Glass coasters?

[Caz]

Can anyone help with sourcing decent quality 10x10 glass coasters?

The last ones we've had (Listawood) were terrible, not cut square and with the white sublimation backing splashed all over them. Can't use these as they are an embarassment to send out to customers.

We used to have the "chinchilla" finish coasters which were good quality but these don't seem to be available any more. It's a shame as these were very popular with our customers and it would be great to find a replacement.

Thanks for any help.

[Jimbo]

Although they are not for sublimation these are a good heavy glass coaster that take a normal paper printer which is permanantly sealed behind a rubber non slip base. There's also a matching placemat.

http://www.intaprintuk.com/EZ/intaprint ... ss_Coaster

Jimbo

[JSR]

Glass products have been going steadily downhill over the last year or two. They used to be fantastic, but now they're not worth doing.

Thanks for that link, Jimbo. I might look at them in the new year.

[Jimbo]

I have a sample coaster, they are certainly quality items. As they have a black or silver border the size of the print isn't crucial. Did mine with a laser.
I like the rubber type backing, it has a bit of a velvety feel to it.

Jimbo

[Caz]

Glass products have been going steadily downhill over the last year or two. They used to be fantastic, but now they're not worth doing.

That's depressing. Glass coasters and similar items have been very popular with our customers. We were hoping the chinchilla style still existed somewhere, but the plain glass would be Ok if decent quality.

Seems as though the quality on a lot of the dyesub blanks is a bit ropey recently unfortunately

[JSR]

That's depressing. Glass coasters and similar items have been very popular with our customers. We were hoping the chinchilla style still existed somewhere, but the plain glass would be Ok if decent quality.

Seems as though the quality on a lot of the dyesub blanks is a bit ropey recently unfortunately

I tried some of the smaller glass placemats from a different supplier. They look quite nice before printing but, for some odd reason, more of the print stays on the back of the white coating than goes through it. The older/larger placemats always drew more print through the coating than it left behind - they were superb. I have a couple here that I printed up and they're great.

The same thing has happened with the coasters. The original ones were fine, but the "new" ones that came onto the market are like those new glass placemats. The printed result looks like a faded print because the ink isn't drawn through the coating as successfully as on the original coasters/placemats. Result is that I can't sell any of them any more.

The trouble is that you can't tell what will be "dodgy" ones before you buy and you invariably have to buy a box of 20, which works out pretty expensive when you can't sell them. The result is that it's killed the market as far as I'm concerned because I'm not going to hunt through the suppliers trying to sort the wheat from the chaff.

[JSR]

I have a sample coaster, they are certainly quality items. As they have a black or silver border the size of the print isn't crucial. Did mine with a laser.
I like the rubber type backing, it has a bit of a velvety feel to it.

Jimbo

Thanks for the recommendation. I've bookmarked the page.

[Caz]

Actually it's not the print quality we're having trouble with. It's the manufacturing quality of the blanks. The last ones we had weren't cut square, it was really obvious and they look really shoddy, but the supplier claims they don't see anything wrong with them.

We're really looking for the dyesub coasters. Are there any others out there we can try, or have they disappeared?

Thanks for the link to the other coasters. Might give those a try if we can't get anything else.
Is the seal on those good, or is water, coffee, wiping them etc. likely to leak in and damage the print? Does the paper lay flat inside? Wondering if the paper will look rippled with a lot of ink on it.

[JSR]

Actually it's not the print quality we're having trouble with.

In that case, if you go to a different supplier - get a sample in before buying a pack. Otherwise you'll end up like me, with a box I can't sell.

[Jimbo]

Looking at the sample I have, it certainly looks watertight, the print is fully encapsulated between the glass and the adhesive backed rubber base.
When you start, the coaster has the rubber base stuck along one edge, you then peel of the backing layer, insert print then press the sticky rubber down. Quick,easy and effective. If you phone Intaprint they will send you a sample.

Jimbo