Try This: Sublimate a Stainless Steel Can Cooler

This durable and stylish stainless steel can cooler is a welcome addition to the soft neoprene insulators that have been around forever. Double-walled insulators, most commonly made for 12-oz. cans, are offered with a white or clear coating and feature a black gasket to help keep a canned drink cool. Images transferred into the white coating produce a vibrant, true-to-color image with exceptional quality and detail. The images transferred into the clear coating produce a vibrant, metallic-looking image with the same exceptional quality and detail. The stainless steel can insulator can be decorated using a standard sublimation printer and a traditional mug press or sublimation oven.

Basic materials list for mug press:

• Digital template
• Printed transfer
• Blank stainless steel insulator
• Heat tape
• Heat gloves
• Scissors
• Protective paper
• Mug press

Basic steps using a mug press:

1. Download a digital product template and use it to create your artwork.
2. Print the transfer and trim away excess paper.
3. Secure transfer to insulator using heat tape.
4. Wrap protective paper around the insulator and press for 2 minutes at 360 F.
5. Carefully remove the insulator from the press, remove the transfer, and let cool.

Basic materials list for the oven:

• Digital template
• Printed transfer
• Blank stainless steel insulator
• Heat tape
• Heat gloves
• Scissors
• SubliShrink shrink wrap film sleeve
• Heat gun
• Sublimation oven

Basic steps using an oven with shrink wrap film sleeve:

1. Download a digital product template and use it to create your artwork.
2. Print the transfer and trim away excess paper.
3. Secure transfer to insulator using heat tape.
4. Insert insulator with attached transfer into a shrink wrap film sleeve and shrink the film sleeve with a heat gun to conform to the product’s shape.
5. Place it into the oven for 6 minutes at 360 F.
6. Carefully remove the insulator from the oven, remove the transfer and SubliShrink, and let cool.