You’ve probably seen it—pages full of cute custom t-shirts, hilarious coffee mugs, comfy pillows, sassy bags, and thousands of other fun, customized products. Whether you can’t find quite the right design for you, or you have an amazing idea for a custom product, you can use a vinyl heat press to create your own!
If you have a great heat press idea, don’t ignore it. Use it to your advantage. Even if you’re not sure where to start, we’ll give you some ideas to spark your creative juices so that you can start creating your own designs in no time.
Whether you want to start your own business, create personalized gifts for family and friends, or just want to customize things around your home, let’s get started!
Related: How to Use Heat Transfer Vinyl
What Can You Do With a Heat Press?
Anything! Well, almost. When you talk about a heat press, many people’s first thoughts are of apparel. And, while that’s for sure a popular use, there are so many other things you can customize, like:
- Cups and coffee mugs
- Tote bags, handbags, and backpacks
- Wooden plaques or farmhouse signs
- Pillowcases and throw pillows
- Stickers for basically anything
- Phone cases and other accessories
Let’s get to it—here are some great heat press ideas to get you started!
Our Top Heat Press Ideas
1. Home Decor
No matter what room it’s for, personalized decor lets you show off your personality and gives your home a welcoming feel. Armed with an idea and the right materials, you can easily create custom heat transfer designs for every area of your home. For example, a fun way to liven up any room is to create your own throw pillows by transferring your favorite designs onto a white pillowcase.
2. Helmet Stickers
Whether it’s a bicycle helmet for your child or a motorcycle helmet for yourself or a friend, creating funny or stunning stickers for it is a great way for someone to show off their personality. It’s a great way to get some attention and embrace your own style! Creating the stickers is easy; print and cut! While mounting a vinyl sticker on a rounded helmet isn’t the easiest task in the world, if you take your time, it won’t even look like a sticker by the time you’re done—it will look like the helmet came that way!
3. Personalized T-Shirts
Personalizing t-shirts is one of the most common uses for heat transfer, and for a good reason! For many years, mass manufacturers have decided what will trend on the marketplace, but now anyone can create their own shirts with their own designs and sayings. They are fantastic for party gifts, team outings, work events, and everyday wear. Does your workplace host an ugly sweater contest every year? Create your own and ensure victory!
Related: Top 5 T-Shirts for Sublimation
4. Fun Coffee Mugs
Look at the best personalized coffee mugs on Amazon—they sell for significantly more than it costs to make them. Why not save and create your own or come up with your own designs and make big profits! It’s also a great way to add some fun into your kitchen or give creative, meaningful gifts to your family and friends without breaking the bank. You can make romantic Valentine’s Day gifts, white elephant presents, or anything in between!
5. Framed Artwork
Many people pay significant amounts for framed quotes and sayings, whether they’re of the hilariously silly, heavily inspirational, or devastatingly cute variety. Like the coffee mugs, you can save by creating your own and customizing them to your liking or design ones to sell on a marketplace. They can be anything from extremely simple, like “family” or “love,” to television quotes, song lyrics, or anything else you can think of!
6. Promotional Products
Even small businesses can hand out personalized products to employees, vendors, and at events with heat press transfers. It’s much less expensive to create your own than to pay someone else to produce items for trade shows. You can easily (and affordably) make lanyards with your business name and logo to promote your brand with something people will actually use. Other than businesses, you can create lanyards for your family and friends. It’s as simple as printing their names, or you can go a step further and create a personal message for each one!
7. Bags and Totes
Similar to promotional products, you can create customized tote bags to hand out at events or use as an advertising opportunity. You can also print custom heat transfers for your personal bags, purses, backpacks, etc. If you have a child who is still in school, creating their own custom backpack stickers can be a great activity for the whole family, and they’ll be sure to love their personalized backpack that’s one-of-a-kind!
8.Customized Hoodies
Like creating personalized t-shirts, customized hoodies are another fun way to show off your personality! The best part is that you get an even larger canvas for your artwork. You can get creative with intricate designs like cutting out strips for a starburst to put around words or images or recreate designs from your favorite sports team, band, movie, or anything else. You’ll be sure to receive compliments based on your style and creativity. It also makes for a great business to sell t-shirts and hoodies. And, it doesn’t stop there—you can personalize socks, shirts, hats, and just about any type of fabric you want to!
9.Cases
Basically everyone has a phone, and you probably want yours to stand out from the crowd. Sure, you could spend hours browsing on Amazon for overpriced phone cases, but you might not even find one that suits your tastes. The solution? Create your own! You can easily use heat transfer vinyl to create images to personalize your phone, and they also make fantastic gifts! For the same price as purchasing one phone case or cover, you can create multiple designs so that you can swap them out, depending on your mood.
Related: Sublimation Printing Ultimate Guide
What’s the most important thing that you need to personalize anything with a heat press? High-quality materials! If you’re spending your time and money creating the best designs, you want them to look amazing and last for years. Stop by Avance Vinyl and find out why so many people choose us for their heat transfer vinyl needs!