Pat PilcherSummary
Cricut EasyPress Mini
PAT PILCHER just loves designing and ironing on cool transfers but sometimes things just get too tricky. Is this the solution?
$139.95
A while back, I reviewed the Cricut, a printer-like widget that plugs into a Mac/PC/phone and cuts, draws and crafts iron-on transfers for T-shirts, custom designs for mugs, stickers for everything else, greeting cards and so much more.
Making these is as easy as importing a design or creating one in the Cricut app, having the Cricut maker cut out the design, and ironing it onto a T-shirt, hat, hoodie, shoes, whatever. The key part is the ironing on bit. While you could just reach for your existing iron, different transfer materials and fabrics need different heat settings, and ironing transfers onto smaller items can be incredibly tricky with a typical electric iron.
This is precisely where the Cricut EasyPress Mini comes in. Its small and compact design makes it much easier to get into the nooks and crannies of smaller items so that your transfer design sticks.
Size-wise, the EasyPress Mini could only be called petite. Measuring just 48 wide by 82.55mm tall, it resembles a flashy electric iron that’s been hit with the shrink-ray out of Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. Its small size and triangular tip make it ideal for attaching your designs to hats, shoes, and stuffed toys… anything that a typical iron/heat press would struggle with.
While its slinky form factor and manoeuvrability are important, but it also has three heat settings. When these are used in combination with the Cricut Heat App (Android/iOS/Web), it allows you to tell it what transfer materials and fabric you are using in your project, you should (in theory) get a perfect transfer.
Being a hot iron, Cricut has also included several safety features. The most obvious is its insulated safety base, designed to let you put the EasyPress Mini down without melting or burning work surfaces. The EasyPress Mini also has an auto-shutoff feature, which turns it off after 13 minutes of inactivity so you don’t accidentally burn anything or scald yourself when picking it up.
Three heat settings are accessible via a small button (handily marked with a thermometer symbol), and the three LED indicators tell you if you’ve selected low, medium or hot. They also change colour when the EasyPress Mini has reached temperature, so you should know when you are ready to go.
Unlike its bigger sibling the EasyPress 3, the EasyPress Mini does not have a timer. While I could have winged it, I ask Alexa to set a timer or use my watch.
The EasyPress Mini is a great accessory for anyone wanting to expand their Cricut creativity. It’s not a replacement for the larger EasyPress widgets but for getting transfers onto smaller items (or small transfers onto larger items). It really is the business.
