How to Make It: Ranger Station Travel Magnets

This set of three magnets are a great way to celebrate your travels!

Written by Sawgrass

on April 11, 2024

in Design & Make

Skill Level: Intermediate

Tools & Supplies to Make It:

DesignMate+ Membership
Sawgrass SG500 or SG1000 Printer
Flat Press
“8.5×11” or larger sublimation paper
Hardboard Magnet
Alcohol and a lint free cloth
Heat Tape
Blowout Paper

How to Create It:

Log into the Sawgrass Exchange and start a new creation in DesignMate.
For this project, we’re going to use a custom canvas. At the bottom of the Select a Blank Product panel, choose Open Custom Canvas.
On the Design Your Canvas Panel, click on Die cut shapes. Choose the Circle.
Set the width and height to 2.25” and the bleed to .125”.
Click Design your canvas.
On the Create Your Design Panel, click on Designs. Click on the filter icon and then select Outdoors and click apply.
Choose the Explore design.
Use your mouse as a lasso to select the entire image. Then use the Move Icon and Resize Icon to re-size and center the design.
In the Create your design panel, click on Elements and then Backgrounds.
To add the background, in the hex code field add code 6FABB8.
When your design is finished, hit the Print button to send your job to PrintMate.
Make sure that you are seeing the popup to Open PrintMate and are hitting Open PrintMate. If you are not seeing this, you’ll need to disable your popup blocker.
To complete the next magnet, in DesignMate, click on Save Canvas button and give your design a name and category before clicking Continue.
Give your design a Product Name and description before clicking Save.From your My Studio page click New Creation.
For the second magnet, we’re going to use another custom canvas.
At the bottom of the Select a Blank Product panel, choose Open Custom Canvas.
On the Design Your Canvas Panel, click on Die cut shapes. Choose the Square.
Set the width and height to 2.25” and the bleed to .125”.
Click Design your canvas.
On the Create Your Design Panel, click on Designs. Click on the filter icon and then select Outdoors and click apply.
Choose the Joshua Tree design.
Use your mouse as a lasso to select the entire image. Then use the Move Icon and Resize Icon to re-size and center the design.
In the Create your design panel, click on Elements and then Backgrounds.
To add the background, in the hex code field add code EAB154.
When your design is finished, hit the Print button to send your job to PrintMate.
Make sure that you are seeing the popup to Open PrintMate and are hitting Open PrintMate. If you are not seeing this, you’ll need to disable your popup blocker.
To complete the final magnet, in DesignMate, click on Save Canvas button and give your design a name and category before clicking Continue.
Give your design a Product Name and description before clicking Save.From your My Studio page click New Creation.
For the final magnet, we’re going to use another custom canvas.
At the bottom of the Select a Blank Product panel, choose Open Custom Canvas.
On the Design Your Canvas Panel, click on Die cut shapes. Choose the Rounded Square.
Set the width to 2.25” and height to 3”. and the bleed to .125”.
Click Design your canvas.
On the Create Your Design Panel, click on Designs. Click on the filter icon and then select Outdoors and click apply.
Choose the Stay Wild design.
Use your mouse as a lasso to select the entire image. Then use the Move Icon and Resize Icon to re-size and center the design.
In the Create your design panel, click on Elements and then Backgrounds.
To add the background, in the hex code field add code F19359.
When your design is finished, hit the Print button to send your job to PrintMate.

How to Print It:

You will see that all three jobs came into PrintMate as separate tabs.
On one tab, next to Design Files, choose your other files from the Select a Job pulldown.
Then click Merge Into Tab.
Your three magnets will now all be on one page. You can add spacing to put them further apart on the page to make it easier to sublimate them later.
In PrintMate, start by scrolling down and making sure your print orientation is set to Portrait.
For this project, you can use the preset Hardboard Keychain.
Make sure that the media size and type match what you have in the printer.
On the Color Management Tab, we suggest having the Color Mode set to Vibrant.
When you’ve confirmed all of your settings, Hit Print.

How to Press It:

Prepare your magnets with a lint free cloth and alcohol to remove any fibers or fingerprints.
Place your design face down on each magnet and tape it down.
Place the magnets on the lower platen of the press with the printed page on top.
Place a piece of blowout paper on the bottom and top.
Close the press and wait 60 seconds before opening the press and removed the pressed magnets.

Tips & Tricks:

This is a very versatile project. You can use any size or material of magnet, just adjust the size in custom canvas.
There are two methods to pressing small items. Some people will cut out the individual designs, leaving a little white around the edges, and tape the magnets to the design before pressing. Other users just add space and tape the magnets to the page instead of having individual pieces.