Spring Fair NEC - Anyone going as well?

[socialgiraffe]

But Forever papers have been around for almost as many years as TMT WOW. I definitely remember getting samples of their WOW equivalent from a trade stand at FESPA when it was in the UK which is a few years back now.

I think the "magic" is in the toner. It has been said that you can use other transfer papers (such as TMT OBM) and to cure the item you need to bake it again after 24 hours which all points to the toner being the thing.

So they are essentially going up against OKI toner which is probably why they only sell the toner for one OKI model as well.

Interesting to follow this thread and see what happens.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Yes, they are essentially a toner company. They have no interest in substrates (an area they looked into but then quickly backed away from) but have a relationship with a local company to them for paper (which must of course be Forever). They created their own toner through R&D which is probably a lot of effort and there is a page somewhere on their web site showing the research side of things not that I can find it now. Of course proof is in the pudding and will be a little while until we ourselves can test things out.

[Earl Smith]

Forever have been around for years but they went in another direction for a while. They were experimenting with UV printers and paper system but , as far as I know, found that the printer was far too expensive for small to medium print shops. I think the price was 45,000€ just for the printer.
I think that now they have seen the potential of the white toner they are now developing papers for this as there is a much bigger market. They also sell the Oki through their dealers.
TMT is also just down the road from Ghost but TMT only sell their papers themselves and not via dealers where as Forever sell for every machine through dealers.

[pisquee]

Our Ghost bundle arrived today with DPD.
I doubt I'm going to have time to look at it this week, and then we're away on holiday all next week - so frustrating!

[GoonerGary]

Much the same here, invested in some tasty new equipment, then had to go on holiday...I want to work!

[UK Printed Mugs]

Ha Ha so did ours but we are in the middle of a studio move so won't get opened for another two weeks I don't think.

[socialgiraffe]

I have been investigating this and from what I heard the mugs are not dishwasher proof and the print does come off. I would be interested to see peoples experiences with this on ceramics.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Ghost White Toner Printing - Tips from David at Ghost

For those that are beginning to experiment with the white laser toner solution from Ghost (like us!) then here are some tips from them which may help when printing coloured artwork onto ceramic mugs (non sublimation).

1. Select photo/foil paper option for the multi-trans paper when printing otherwise the roller wheels in the printer will leave a mark on the paper
2. Print the colour artwork first and then you may need to either stretch (roll out) or place the paper under a book for a night to get flat again as it curls after printing
3. You then put paper back into laser for the white toner layer to go on top (which of course is the back once applied to mug)
4. Any white that is to be placed behind a colour to make the colour stand out on a dark mug should be made 0.5mm smaller than the coloured version
5. Place a stack of around 10 normal sheets of paper in the bottom of the printer tray under the multi-trans as this helps the printer feed process
6. Either place the mug in bucket of water or under running tap. The mug NEEDS to be cold before you can peel.
7. Cure the mug in a microwave 800w for 1 minute
8. Enamel mugs can be cured in an oven at 100c for about 30 mins (obviously multiple ones at the same time)

We have started to experiment and hopefully these tips above will help us achieve better results next week.

[socialgiraffe]

We have started to experiment and hopefully these tips above will help us achieve better results next week.

Any news on how they are standing up to a dishwasher test yet?

Also, I would be interested to know what mugs you are using (specially coated or plain)

[UK Printed Mugs]

Once we get a decent mug printed we shall dishwasher test it which David at Ghost also said to do and should be fine once cured. Once you work out the curing length of time for the mug then it should withstand washes. How many I am not sure. As for mugs then these are standard mugs (non sublimation) although getting hold of coloured mugs is proving to be virtually impossible at the moment. All the big players e.t.c Raja literally have none left in stock and are waiting on a shipment in 4-5 weeks. Literally none. In Black or blue that is which we are after.