Newbie question about pricing - and prices on ebay.

[we-print]

I agree with the post about producing your own designs

[REDQUASAR]

"100 metre long, 44" wide rolls?" What kind of printing equipment are you using?

[pisquee]

wide format 44" Epson 9600

[REDQUASAR]

Thanks pisquee; I'm about to buy my first mug press and A4 printer, so I'm not in that league yet. However, it's reassuring to know there are ways of reducing costs significantly if things work out.

Kind regards

REDQUASAR

[pisquee]

When we decided we were going to turn my wife's hobby into a business the first decision I made was to get proper commercial grade printers, as we needed something robust and reliable if this was to be our income. Never regretted that decision.

[REDQUASAR]

If I do manage to make any money out of this venture, pisquee, I'll certainly reinvest any profits I make and upgrade my equipment. One of the first things I'll replace is my printer, but I'm also going to look at bulk ink systems too. The replacement cartridges for my proposed new printer are very expensive and, along with the cost of P&P, this bothers me.

[pisquee]

The only bulk ink system to consider is one with large refillable cartridges (not ones with tanks and tubes), so look for printers where this is an option, and where you have choice of ink from more than one manufacturer.

[REDQUASAR]

Yes, I know what you mean. I looked into using a continuous ink system before, for use with my standard inkjet printer: from what I could gather, some seem to work very well and some can actually damage your printer. Using larger, refillable cartridges would, I agree, be a much safer option, because structurally they resemble the printer manufacturer's proprietary cartridges, and they're simpler too in the way that they function, so there's less scope for something to go wrong. As I was doing my research I noticed that a lot of CIS users seemed to agree on one thing; if you are going to use such a system, it's best to use it with a new printer. This, naturally, makes me less inclined to try one, though, because whilst I might be willing to take a risk with an old, beat-up printer, I'm not so sure I'd be so enthusiastic about using one with anything new, especially a printer which is as expensive as the one which you use!

Fortunately, however, this is all something which I can put on the back burner for now because I haven't actually produced any mugs yet or established a presence! I will, however, if things work out, continue to look into bulk ink use and any other cost saving measures which might be out there. If I do come across anything which might be of interest to any forum member, I'll certainly post it.

One last thing, pisquee, thanks for replying to my posts. It's not just the practical advice you've given me which has helped. The fact that you mentioned your business grew from your wife's hobby was encouraging too. I'm an Illustrator/Graphic Designer by profession and I've decided to take something which I like doing and apply it to mug decoration (and other stuff too if things go O.K), but with the intention of building a business which I can work at full or part time.

[pisquee]

Well, it was more than a hobby really - she worked for about 10 years as a resident artist in a number of schools in south east London, and did arts workshops, community arts projects, and work with homeless people too. She didn't have much time to do her own work, when the recession came, the funding for schools to hire artists dried up a bit and so I gave her an ultimatum to be the artist she was supposed to be and stop hiding her talent in schools.
It soon became apparent that people liked her work and wanted to buy it, so it wasn't long before we ditched the Epson 1400 and CISS (along with expensive Sawgrass consumer inks) and got 2 wide format pro level printers in instead with industrial inks to go with them - 1 printer running pigment inks for printing reporductions of her art onto papers, and the other with sublimation inks for products.

[REDQUASAR]

That's an uplifting story, and well done, the both of you! Forgive me if I'm wrong, but aren't all sublimation inks made under license from Sawgrass? Also, I know you're making savings on paper by using your wide format printer, but is this proving cost effective with your sublimation inks too?