yourself with an EasyPress than you would be with a regular iron or heat press. The way it’s constructed and the safety features it has make it easier and safer to use.

Never worry again about running out of the house, worrying that you might have left your machine on. The EasyPress has an auto shutoff function and after 10 minutes of inactivity, or no button pushes, the device will alert you and then shut off.

SPEED

Using the chart that comes with the EasyPress is the perfect quick reference guide to know the exact time and temperature for your surface material and the type of iron-on vinyl you’re using.

It eliminates the guesswork of having to press it multiple times, allowing it to cool off and then checking to see if it’s actually stuck yet or not.

DURABILITY

With the Cricut EasyPress, you know that the HTV you apply will stay stuck to your material wash after wash. You will get evenly distributed heat that you cannot find with a regular iron.

DO I REALLY NEED AN EASY PRESS?

Wondering if you really need a Cricut EasyPress? Find out how a Cricut EasyPress compare to a household iron. Or watch the video below for our comparison of an EasyPress and a heat press.

We love our EasyPresses and find they work much better than any other option for our purposes, but these resources will help you evaluate it for your own specific situation.

WHICH EASYPRESS SHOULD I GET?

If you have decided to get an EasyPress, the next choice becomes which one? Cricut EasyPress machines come in four different sizes to suit a variety of projects and applications.

Don’t worry though. You don’t need to purchase all 4 in order to be successful in your die cutting iron-on craft projects. We’ll break it all down here for you so you can make an informed decision on which one to get for your needs.

The four sizes are: the 10″ by 12″, 9″ by 9″, 6″ by 7″, and the EasyPress Mini which is 1.92″ by 3.25″. The difference between the first 3 of these machines is simply the size. All other functions and features are the same.

These functions and features include:

precise temperature controls up to 400°F – simply enter the recommended temperature for your project and material.
built-in timer so you can set the required time for your project
insulated cradle (base) to protect your work surface and give you a safe spot to put down your EasyPress as needed
Auto shutoff feature that first chirps to alert you that it’s about to turn off and then turns off. This occurs after 10 minutes of inactivity.

9 by 9 EasyPress

The 9 by 9 EasyPress is a nice medium sized machine. It’s good for t-shirts, onesies, tote bags, and that kind of thing. It does not work well for sneakers, hats, or for ironing on wood. It’s one of the machines we use most often.

6 by 7 EasyPress

The 6 by 7 EasyPress, being a smaller machine, is one we don’t use that often. Being so compact, it’s good for socks, onesies and tote bags, etc.

10 by 12 EasyPress

The 10 by 12 EasyPress is a bigger, heavier machine and one that we use rarely. If you are making nothing but t-shirts and sweatshirts (or maybe curtains), this might just be the best machine for you. It generally covers the whole area of the front of the shirt making it easier to use for these types of projects.

You might find this one a bit bulky and heavy to use. In addition, in older homes, we find this one uses so much power, that it can even cause your lights to flicker or you might blow a breaker!

If you go with one of the smaller of these Cricut EasyPress models, you can still make projects with larger designs. Obviously though, you won’t be able to cover the whole thing at once and you’ll have to complete the heating process in a few steps.

EasyPress Mini

The one that we highly recommend and use the most (every single day!) is the Cricut EasyPress Mini. It is perfect for getting into those smaller, more intricate designs, but works well on larger designs too.

Whereas with the other EasyPress models, they are meant to be placed on the design and not moved at all. The mini is meant to be moved around.

It doesn’t have a timer on it, but because of the nature of it and the fact that you are moving around your design, it doesn’t really need one.

It’s small and lightweight making it very portable and very easy to use. It easily gets into all of those hard to reach locations on your project. This machine has 3 easy heat settings and an extra layer of protection on the heat plate to allowing it to easily glide over your design.

Again, there is a cradle to place it in that will protect your work surface and an auto shutoff feature. It will automatically shut off after 13 minutes of inactivity.

It is so versatile and easy to use. If you can only get one EasyPress, we highly recommend the EasyPress Mini.

Check out more information and tips about the Cricut Mini EasyPress here: CRICUT MINI EASYPRESS MUST KNOW TIPS

WHAT TO PUT UNDER YOUR EASY PRESS

The EasyPress cradle protects your counter or table surface from the heat when you aren’t using it. To work with your EasyPress, you’re going to need a hard, sturdy flat surface and something to put under your project too.

We highly recommend using an EasyPress mat under your project. These are specially designed to reflect the heat back up into your material, allowing for that even heating we want.

If you don’t have one, we recommend putting one or two layers of terrycloth towel down underneath your project to make sure you insulate your surface from the heat.

We do not recommend using an ironing board. They are just too wobbly and reflect too much uneven heat back into your project.

HOW TO USE IRON-ON WITH YOUR CRICUT MAKER AND EASYPRESS

CRICUT EASYPRESS HACKS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW

HOW TO MAKE A LARGER THAN MAT PROJECT WITH YOUR EASYPRESS

Cricut Infusible Ink: Cricut EasyPress vs. Household Iron

January 3, 2020 by Paula W

You’re going to love this comparison using a Cricut EasyPress vs. a household iron when using Cricut Infusible Ink. This is going to be such a fantastic test! We get a lot of questions about Infusible Ink and in particular, about heating it. In this post, we wanted to show you just how well each one works.

We probably know just how much we love the Cricut EasyPress – we use it every day! Still, we wanted to see just how a standard household iron would match up to it. As much as we think everyone should invest in an EasyPress eventually, we’re going to test a household iron to see if it will work as a substitute in the meantime.

Cricut Infusible Ink: Cricut EasyPress vs. Household Iron

One thing we love about the Cricut EasyPress is that you can set it to the exact temperature you need. So, we have ours set to 385 degrees as per Cricut’s guidelines for Infusible Ink in their Cricut EasyPress chart.

With our household iron, we have set it to a high cotton setting.

To prep our t-shirt (the surface we’re using today), we’ve placed the EasyPress mat inside of the shirt. The mat is really helpful because it sends the heat from the EasyPress right back up into your project. We’re going to be using this mat even with the household iron.

Infusible Ink Comparison Easypress Vs Iron

We’ve placed a piece of copy paper on top of the mat, inside the shirt to prevent any ink from bleeding through. We also have the butcher paper that comes with your Cricut Infusible Ink on hand. We’ve already cut out our designs from the Cricut Infusible Ink sheet and weeded them.

For the first test with the EasyPress, we’re going to start by preheating the shirt for about 15 seconds. Let this cool completely.

Now, go over the shirt with a lint roller. Any little bits of fiber,hair, or lint could interfere with a successful application of the Infusible Ink. You even want to do this with a brand new shirt right out of the package to get the best results!

Place your Infusible Ink design onto the shirt. Put the butcher paper that comes with the infusible ink over top of your design.

Use The Cricut Easypress To Heat The Infusible Ink

Apply the heat with the Cricut EasyPress for 40 seconds, giving it light even pressure. You don’t want to apply heavy pressure and you don’t want to move it.

Once Cooled Peel Up The Backing From The Infusible Ink

Once finished, you want to remove the butcher paper and let it cool. After it has cooled completely, you can peel away the infusible ink backing.

The Cricut EasyPress has given us great results here. Nice, crisp lines and deep saturated color

Trying A Household Iron With Cricut Infusible Ink

Now, we’re going to try this same process out using a household iron instead. Since this is a larger design, we’re going to have to hit it with the iron multiple times as opposed to the one time we did with the EasyPress.

Once again, we’re going to preheat the shirt using the iron. Move the iron around to heat up the whole space you’re using and heat it for a bit longer than you would have with the EasyPress.

Let cool completely and then use the lint roller over it as before. Place your design down on the shirt and cover with butcher paper. We’re reusing our butcher paper from before because there’s no ink on it at all.

Start heating your design one section at a time. Apply light even pressure in 20 second intervals until the entire design has been heated. We’re doing right side, left side, top half, and then bottom half to make sure we’ve covered all parts of the design.

Remove the butcher paper and let your design cool completely before peeling up the backing paper.

Results Using Household Iron With Infusible Ink

As you can see, we didn’t get the good, clean results we wanted for our design.

Comparison Of Household Iron Vs Easypress With Infusible Ink

The center section of the one heated with the household iron is not as good as the one heated with the EasyPress, but it’s not bad. Unfortunately, we didn’t get good results with the rest of our design. It seems like the edges of the iron get much hotter than the middle section and the holes for the steam are leaving a pattern behind on our design.

Obviously, we could experiment more with this, but it’s clear that for results that are much, much better, the Cricut EasyPress wins hands-down.

Have you tried using a household iron for your Cricut Infusible Ink projects? We’d love to hear about any tips you have!

Cricut Infusible Ink Cricut Easypress Vs. Household Iron 1

Do I Really Need Cricut Brand Infusible Ink Blanks?

August 13, 2019 by Paula W

The new Cricut Infusible Ink products are really hot right now! People are diving in and giving them a try with some amazing results. We just love sharing as many tips for using Infusible Ink as we can. One of the big questions that die cutting fans have though is, “Do I Really Need Cricut Brand Infusible Ink Blanks?”

Creating infusible ink craft projects is a lot of fun but it can be a bit pricier than your typical die cutting projects. So, many people are trying to find ways to save a little money when working with infusible ink. We want to help you out!

Cricut Brand Infusible Ink Blanks vs. Off-Brand Blanks

We’re going to put some products to the test – comparing Cricut brand coasters, t-shirts, and tote bags with some from other brands. Since Infusible Ink and the blanks for it can be somewhat pricey, this is going to give us some evidence on whether we can save a little money and use off-brands for these craft projects.

To give you an idea of the savings, let’s look at the prices of the infusible ink products. The Cricut brand tote bag is approximately 13″ by 15″ and it’s $10. The Cricut t-shirts are also $10 each and most people find them pretty true to size. Finally, the Cricut coasters are $12.99 for a pack of 4.

Now, let’s take a look at the off-brand items. We found these oroducts on Amazon. The tote bags were $24 for a package of 8 ($3 each). The t-shirts were $14 for a pack of 2 ($7 each). And the coasters – are you ready for this? They were $14 for 100 coasters (54 cents for a pack of 4)!

If you want to learn exactly how to use Cricut Infusible Ink properly, you need to check out our post: A Beginner’s Guide to Cricut Infusible Ink. This will give you a step-by-step tutorial on exactly how to use the product from beginning to end.

Be Sure To Use A Brayer With Cricut Infusible Ink

Testing off-brand tote bags vs. Cricut tote bags

We’re starting with our off-brand tote bag. A few reminders about applying Infusible Ink: remember to clean your blank really well with a lint roller so there aren’t any bits of lint or other debris that could interfere with a good transfer. We find it works best to use a Cricut EasyPress that is large enough to cover the entire design rather than a household iron with Infusible Ink.

Cricut EasyPress vs. a Household Iron with Infusible Ink

As you can see from the results below, the ink sublimated okay but we can’t really call this a great outcome as it is somewhat uneven. The ink has not saturated into the fabric the way we want it to.

In addition, the tote bag fabric has bunched up around where the Cricut EasyPress was, leaving an outline of the area where it had been.

Results Using Cricut Infusible Ink On An Offbrand Tote Bag

When we repeat the same procedure on a Cricut brand Infusible Ink tote bag blank, you can see we get much better results.

Cricut bag on the left. Off brand on the right.

Testing off-brand t-shirt vs. Cricut t-shirt

Next, let’s try our design on a Cricut brand t-shirt.

As you can see it turned out beautifully! The colors are bright and vibrant and the design is fully saturated into the fabric. Even when you stretch the fabric out, it still looks perfect.

Cricut brand t-shirt on the left. Hanes t-shirt on the right.

Next, we tried the same design and process on a Hanes t-shirt. We got absolutely flawless results here. It turned out perfectly – in fact, you’ll have to judge for yourself, but we think that the Hanes t-shirt gave us even brighter, more vibrant colors than the Cricut shirt did!

Testing off-brand coasters vs. Cricut coasters

Finally, we tried using infusible ink on our coasters. As you can see, the results are pretty dramatic. The results on the Cricut brand infusible ink coaster is so much more vibrant and dramatic than on the off-brand coaster.

More materials to use with Cricut Infusible Ink

So, what does this mean when it comes to answering our question, “Do I Really Need Cricut Brand Infusible Ink Blanks?” Well, we think that if even one off-brand product works as well or better than Cricut brand, it means that there could be others out there that do too!

Depending on the infusible ink craft project you want to make and the price difference, it could very well be worth experimenting!

Have you seen this? How to use Infusible Ink on wood.