Creating Custom Mouse Pads with Screen Printed Transfers

Create Mouse Pads to promote your company. This mouse pad could be handed out at the fire station’s open house.

Mouse pads are a great promotional item for both yours and your customer’s businesses. They’re easy to make too, all you need are transfers and a heat press!

Use screen printed transfers when creating custom mouse pads. Just follow the instructions for that specific transfer. Heat pressing to a mouse pad is the same as pressing to a t-shirt. One key difference is the pressure. Though the required amount of pressure is the same, you may need to adjust your pressure settings since the mouse pad is much thicker than a t-shirt. With some machines, such as the Hotronix® Air Fusion™, the pressure will auto-correct. Continue to follow the transfer directions, setting the pressure at medium-firm.

Why create custom mouse pads? Mouse pads are great to offer to your customers as a way to promote their business or even an extra item to sell. An added bonus is that you can usually find blank mouse pads for heat pressing at a fair cost. Since mouse pads are smaller, there is a good chance that you can fill the transfer sheet with multiple designs.

When you create your custom mouse pad designs in the Easy View® designer or from your own artwork, make sure that they are the right size. You do not want your art to run off of the mouse pad. Your art should not be larger than the item that you are heat applying it to. Since mouse pads are smaller, you should be able to fit multiple images to each transfer sheet. In the following example, the transfer is being applied to a 9.25” x 7.5” mouse pad. Therefore, the transfer art should not exceed these dimensions. I set the artwork that I am using at approximately 7.5” x 2.” At this size, we can fit 6 transfers to a transfer sheet.

Fit six 7.5” x 2′ transfer designs to a transfer sheet

Heat applying a heat applied transfer to a mouse pad:

1) Create your art in the Easy View designer or send us your artwork. Specify if you want multiple to a sheet. We will send you your transfer with the instructions on how to apply the ink formula you have chosen.

2) Adjust pressure to medium-firm and pre-press your mouse pad. Press your mouse pad for at least four seconds. Pre-pressing is a great way to check if your pressure is correct.

3) Place transfer where you would like it to be on the mouse pad.

Place the transfer on the mouse pad after pre-pressing and checking the pressure

4) Heat press at the specific settings for the ink formula you are using. Shown are the settings for the Goof Proof ink formula.

Set the machine at the correct settings for the transfer type you are heat applying. Shown are the Goof Proof settings

5) Peel the backing. For Goof Proof transfers, you can peel the transfer hot.

Peel off the backing. For Goof Proof, peel hot. Check the directions for your specific transfer type to know when to peel off your transfer.

6) Finished Product. You have now created a custom heat printed mouse pad.

Finish. Your mouse pad is now ready to use or sell.