Reviews

Sparkleberry Ink Vinyl

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I like projects to have a little “extra” in them. Sometimes that is in the design and sometimes it is with the products I choose to use. Sparkleberry Ink Vinyl is amazing at being the extra! Mandy G. is the owner and brain power behind Sparkleberry Ink. She is an amazing #girlboss, who is incredibly encouraging to crafters, creatives and women in business. You may be asking what makes Sparkleberry “extra”. Well what makes it that way is a quality product, backed by a quality business, done by wonderful people. I don’t find that you can often combine those 3 things into 1 place. Now about the actual vinyl, it’s amazing, and pretty and sparkly (OK not all of it, but you can get glitter!).

Before we get to the ins and outs of using Sparkleberry Ink vinyl I want to share the best advice I have ever heard about using printed vinyl:

“Let the pattern be the busy” -Mandy G.

Heat Transfer Vinyl

HTV is typically a solid color or glitter and applied using heat from an iron or heat press. Sparkleberry is a printed version of HTV, they have both regular and glitter. They use a specialty product from Siser NA along with specialty printers to apply patterns to the HTV. The big things to know about most printed HTV is that you cut with the pretty side facing up. Then you use a transfer mask to apply it. On regular HTV you will mirror the cut and the transfer mask (plastic like backer) is already applied.

What makes Sparkleberry Ink HTV so amazing is their wonderful patterns, depth of color and overall ease of use. I have tried other printed vinyl and not been as happy with the product. Sparkleberry HTV lasts longer than other brands in vibrancy, color and quality. I find their regular HTV to be thin, mostly flexible, easy to cut and most importantly easy to weed. The glitter HTV is something I am a little more cautious when using and selecting. Items with white or light backgrounds definitely have a better “pop” than darker patterns. All of these details are incredibly important to me in a crafting business.

Now it can’t be all sunshine and rainbows. Sparkleberry HTV has a couple of things I don’t love. First of all, it has a learning curve. This makes it so the first few projects you do may not turn out exactly as you think they might. Second if you choose to use a large piece that isn’t broken up by cuts it will be a bit stuff on something like a shirt. This isn’t the pattern on it but the product itself, many HTV’s have this same feel. It’s just my wish that it could be a little more flexible so I that I could use even more of the pattern in my designs. Finally weeding and masking the pattern glitter HTV can involve a few cusswords, it isn’t the easiest product to work with, but so worth it!

Adhesive Vinyl

Sparkleberry Ink also produces a line of printed adhesive vinyl. This is used for items like decals, decorating and on hard substrates. I love the patterns and possibilities with the adhesive vinyl. It is a similar process of a special vinyl, special printer, special inks that create the cool patterns. Sparkleberry Ink has stayed true to creating useful, usable patterns that will go with Oracal line of adhesives. Mandy is great at sharing what color goes with what pattern. I have to admit to not using this as much, but I am working to change that! Sparkleberry adhesive vinyl is a permanent vinyl so you don’t want to use it on walls because it will bring your paint finish off with it. The best part of their adhesive vinyl beyond how beautiful it is has to be the glitter laminate they sell. It takes a pattern from pretty to gorgeous.

Printed adhesive needs to be sealed. This will ensure things like hand oils, car washes, etc. don’t wear the pattern off. I will say the 2 things I wish was an option with the adhesive in semi-permanent and not needing a “sealing” layer for things like cups. You can however use a transparent when a customer does not want glitter.

If you are overwhelmed by choices they also offer a subscription box! It is offers brand new releases! But honestly the best part is the facebook group and Mandy’s Facebook lives! The lives often feature her bestie Megan who is amazing, funny and the duo always makes me smile. I have had the pleasure of meeting Mandy, Megan and some of the team at Sparkleberry Ink, and they are truly the most genuine, caring and kind people! Now as you may have gathered, I have an extensively curated collection of Sparkleberry Ink vinyl! Keeping it all organized is another fun part and you can see that post here. I couldn’t let you go without sharing my favorites! Let me know what is your favorite pattern to use or what do you have in your shopping cart?