Content may include affiliate links to online retailer that qualify us for earnings. If we can find multiple retailers, we may include links to different retailers so you may compare prices.
If you purchased our Blank Neoprene Car Coasters on amazon.com, thank you for your business! If you received one as a free sample, we hope you enjoy these random, little surprises. If you are looking to purchase our neoprene car coasters on amazon you can click this link or the picture below for a price check:
QUICK DETAILS for Experienced Designers
- Lint Roll
- Pre-Press 385 F for 10 seconds
- Apply Design – 385-400 F for about 45-55 seconds with light/medium pressure.
If you are a beginner, or if it’s your first time designing neoprene car coasters, please read on for more instructions, advanced information, profit potential, and our tips for perfecting these sublimation blanks.
About our Sublimation Blank Car Coasters
Sold in packs of 40, our blank car coasters are made of neoprene and topped with a layer of polyester. We like them better than ceramic for absorbing the drips caused by condensation on the outside of a cup, which prevents water from dripping onto the driver or passenger.
Because these are made of neoprene, they are also less expensive for beginners to learn on. But make no mistake, if you design these nicely, they will command a good price and allow you plenty of room for profit.
Let’s review a couple of best practices for pressing neoprene before we move onto our design tips and ways to increase profit potential.
Best Practices for Pressing Neoprene Car Coasters
Anyone who sublimates neoprene koozies, wine totes, mouse pads and car coasters knows that the neoprene material has a strong rubbery smell. That’s because neoprene is actually “synthetic rubber”. And while this smell does dissipate by the time they reach your buyer, it can be a little overwhelming when you first open your neoprene packages.
Ventilation
When pressing neoprene, we recommend doing so in a room with good ventilation. If you’re extra sensitive to the smell, wear a vapor barrier mask, especially if you’re going to be doing a lot of neoprene at one time.
Curling or Cupping
Immediately after pressing your design, you may or may not experience curling or cupping. Whether or not it happens to you has a lot to do with the temperature and humidity of your work environment. To correct curling or cupping, all you need is a heavy book or something similar. If your neoprene coasters begin to “cup” or “curl” while cooling , simply place the book or any weighted object on top and they will be nice an flat when cooled.
Now let’s continue with our tips and tricks for crisp, bright results on these car coasters and you can also read our suggestions for increasing sales and profits through intelligent marketing.
Sublimating Your Design onto our Blank Car Coasters
If you need a FREE Design for sublimating your car coasters, check out our FREE Downloads Page
Prep Work – Heat Press Temp to 385-400 F
- While Press is warming up, use a lint roller to remove invisible dust and debris.
- Pre-Press the Car Coaster for about 10-12 seconds with light pressure.
- Lint Roll once again, right before you apply your design.
Car Coaster Sublimation Video Demonstration –AFTER Prepwork
Applying Your Design – Heat Press Temp to 385-400 F
If you are familiar with your heat press and you know it heats nice and evenly you can do more than one at a time. If you are unsure, do these one at a time until you know your equipment.
Use a light, fine mist of adhesive spray or use heat tape. Our favorite tack on spray can be found in hobby stores or online: Krylon Repositionable 7020 Easy Tack (affiliate link) to amazon. We like Krylon 7020 because the nozzle doesn’t spit and dribble. Some other brands have also been good, but you never know.
Beginners: Press ONE Car Coaster at a time until you are confident in your settings.
- Hold your printed design paper over a lined garbage pal and lightly apply repositionable spray adhesive onto the face side of the design. Lightly means – barely there.
- Move your sprayed paper to a flat work surface.
- Position your blank car coaster face down (white side down) onto the tacky design and press gently with your hand. If you don’t have the spray adhesive, secure the blank to the paper with heat tape.
- Lay clean blow out paper(LINK TO GLOSSARY) on your bottom platen and put the ready to sublimate car coaster on top of the blow out paper with the design facing down.
- Cover with clean blow out paper. Your ready to press (car coaster + design) should now be sandwiched between 2 pieces of blow out paper.
- Press for 45-55 seconds at light to medium pressure.
Sneak Peak – Your Freshly Pressed Car Coaster
Caution: Only perform a sneak peak if you are using a swing away press AND you used spray adhesive. Do not do sneak peaks with clamshell press or if you used heat tape. The risk of burning your hand is NOT worth it!
To take a sneak peak at your freshly sublimated car coaster, carefully remove the top piece blowout paper. Wearing a heat resistant glove, place one finger in the center of the car coaster and hold it down firmly.
Carefully begin to peel one of the bottom corners until you can see and verify the design. If it looks good or “good enough” remove the air freshener from the heat press and remove the design from the air freshener..
If the design has not transferred well and doesn’t look good, carefully put the design back down, cover with clean blow out paper and re-press. Timing here is a judgement call based on what your sneak peak revealed.
Final Steps – After Pressing
Pro-Tip: Have a heavy book or smooth board nearby. If the car coasters curl or cup when cooling, use the heavy book or board on top as they cool.
Little things like displaying these inside an actual portable cup holder and creating seasonal sets can lead to more sales and better profits. Get creative with your wrapping and packaging so you stand out from the crowd.
Always think outside the box and give your products a unique quality whenever possible. There is nothing worse that going to an art or craft show and seeing the same design over and over again. Be the booth that sells original designs and display them to sell!
Sublimation Designs to Avoid at Shows and Why
The following suggestions are based on our experience when it comes to sales, marketing, moving inventory and overall good business practices.
- Avoid Monogram Letters unless they are pre-paid custom orders. You’ll end up with way too many of some letter, and not enough of other letters. Goodbye Profits!
- Designs with explicit language, obscenities or that could be labeled “offensive” should never be displayed for everyone to see unless you are at a specific art show where these designs would be largely supported and common. This includes F-bombs, “Bitch” references, Sex References etc., Farts are borderline. Think of your booth as a book store. Book Stores label their adult content and place it FAR away from kid’s books for a reason. Do the same with your booth or store.
Sublimation Designs that Beginners Should Avoid and Why (Car Coasters)
- Designs with Borders – You’d think it would help, but they don’t! Outlines and borders can be difficult to line up and may result in your perfectly pressed product looking off center. Beginners should definitely skip designs with border outlines…for now!
- Designs that look like money. While it may be fun to depict a $100 bill, it could lead to car break-ins and smashed glass.
- Small, fine print – unless it’s part of the design such as: pages from a book or newspaper.
Designs that Do Well for Neoprene Car Coasters
- One or Two Words in Big or Thick Letters
- Hot hobbies will always do well such as animals (birds, dogs, cats, horses etc.,) cars, sports, quilt patterns for quilters…you get the idea.
- Profession Related: Police, Fire, Teacher, Hairdresser, Musician, Nurse, Dr., endless possibilities!
- Designs without borders (full color all the way and beyond the edges)
- Designs that are circular in nature (baseball, basketball, hockey puck, donuts, pizza, clocks, moon, planets, sun, flowers, emojie’s etc.,)
- Funny Car Messages: “My Car, My Rules” “Driver Knows Best” “Don’t Make a Mess” “Take All Trash With You” “No Backseat Drivers” “NO Pit Stops”etc.,
- Designs that enhance or play on the car coaster “Notch” such as a bite out of a donut, Fish Mouth etc.,
Tips for Maximizing Profit when Selling Sublimated Car Coasters
- Package in sets of 2 and sets of 4. Call the 4-Pack something like “Full Decked Out Interior”. This will remind shoppers that they have cupholders in their back seat too (and increase sales).
- Have singles ready and advertised for purchase. Many cars have 3 Cupholders in Front or a 5th cupholder in the back. You’ll want to be able to accomodate odd number requests at art shows.
- Create Designs that encourage consumers to “swap” out their car coasters based on seasonality. More on this under “Design Tips”.
- Create a custom package that includes Car Coasters and a complimentary Hanging Air Freshener. Call it something like: “Interior Deluxe” or something that sounds higher end.
- Display your car coasters in an actual car cup holder display. Let’s face it, if you simply lay the neoprene car coaster out on a table, half of the shoppers will have no clue what they are. To solve this problem and increase sales, buy a portable car cup holder and you’ll have an awesome display for years to come. Shoppers will know exactly what the coasters are for and they can also see that it’s a great way to customize a car’s interior space.
- BONUS PROFIT: If your budget allows, buy a few portable car or van cup holders because some shoppers WILL ask if they can buy the whole thing….then you can say YES and make a few more bucks off the actual cup holders. If you buy cup holders, never sell these at cost…always PROFIT! Beginners do this only if your budget allows!
Set Tips and Packaging Tips for Blank Car Coasters
Set Tips
The most common purchase is usually a set of 2, but smart business people have learned that they can influence larger purchases AND make customers happier.
Therefore, have lots of 2-packs ready to go, but make sure you display 4-packs right beside them. Price the 4 packs at a small savings and watch people go for the 4 pack! For instance, for a basic design, price a set at $8 and price a 4-pack at $15.
Get creative with your marketing and labeling in a way that shows value and a small discount for spending more.
Packaging Tips
When budget is tight and you need every penny of profit, we recommend using cheap packaging and wrapping as items are sold. This can be as simple as a small portion of tissue paper, tied with ribbon, string, or twine.
If Budget allows, pre-package your sets in clear, affordable poly bags. We like these kind because they are affordable and they re-open and re-seal quite few times.
PRO TIP – Be ready to wrap a purchased item in PAPER. Many shoppers are reducing or even eliminating what they’ll agree to buy in plastic wrapping. By offering paper options and twine (instead of ribbon), you can proudly accommodate the “plastic free” movement shoppers.
Design Tips for Blank Car Coasters
People love matching designs, themed designs and they also love funny, original messages that they cannot get anywhere else. Let’s talk about each and how to capitalize on their profit potential.
Matching Designs
Matching would be mean exactly the same design on each coaster: such as all the coasters are zebra striped. This appeals to neat, organized people and you should consider a matching air freshener for increases sales revenue.
For the most part, matching designs are an easy sell and have mass consumer appeal. They are “safe” gifts and can be counted on to perform well at shows and in your shop. They look best when it’s something like animal print or a popular print such as stripes, checks, rainbows, paisley, flags, buffalo plaid etc.,
Once you get the hang of sublimating car coasters, these matching designs will be the easiest and fastest because they are simply all the same and will have the widest appeal.
Themed Designs
Themed designs mean different designs but all within the same category. Some examples of themed cup holder designs are:
- African Wildlife- one zebra, one giraffe, one elephant, one lion etc.,
- Pretty Songbirds: one cardinal, one robin, one bluebird, one chickadee etc.,
- Fishing: One trout, one bass, one pike, one salmon, etc.,
- Sports: One baseball, one basketball, one hockey puck, one soccer ball, etc.,
These can be amazing sellers and you’d be wise to incorporate masculine themes onto car coasters as it’s one of the few blanks that appeal to guys. In fact themed designs have the ability to sell even better than matching designs as long as they are in front of the right person. As a beginner, stick with high interest hobbies or even current trends and you should do very well with themed designs.
High interest hobbies are dogs, cats, birds, cars, ocean life, hunting, sports,(especially if you’re in a sports area)flowers, local specialities etc.,. Sticking to high interest hobbies will be much safer designs to sublimate for art shows instead designs with say: flutes, ice skating, bowling, wood-carving, ping-pong etc., those are great hobbies to have, but they are simply less common.
Message or Script Car Coasters
Some people make a killing on scripted messages and some will never sell a single one! This is no surprise because you really have to know your audience in order to be certain your messages will sell. So, have some fun, but make sure message car coasters isn’t your only offering.
Here are some Message examples that work well on car coasters.
- My Car, My Rules
- Don’t Make Me Stop This Car
- I’m Driving, But You Ain’t Ms. Daisy!
- His & Hers
- Take Your TRASH
- Driver / Navigator
- Mom / Dad / Thing 1/ Thing 2
How to Double Your Revenue by Incorporating Seasonality into Your Sublimation Designs
One proven way to increase sales is to bring some seasonality to your designs. Why? Because seasonal items get “swapped out” and that means more sales.
This is where you can get really creative with your designs which will appeal to shoppers who are looking for higher priced gifts. Here are some samples of how to incorporate seasonality with Neoprene Car Coasters that will encourage “swapping out”.
- Flower Lovers Series: Lilac,Tulip (Spring), Rose,Daisy (Summer), Sunflower, Mums (Autumn), Poinsettia, Amaryllis (Winter)
- Hunting/Sporting Seasons: Fish, Deer, Geese, Duck, Turkey etc., or football, baseball, basketball, hockey etc.,
- Animals – owl at christmas, owl at valentine’s day, owl at easter…you get the idea…
See how easy it is to take a hobby through the seasons?
You could also use the same designs but with seasonal backgrounds. For instance design a cardinal or a wolf and change their backgrounds to spring, summer, fall, winter themed.
Happy Sublimating!
Where to Now? Back to Homepage or See the Blanks we Sell
