This is only the second thing I’ve tried with the new Eco-Iron on material using my Aura. Everything went just great, with the exception of trying to separate the plastic film from the iron on itself. Not because of the material, but because my design was so delicate in parts.
This is a short apron…the kind that some servers wear in restaurants. It was only $6.99 on Amazon. It has three pockets across the front. My eldest daughter Kara, went retro and bought a clothes line for her back yard…and while cleaning out our old house, found a bunch of clothes pins…which was perfect. I made this for her to wear while she hangs clothes.
I would have loved to have given her my mom’s old clothes pin apron from the 50’s, but after idling in the basement for so long, I’m sure it would have disintegrated in the first washing.
I learned at least one valuable lesson…be careful how delicate my designs are…it makes it very difficult to finish something to the end.
I really like the design and the color selection and for those of us who remember hanging out the laundry, we know it will be very useful. Thanks for pioneering the use of the Aura and the Eco-Iron on. Note to self, keep these designs simple because of weeding.
I wonder if, for very intricate designs, it would be better to engrave off the iron on layer rather than score/weed. That way there would not be the weeding issue. We’d have to figure out our own engrave settings though, I don’t think Glowforge has Proofgrade settings for that (or at least they didn’t when I tried the iron-on a month or so ago).
absolutely love your design on this! Being a “clothesliner” myself, I wouldn’t have thought of using an apron for my clothespins. When I was young, we had a bag that was on a hanger that hung on the clothesline. But I always had a tendency to leave them out on the line and they’d get full of bugs, the clothespins would start getting yucky, and the bag would disintegrate because of the weather. I do have larger aprons that have front pockets. Hmm… But now, as I have a ways out to my clothesline, and because wet loads can get heavy to carry, I bought this cart at Home Depot. It’s super light to carry, folds up flat, and the handle extends. It comes with a large bungee strap that I use to secure my basket to the bottom, and I have my clothespins in a small square plastic basket that I hang on the top red bar. Then I just wheel everything out to the clothesline. (And we have used the cart to haul boxes as well.)
Hobby Lobby has those same aprons for $2.99, so you might check there if you do any more. I bought two of them to use when we do craft markets.
I don’t know either…I didn’t even look to see. Interesting idea though. I’d love to be able to make more delicate designs, but if this is the only way, it’s too much of a PITA. Maybe one of these days I’ll do some tests with scraps.
I love that I have kids who are my Guinnea pigs for my attempts at stuff.
I can understand that. Hobby Lobby is the only close thing we have in town, which in itself is 20 minutes away from us. It’s that or WallyWorld for any crafting stuff. Oh, and Dollar Tree, which is in the same little complex that Hobby Lobby and WallyWorld are. But if I need to go to Michael’s or JoAnne’s, the closest one is 1 1/2 hours away. And to order by mail from Hobby Lobby probably isn’t as cheap as ordering from Amazon. Just keep it in mind the next time you drive that way though.
I have used Siser Easy Weed in the past but would like to try the Eco-Iron. With Easy Weed I just “engrave” the areas to be removed, is that how Eco-Iron works as well?
Just making sure… After cutting you are peeling off the unwanted material, and leaving the design stuck to the carrier sheet, right?
If you don’t yet have a proper weeding tool, get some. I like both sharp and blunt tip tools for different materials.
Here’s another trick… If it is a design you will cut more than once, adding helper cuts to the design can make weeding a lot easier. You need to figure out the right places to put the extra cuts, it just takes some experience. (In fact this example has too many.)
Helper cuts are especially good when making stickers, because the waste material is sticky… and if you fumble a piece, it can stick to your design and ruin it.
I have no idea what you’re talking about here. Carrier sheet? I’ve never used any iron on EVER, but I think this eco stuff is different than those other types. You place the cut out on the material, then peel the plastic backing off. If I’m doing something wrong, I’d sure like to know.
You are both right.
It can be cut out and ironed on.
It can also be kiss cut with the PG score setting, weeded like adhesive vinyl and then ironed on.
So it works liker every other iron on sheet material I’ve used.
Xabbess’s plastic backing is the same as Groovestranger’s carrier sheet and it’s conveniently clear making for easy placement - like this:
Were these two shirts done with the PG Eco stuff? It’s those very thin details that I had trouble wtih. Unless I’m incorrect, the Aura takes two passes to cut the Eco material. What if I enclosed the text in a ‘box’, did the text cut out with only one pass, then fully cut the box out…lifted it out and did my placement…could I then remove just the plastic sheet all in one piece? I need to do some experimenting.
They ARE PG Eco Iron On made on Aura. You don’t need to mess with settings. Set your design to ‘score’. If you want to cut the backing, too, then use ‘cut’. You can also just cut out around your artwork with scissors after. (Which I would recommend for the blue as ‘cut’ left residue on the backing that showed up as a hairline after ironing, you can see it if you zoom in on the tshirts above)
Weed/remove the parts that aren’t your design out of the color layer leaving the clear backing/carrier sheet intact and then iron away. Fine tweezers or a weeding pick are helpful for small details.
