As you maybe aware I have been doing a little research into decorating mugs lately
During this process I have found that there are other methods of decorating a mug. I am aware that this is a Dye-Sublimation Forum and this thread a little contentious
What methods have you tried in the past? What are the Pro's & Con's of each method?
Phil
Life is like a jigsaw puzzle........i'm sure i'm missing some pieces!
Transfers and screen print spring to mind. Screen printing is great if you have a large number to get done, very sharp image, often used for single colour due to low costs. Transfers are also excellent, I got samples from a company a while back and they were first class.
I tried water slide decals in the early days (not magic touch). Print quality is, as you'd expect, quite superb but they're tricky to put onto the mug and its questionable how long they'd last. Apparently you can spray them and/or bake them for durability (I tried spraying one without much success). Ultimately, it may work out cheaper to do one or two because there's no set-up cost but it's wayyy too fiddly to consider it professionally.
I also tried some Laser Copier paper using proper paper and my standard colour laser printers (tried both coated and non-coated mugs). Neither was very successful.
I did have some success doing a mousemat using the Magic Touch colour laser paper. Pressing time is next to nothing and you need to be careful how you peel, but it does work. Doesn't seem to be as durable as dye-sub, though, because the ink doesn't permeate the fibres. It's also no cheaper than dye-sub because the paper is so expensive.
There's supposed to be a way to use dye-sub toner in colour laser printers (with an option for white) - but you need to buy the whole set-up (and I've only heard enthusiastic talk about it in the US) which makes the set-up cost pretty expensive. I did think that, by now, colour laser dye-sub would be more popular than it is - because it'd get us out from under Sawgrass' thumb and would be a lot cheaper in the long-run.
There is a process that involves a laser printer where the toner cartridges are filled with fine glaze particles, you send the image to printer as normal on to a water-slide decal, place this on the item then kiln fire.
This gives a permanent dishwasher and UV safe finish, a great idea if you want to do a large quantity or put an image on something that isn't flat, the company is up north and are very friendly and helpful.
Seems like overcomplicating things - mug printing with sublimation inks is way easier and probably cheaper than any other method.
To screen print you'd need equipment and it cannot be do on a flat bed hand bench and you can only print in high numbers. Then you'd need a kiln to fire the mugs. Same goes with the laser method - an expensive laser printer that can only print ceramics and a kiln. For speed and workshop space I would only consider sublimation printing.
I have a friend, gained on another Forum who uses the 'Laser Toner' method and claims to be getting a very good and commercially saleable result. Below is a reply to an enquiry I recently sent him:
"I am using CPM 6.1 from magic at £55 per box of 100. and transferwear cL from print-it at 55Euro a box. The differences are that there is no vat on the irish stuff (paper is vat free in ireland) but it is letter size sheets as opposed to magic cl which is £63 inc Vat and is A4.
When i got the stuff from ireland last year the exchange rate was good so it was quite a bit cheaper.
The mugs i have used are magic touch "coated mugs" which came with the mug machine, Xpress uncoated mugs(which are the cheapest i can find online, and of course Asda smartprice stoneware mugs which are £1 for a box of 4.
All of them work great but i have noticed that the xpres uncoated are fractionally smaller in diameter.
I find that I can get 3 prints from a sheet of paper so as you can see, using asda mugs its very cheap for me to produce one, about 75p and i have no trouble selling them at £5.
I get mug boxes from xpres at £17-50 + vat from xpres. These are made from thin card similar to cereal boxes, or the boxes from Magic are £18 + Vat and are heavier corrigated card which are better for posting. Price is per 100.
It takes a bit of experimentation to get it right, when I started about 1 in 7 mugs went wrong either because the print didnt transfer properly or the asda mug cracked but now i am managing to get by at about 1 in 20. One thing I have decided is that i am not doing them out on the market in cold weather, the mugs just don't reach the right temp.
What are you intending to do? mugs as you order in your shop or bulk for buisness gifts? The latter is where I am aiming eventually.
Let me know your address and i'll send you an asda mug if you send me one of your fab plastisol transfers( i'm curious to see what they are like)"
On the other hand I have another friend who is local to me who claims that the print on a 'Laser Printed' mug scratches off!
I did order some water-slide Laser Transfer Paper which should arrive today so I will give this method a crack. Apparently Laser Toner is 'waterproof' so does not need protecting like Inkjet Water-Slide Transfer Paper. Also I have read that if you 'bake' the mug after applying the Water-Slide Transfer it makes the print a whole lot more durable. We will see.
Phil
Life is like a jigsaw puzzle........i'm sure i'm missing some pieces!
John G wrote:Seems like overcomplicating things - mug printing with sublimation inks is way easier and probably cheaper than any other method.
To screen print you'd need equipment and it cannot be do on a flat bed hand bench and you can only print in high numbers. Then you'd need a kiln to fire the mugs. Same goes with the laser method - an expensive laser printer that can only print ceramics and a kiln. For speed and workshop space I would only consider sublimation printing.
Cheers John
Hi John,
If you read my above post i'm not sure if dye-sublimation is the cheapest method! My mate is producing a mug for 75 pence using his method, you cannot even buy a sub mug for that!
You can purchase a very good quality Laser Printer for the price of an Epson 1400 or R1900 and I think you may also find that toner is cheaper than Sublimation Ink hence your ongoing costs will also be lower.
Food for thought!
Phil
Life is like a jigsaw puzzle........i'm sure i'm missing some pieces!
