Make all sorts of fun gear for your favorite furry friend with these pet sublimation blanks! From collars to tags to water bottles, these fun projects are perfect for personalizing items for Fido or Fluffy!
Are you a pet lover? I absolutely love dogs. We have a big cuddly Bernese Mountain Dog named Gus, and I never pass up the opportunity to pet a dog whenever I’m walking around our neighborhood. I know so many of the names of our neighbors’ dogs, but I don’t know their human names (sorry Kevin’s dad!). I think I’d like cats more, but I’m quite allergic, so I’ll admire their cuteness from afar!
If you’re a sublimation crafter, you can get crafty for your pets with the fun pet sublimation blanks in this tutorial! We’re going to make five different projects, all designed for your fluffy best friend (unless you have one of those hairless cats…but you can make stuff too, I guess!).
Because we’re making a wide variety of projects, I have a few different heat presses. First, I’m using my WALApress from Heat Transfer Warehouse, but you could use any traditional flat press or a handheld press. Then I am also using my J-Trans Sublimation Oven.
Sublimation ink is safe for pets and humans once it has been sublimated. So, grab your sublimation supplies and let’s get started on making some tail-wagging, purr-worthy creations!
Watch the Video
Want to watch to watch me make these projects? Check out my video below! Or keep reading for a written tutorial.
Get the Free Paw Print Sublimation Pattern under S31
For all of these projects I am using some simple paw print patterns I designed. These projects would be great with pet photographs and pet names as well!
Want access to this free file? Join my FREE resource library! All you need is the password to get in, which you can get by filling out the form below!
Printing Your Sublimation Transfers
I went ahead and pre-printed all my sublimation transfers for these projects. I sized the image to fit my projects and printed using my Sawgrass SG1000. If you need more information about printing sublimation transfers, check out my post on Sublimation Software.
Other Supplies You’ll Need
You can find everything I feature in this post in my Amazon store!
In addition to the actual pet sublimation blanks I have listed below, you’ll also need:
Sublimation Pet Tags
Let’s start with a simple pet tag! These are double-sided so we’ll sublimate each side separately. On the back, you can put your pet’s information if you’d like! Because this one is just for this tutorial and not for my actual dog, I am just putting a pattern on both sides to show you the process.
- Sublimation pet tags
- Flat press
- 385°
- 45 seconds
Remove the plastic film from both sides of the tag.
Clean your blank using a lint roller or alcohol and a microfiber cloth.
I printed my design small and cut it in half to use it with both sides of my tag.
Tape your blank to the sublimation print. We’re doing this one side at a time, so pick a side and we’ll do that one first.
Place a piece of butcher paper on the bottom of your press. Then add the tag with the tag facing up and the print facing down on top.
Add another piece of butcher paper on top.
Press according to the time and temperature above.
Repeat with the other side using the same process.
Add the metal ring and attach to your pet’s collar!
Sublimation Pet Collar
Collars go right along with pet tags and they are pretty easy to make once you figure out what you’re doing.
- Sublimation pet collar
- Flat press
- 365°
- 45 seconds
To start, un-clasping the dog collar. Then you’ll need to basically move the clasps until the long white piece is flat. It took me a bit to figure it out, but you need to slide one of the pieces all the way to one side for it to lie flat.
Clean your pet collar using a lint roller.
Then tape your pet collar to your design. The length of my sublimation area was 11.5″, but I was able to put the collar on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper (hooray, Pythagorean Theorem) and make it work for this project.
Add a piece of butcher paper to the bottom of your press. When placing your pet collar in your press, you do NOT want any of the plastic or metal bits within the press. I have a 15″ x 15″ press, so I had to place my collar at a diagonal because it was too short going straight across. If you have a smaller heat press, you may not need to do it this way.
Add another piece of butcher paper and press for the above time and temperature. Then remove the paper to reveal your sublimation pet collar!
Small Sublimation Pet Bandana
Let’s start with the easier, smaller pet bandana. I really like this one because it presses flat and then uses a small collar attachment for your pet. I think this is easier and tidier than knotting a bandana.
- Small sublimation pet bandana
- Flat press
- 375°
- 60 seconds
Remove the bandana piece from the collar piece. Clean your bandana using a lint roller.
Then tape your pet bandana to your design.
Add a piece of butcher paper to the bottom of your press with the bandana facing up and the design facing down.
Add another piece of butcher paper and press for the time temperature listed above. Then remove the paper to reveal your sublimation pet bandana!
Large Sublimation Pet Bandana
I also picked a large pet bandana because my dog is the size of a small pony. This one is a bit tougher because it’s so large—it’s bigger than both my printer paper and my press! So instead of using my pattern for this one, I just printed out my dog’s name in a cute font. You could tape a pattern together and press it in sections, but I went the simple route for this one.
- Large sublimation pet bandana
- Flat press
- 375°
- 60 seconds
Clean your bandana using a lint roller.
Then tape your pet bandana to your design.
Add a piece of butcher paper to the bottom of your press with the bandana facing up and the design facing down.
Add another piece of butcher paper and press for the time temperature listed above. Then remove the paper to reveal your sublimation pet bandana!
Sublimation Water Bottle with Built In Bowl
This is a great blank for going on a hike with your dog! The top part is like a regular water bottle and the bottom houses a bowl. You can either split the water bottle, with the top part for you and the bottom part for your pup, or you can use the water bottle to refill the bowl if your dog is particularly thirsty.
I am using my oven for this particular blank, but if your tumbler press has an extra large attachment, you may be able to use that instead.
- Sublimation water bottle with built-in bowl + shrink wrap
- Tumbler press / sublimation oven + shrink wrap
- 360° / 375°
- 120 seconds total, rotate once / 6 minutes total, rotate once
Clean your blank using a lint roller or alcohol and a microfiber cloth.
Tape your blank to the sublimation print. If you need tips and tricks, check out my post How to Tape a Tumbler to Minimize Seams and Uneven Edges.
Add your water bottle to the shrink wrap sleeve. Note that I do not use a heat gun to pre-shrink my shrink wrap, since it shrinks so quickly in the oven. You can choose to if you’d like!
Set your oven to the specified time and temperature. I like to use a Nomex pad to prevent grill lines on my project, but it’s not necessary.
Bake according to the time and temperature above, rotating once halfway through the time.
Then remove the paper to reveal your water bottle!
I hope you found this tutorial for pet sublimation blanks helpful! If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer those below!
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