Extreme newbie question - centering/formatting mug images

[mvaughn79]

Hello! I am a VERY new one-woman operation and have just started selling dye-sub mugs. I am really struggling with getting the images centered properly and in the proper position on the mugs to make them look professional. To make things even more hairy, I often sell them in sets (think bridesmaid mugs, etc.) so making them all uniform is very important since the same customer buys multiple quantities.

Is there any sort of template or guide to use for centering? Or any tools of the trade to make sure the image is in the correct position? I don't feel that I'm centering images correctly and it takes me a loooooooong time to make just one mug.

Any advice or best practices would be greatly appreciated!

[froggy]

What graphics software are you using?

[mvaughn79]

I use Adobe Illustrator. Also, in case it matters, I use a sawgrass printer, so I print on 8.5x11 transfer paper and trim teh images down.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Get yourself precut mug paper so no trimming needed and you can centre design easily by wrapping paper around mug and ensuring ends are equal distant from handle.
http://www.xpres.co.uk/p-9210-texpri...per-xpres.aspx

[mvaughn79]

Thank you so much -- I've not seen these before! This is wonderful!