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Final snowflake tumbler with faux snow and teal background.
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SUBLIMATING A SNOW GLOBE TUMBLER OR GLASS CAN

Take your beverages up a notch with this gorgeous sublimated snow globe tumbler! Sublimate an image on the glass and then fill with a sparkly glitter solution. Perfect for gifts and your crafty small business. Here's how to do it!
Keyword: Glass Can, Snow Globe Tumbler, Sublimation, Tumblers
Author: Cori George

Equipment

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Note: You can also skip the sublimation step for these and use an adhesive vinyl decal cut on your Cricut or other cutting machine instead!
    Print your image using your sublimation printer.
    Measure your tumbler and create your design to fit using a sublimation software program. Print your design, remembering to reverse it.
  • Remove your lid and straw from your the top of the cup. Then trim down your design to fit your tumbler. For this project a rotary cutter, acrylic ruler, and self-healing cutting mat were used, but you can use a paper trimmer as well.
    Overhead shot of hands cutting down sublimation transfer
  • Use heat resistant tape to secure your image to your tumbler. Because the image being used doesn't go onto the tapered part of the tumbler, taping the top and bottom was not done.
    Overhead shot of hands taping transfer to the sublimation tumbler
  • Add your butcher paper and press in your tumbler press for 120 seconds at 360°. Then rotate the tumbler in the press 180° and press for another 120 seconds. Once it's cooled, remove the butcher paper and transfer sheet to see your sublimated glass tumbler!
    Hands holding candy cane snow globe tumbler after cooling
  • Add the Glitter Solution to the Tumbler
    Now it's time to add our liquids and glitter!
    The mixture that works best is 50% water and 50% vegetable glycerin. Also tried baby oil and didn't like it at all, and know that some people have tried clear glue, contact solution, and other solutions. But found that this combo of 50/50 water and glycerin worked great and isn't particularly expensive.
    Mix together about 4 oz of liquid—2 oz of water and 2 oz of vegetable glycerin. It's easy to make more, so don't worry if you run out partway through filling your tumbler. I like to use a small cup and a popsicle stick. You'll see how uneven the water and glycerin feel when you first start mixing, and then it will come together.
    Overhead shot of hands mixing the water and glycerine solution
  • Then use your syringe to pick up about 20ML of your water mixture and carefully squeeze the mixture through the nozzle into the hole in the tumbler. If it's easier, you can tilt the tumbler a bit so the solution runs down the inner wall of the cup. You can also use a pipette, but found the syringe to be a lot faster.
    You don't want to fill the whole thing, just add a bit so your glitter doesn't stick to the narrow rim of the glass when you start adding it.
    Overhead shot of hands using a syringe to add the glycerine solution to the glass can.
  • Next we're going to add our glitter. I tried using a funnel, but found that the glitter got stuck. Instead, I found the easiest way was to just pour some glitter on the tumbler and use a paint brush to sweep the glitter into the hole. I probably used one tablespoon of glitter in all.
    Overhead shot of hands using paint brush to sweep the glitter into the hole in the bottom of the tumbler.
  • Once you have all of the glitter into the tumbler, use the syringe to fill the tumbler the rest of the way with the solution. You want to get the tumbler as full as possible, to avoid air bubbles.
    For the last little bit of the solution, using straight water worked well. It has a lower viscosity and can fill up that last little bit of the tumbler more easily than the 50/50 solution. It mixes right in the first time you shake your tumbler.
  • Using Resin to Seal the Hole
    Once your tumbler is as full as you can get it, clean the bottom with an alcohol wipe to remove and solution and glitter. You want the cleanest surface possible for your UV resin to adhere to.
    Overhead shot of hands using alcohol wipes to clean the bottom of the can.
  • Finally, we're going to use UV resin to seal the hole in the bottom of the tumbler. If you haven't used this type of resin, it's really easy. It's a single bottle (no mixing two types of resin together, like with casting/epoxy resin) and is cured by UV light. That's the reason it comes in an opaque bottle—direct sunlight will cure it.
    Remove the cap and squeeze a small amount of UV resin over the hole in your tumbler. Use the popsicle stick if needed to flatten it out a bit. You want to make sure the hole is fully sealed
    Overhead shot of hands applying the UV resin to the glass can.
  • Then use the UV lamp that comes in the resin to cure it for two minutes (you may need to restart your UV light if it has a 60-second timer).
    Overhead shot of hands holding the UV light over the glass can to cure the resin.
  • You then want to test to make sure your tumbler is not leaking. Carefully tilt the tumbler so the solution is over the hole. If you see solution bubbling through the resin, add another thin coat and cure again.
    Add your lid and straw back onto the top and you have your amazing tumbler! So cute!!
    Final candy cane snow globe tumbler with pink background, staged with candy canes
  • To keep these in tip-top shape, hand wash only.
    You can also make Starbucks tumblers using this method and an acrylic tumbler!