New member intro...

[davew1980]

Morning all,

I've been registered on the forum for a while but this is my first post...

I thought I might as well share some of my experiences of sublimating mugs for the last couple of months...

I invested in a mug starter kit from Dyesub supplies back in August having been previously outsourcing my mug printing for a couple of years. I was just after a little more control on colours - and ultimately a bit more profit...

It's going pretty well - but as per many of the posts I've read on this forum (which was a great resource for me when setting up) there is a lot of trial and error involved.

I solely print my own artwork onto mugs - these are full colour illustrations created in Photoshop.
I am using a Freesub dual mug press, Ricoh 3110 with sublisplash inks.

I initially used the Dyesub supplies mugs, then got a few boxes from another supplier. Not a great deal of difference although I'd say the other suppliers mugs have a more obvious taper to the top - which can be problematic when wrapping the mug - resulting in a bit of banding/fading at the bottom. I've just ordered my latest batch from Listawood on recommendation of the forum - so fingers crossed for a good result...

I have pressed for the recommended 180secs at 180 degrees - lately my press has been a bit erratic and the temp seems to have started suddenly jumping up 20 or 30 degrees - resulting in over cooked mugs. An intermittent fault seemingly... (hopefully)

My main issue when pressing is with blues - all other colours come out great - blacks are spot on, red is really vibrant and skin tones come out nicely, but when I have dark blue it comes out almost grey/brown and is incredibly frustrating and has led to a fair bit of wastage... Slight improvements have come from upgrading my OS on Mac to enable me to print directly from Photoshop CC - previously the ICC profile from Dye Sub supplies wouldn't work in CS4 - I then experimented with printing from a CMYK for artwork where the blue is prominent - and this seems to have improved its bit more, as has reducing the time, temperature and pressure.

Overall - i've found it an interesting and largely rewarding process - with some big chunks of frustration thrown in. But I'd just like to say thanks for all the input from this forum - its a great resource.

Sorry for the long post!

Dave

[Brant]

Hi Dave - I too use the same mug press and A4 Ricoh printer using sublisplash inks and getting good consistent results. I too had colour issues initially but once I used the sublisplash setting in the drop down menu on my printer settings it's been great. I probably have an unorthodox way of printing when printing from the Ricoh - I use quark express on my old imac. Works great for me. Was actually up in your neck of the woods a few weeks ago buying a fantastic heat press i found in this forum - 8 hour round trip from Worcester but was well worth it.

[Justin]

Welcome tot the forum Dave

Justin
DSF Admin

[davew1980]

Thanks for your response Brant, I think that's the most bemusing thing about the poor dark blues - that the rest of the colours are absolutely bang on - perfect. I have had a slight improvement upgrading to Photoshop CC having updated my OS previously my old version of PS just didn't work with the Subisplash ICC profile so I was printing from Preview -(I'm also using IMac). Also converting the troublesome artwork to CMYK has also helped, aswell as a slight decrease in pressure and pressing time. Also initial results with The Listawood mugs are promising.
Glad you had a good trip up North - we're canny up here!

[Brant]

Forgot to say that I get my mugs from MDP supplies - 10oz orca coated and work a treat with Freesub mug press