If you have been diving deeply into the handicraft industry, I bet you must have heard of making pretty decorations and trinkets with the sublimation technique! With only an inkjet printer and ink, high heat, and sublimation paper, you can take advantage of a bunch of plain daily items to retouch your surroundings!

And today, we will not suspend ourselves in making some ordinary sublimation shirts but craft beautiful sublimation earring designs with our creative minds going wild! Check out the step-by-step tutorial here and have more fun with sublimation earring blanks!

What are sublimation earrings?

What are sublimation earrings? Even though you have an abundance of earrings, you may have never learned about sublimation earrings. They are made with customized sublimation earring blanks, printable crafting material, and sublimation paper.

This remarkable material can be printed with lots of diverse and iridescent images and patterns. And the amazing part is that the images can transfer to your desired surfaces, which means you can design every picture you like on the target objects! During the transferring process, the ink will be embedded into the surfaces, which is why your sublimation projects are able to last for a pretty long time.

And this time, we will get you to know how to sublimate earrings, apply this stylish method, and dye the blanks of different shapes with vivid colors.

How to make sublimation earrings?

Before we start crafting this handiwork, we need to make excellent provision for it.

1. Sublimation paper
2. Sublimation earring blanks (Here, I use the HTVRONT Sublimation Earring Blanks Bulk, which covers almost every accessory for a pair of earrings.)
3. Sublimation ink
4. An inkjet printer
5. A heat press
6. Heat-resistant tape
7. Teflon sheet or parchment paper
8. Scissors
9. Earring pliers
10. Jump rings

Now, everything is ready. Let's start rocking the roll! Take advantage of picture editing software like Photoshop on your computer and make some pretty designs with a sublimation earring template. If you're like me and bought the HTVRONT Sublimation Earring Blanks Bulk, then you can directly apply the templates this kit attaches.

Open the template with Photoshop as "Pages" and "8.5*11 inches.". Upload your ideal images or patterns. Select the image's layer, send it backward, and then press "Ctrl+T" to resize the images and adjust the position according to your templates.

Use sublimation ink and the printer to print out the processed sublimation earring template, and allow the ink on the sublimation paper to dry for a while. Take out your sublimation earring blanks and peel off the blue protective films on one side. (Since there are readily available kits to sublimate earrings, you don't have to learn how to make sublimation earring blanks.)

Wrap the blanks with the sublimation earring template images. Remember to put the sides with no films face to face with the pictures and fix them with heat-resistant tape.

Preheat your heat press to 365℉ and be ready to sublimate earrings. Here, you have to note that the sublimation paper needs to be on top, and the blanks are downside when sublimating. Place the Teflon sheet or a piece of parchment paper on the sublimation paper and begin ironing for 50 to 60 seconds.

After sublimation, peel off the sublimation earring template and add the jump rings and hooks via the jewelry pliers.

Then, you can do the same thing to another side of the sublimation earring blanks and get a double-sided one! It’s actually easy peasy, right?! With this sublimation technique, you can churn out a variety of personalized sublimation earrings! 

More sublimation accessories

Except for what we mentioned above, the sublimation earring designs and sublimation shirts, you can also apply the high-tech crafting method to other items like glass, ceramic mugs, cups, metal, tumblers, and keychains with sublimation coating. 

Just make sure the objects you pick are resistant to heat and that the surfaces can work well with a heat press. You can buy different sublimation kits online to meet your needs and never have to worry whether or not the item is covered by a sublimation coating or suitable for high heat.

FAQs

Can you sublimate earrings?

Yes! You can just craft your own sublimation earrings all by yourself and at home. But this handicraft requires special sublimation earring blanks. No matter if it's a metal type or a wooden one, the surface needs to have a sublimation coating or be made of MDF.

What temperature and time do you sublimate earrings?

Since sublimation always asks for more heat than the heat transfer process, the temperature it needs is typically around 365 to 400℉. And the heat press time will be 40 to 60 seconds to get the sublimation ink to melt and adhere to the surfaces.

How do you make sublimation stud earrings?

The difference between the big earrings and the stud earrings is that you only sublimate earrings on one side and stick the other side to the stud with jewelry adhesives. After you fix the blanks on the stud, you need to add a piece of glass on top to beautify the projects and prevent the sublimation images from dust and water.

However, you have to be aware that this kind of earring cannot hold for a long time because the adhesive will affect the sublimation ink, and you will get free sublimation earring designs full of blurs. Therefore, you may need to take this into account before actually starting the handicraft.

Can you sublimate wood earrings?

Of course, you can! The pair of sublimation earrings I made above are wooden. But usually, these wooden items supporting the sublimation technique feature a sublimation coating outside so the ink can be embedded. And these HTVRONT sublimation earring blanks I bought are made of MDF wood materials, which have no smell and are lightweight with only 2g. Hence, there is no need to worry about safety or ear sourness even when you hang the earrings for a long time.