4 Multilayer Stainless Cups Iron-on Cricut Best Project Ideas!

Iron-On is probably one of the greatest craft inventions ever! I love how easy it is to weed and that you can apply it to so many different materials too. And now with embossing machines like the Circuit & Silhouette you cut incredibly intricate designs, you can even cut your business logo for a one of a kind cup. I love using Iron on with stainless Cups because the Iron-on adheres far more than even permanent Vinyl. I'll be sharing four designs and some great tips on how to apply multiple layers onto Stainless Cups using Iron-on. Plus bonus: how to take your Business Logo and make it into a multilayered iron on!

4 Multilayer Stainless Cups Iron-on Cricut:

Level: Beginner

Time: Less than 30 minutes from design to finish (you will spend more time making your design & weeding it than you will Ironing it on!)

Materials: shopping Link for this project

1. Stainless cup of your choosing, I get mine on Amazon just because I don't always have time to go to the store.

2. Iron-on of your choosing, I used Iron On Lite, Glitter and Metallics (yes, you can mix & match them all)

3. Heat resistant gloves pro tip, the stainless gets super hot really fast! (I'll post a links to some great options below)

4. Embossing Machine: I use Cricut but there are many other brands, they all work similarly

5. Art designs: all of these are listed on my Cricut Community profile page, the link is located on the tab titled 'Cricut Projects'!

6. Easy Press or Iron: setting for Easy Press is 300, about 30 seconds

Quick Steps:

1. Create your Artwork (or use mine)

2. Weed your Ironon

3. Apply the bottom layer first (preheat the cup for 5 seconds speeds up the process but is not required)

4. Position the next layer, protect the first layer by reusing the plastic carrier sheet on top of the next layer, apply. Continue this until it's done

5. Enjoy!

Detailed How To Steps & Design Tips:

To use any of these designs go to the Community/Cricut page. Click on this project and select Customize. If you are a member of Cricut Access these images should be free to use. If you are not a member you may be charged, so you might consider joining if you do a lot of crafts. Access to thousands of images is truly a good deal.

Measure your cup to see if you need to resize the image, mine was a 12 oz Mascot Stainless Wine cup I purchased on Amazon, so my project size fits that cup face.

(Design tip: You want to pay attention to the curvature of your cup, if it flat faced or bulbous? Mine is slightly curved so I had to take that into account, my image fits one half of one side on purpose. Both from a sheer design standpoint, and also from an application standpoint. The more the image has to wrap around a circular object, the more likely the artwork will warp, or create wrinkles as you try to iron it. )

You want to reuse the plastic coating as you layer each section to protect the prior layers.

At this point if you are using the same cup type leave my design on the page for a size reference. Import your Business logo SVG file. An SVG file is required in order to break apart the logo design into layers and if your bought your logo design it came with an SVG file.

To import it into Cricut Design Space:

1. Click the Upload button the left menu bar, locate your file, and follow the online instructions, saving it as a cut file. Then click the upload image and insert it. This returns you to the design page & puts it on your mat. Highlight your logo and resize it to be close to the size you want or the size I did with mine.

2. Click to ungroup (located on either the top right or bottom right of the design software, depending on desktop vs iPad)

3. Open the layers panel (looks like a pile of papers)

4. Click on each logo element, change it’s color to match your logo by clicking on the circle.

Design tips:

• If your logo has tiny lines, they will be harder to weed, you may want to invert the design so that it cuts out of a shape vs having it be the shape.

• Think about the color of your cup vs the colors of your logo, is there contrast? If not, to create more you have a few options, using the outline (add link to video) feature on a duplicate image you can create a background piece in a color to ensure your logo is seen, or you can do a back & white version of your logo, or a metal & matte version, etc. I have a blog that speaks to designing great crafts & art in more detail.

Save your project & name it.

5. Click “Make It” to check that the design parts are showing up on separate mats for cutting. (You may want to ‘test’ cut on a cheap piece of paper before cutting your expensive materials, this will help you test position for the cup, and verify how it will cut too. To do this you can click on each item and move them all to one mat, cut and then go back to the design window to reselect “Make It’ to easily put the designs back on the separate color matts.) Now that you are on the ‘make it’ screen here’s a pro tip: click each mat and move your designs to leave 2 inches left and right of them, you will use the extra as handles for easier application! Yes you will lose some iron-on material, and while I hate waste, a cup is a round object and you need to hold onto the design during the ironing process, trust me, you need the overage!

6. Cut your final design on your Iron-On making sure to select ‘mirror’ & that you place the Iron-on shiny side down on your mat, hand cut off the portion of the image since it will not use up all of the page materials. In fact this is a great project for your scraps, cup images are really small. Be sure to leave some extra on both sides of the image to create the handle for holding it around the cup, 2 inches each side! Weed (remove the materials off of the plastic carrier sheet that you will not be ironing on). You will notice that the plastic is a bit tacky, that’s to help it stay in place when you are ironing it on.

7. Make sure your cup is clean & dry (rubbing alcohol works great to degrease but is honestly optional). Put your heat resistance gloves on, let’s get started!

Settings: Cricut 300

Timer 30 seconds

Method: directly apply cup to Easy Press for 5 seconds to warm the cup (Pro Tip: I have trouble holding the Easy Press for long periods, so I just turn it on it’s side in the base and use my left hand to keep it from tipping over.) Apply your bottom layer iron-on image first, rolling the cup back & forth slowly, (do NOT slide it, that may scratch the cup) this is also why you want extra plastic handles, so that you can more easily hold it. Since you are applying it directly to the mug, it maybe ready faster than 30 seconds, check it. You’ll notice the plastic will appear to separate from the image. Refer to your material instructions to see if you should pull the plastic off while it’s hot or wait for it to cool. (Pro Tip: You can quickly cool the cup if needed in your refrigerator.) Repeat this process with the next layer, working from the back of the image to the front. (Pro Tip: When you apply the subsequent layers you want to protect the existing layers with the plastic sheet, I just reuse the original (layer image to iron-on, on top of that put back the first plastic, so that all of the image is covered, you don’t want to burn the materials).

Pro Tip: The Easy Press is Heavy, for Cups I stand it on it's side

Enjoy your new Mug/Cup! For more project ideas check out my Cricut Project page and other Blog articles.

To learn more about how to make great designs click here.

Join to receive a free SVG/PNG files & to share your projects, I promise I won't fill your inbox with email!

Click for supply Links for this project are in the Iron On Project section

Note: affiliate links do not cause you to pay extra, they just give me a small kickback to help pay for my blog.

I am a Fine Artist with a Crafters heart and love helping others create beautiful works, check out my paintings here.

Feel free to share this project an leave comments!