full wrap printing

[Kyebie]

Hi
For the last few days I have been trying out some new pencil pots for printing.
They are the same size as a 10oz mug but without the handle.
I would like to print all the way around the pot, I'm using 3d heat press with 10z mug wraps. Problem is where the handle should be - where the metal fittings on the wrap are, because there's not much pressure, means the printing is coming out blurred. We've tried wrapping the image onto the pot as tight as possible and using extra heat tape on the seam but still blurred.
Does anyone know a solution to printing a complete wrap around picture onto a pen pot.

Much appreciated before I pull the rest of my hair out!!
Cheers

[pisquee]

we've done this kind of thing in mug presses before, and to get the result you spin the mug in the press to get the full covereage - that isn't going to work in an oven though

[webtrekker]

we've done this kind of thing in mug presses before, and to get the result you spin the mug in the press to get the full covereage - that isn't going to work in an oven though

Yeah, that worked for me too, on ceramic money boxes. Pressed at 180/ 180 then turned through 180 degrees and repeated. The extra pressing time didn't seem to affect the final print.

[UK Printed Mugs]

That's interesting. We've always wondered about re-sublimating an item but never got round to experimenting. That makes me think that you could sublimate a mug in full colour print and then re-sublimate with perhaps a gold foil over the top. Hmmm.

Out of interest there was a company using the sublimation pencil pots (white outside black inside) as make-up brush holders with really nice designs on the outside. Don't think they did 360 print though.

Can these be bought at a decent price though? If I recall you're looking around £2 a pop which for us is too expensive as we sell to retailers meaning RRP would be around £10. Ouch.

[webtrekker]

I've only ever tried it on the money boxes but I gave up with those anyway due to too many cracks appearing near the slots when heated. The idea was sound enough though. The only slight niggle was doing full 360 wraps with a continuous pattern that had to join up exactly. It's fine if you do a 360 print with one or two blank areas between the designs though, for example, printing 3 or 4 characters around the item with small gaps between them and arranging for the join to be along one of the gaps.

I'm not sure what would happen if you sublimated twice with different wraps though. In the method above, the wrap is never removed during the turning and re-pressing phases.

[Kyebie]

we've done this kind of thing in mug presses before, and to get the result you spin the mug in the press to get the full covereage - that isn't going to work in an oven though

Thanks for that bit of info.
Its amazing how you can look at something for ages yet can't see the solution. And when someone says the answer you kick yourself saying 'OF COURSE'.
I need to start taking more vitamins I think.

[Customprintwales]

£10 is not too bad.
I sell these pencil pots on amazon at £9.95 plus £4.08 postage give over £15 total and they seem to sell - not in great quantities but I don't think there is a big market for them.
People will pay if they like the design.