Printer Wanted?

[dazjames]

Hi, am new to forum and was looking into starting a print project. Having checked posts I can see potential headaches in creating quality products straight away so are considering outsourcing to a skilled and experienced printer.

I would like to start off with a small run off about 40 mugs to test the market. Mugs would pref be black with photo image. Would like the mugs to include a range of images rather than 40 mugs with the same image. This will help me understand what is popular and whats not.

The theme will be death metal and horror related so would like to work with printer who is happy to print horror themed products.

I would be grateful for any response and potential printers can PM me with quotes if not wanting to go public with prices.

Thanks.

[WorthDoingRight]

Hi Daz,

Dye sublimation is unlikely to be the right method for producing the mugs you are after. Most dye sublimation takes place on white or pale coloured substrates and if you want your base mug colour as black you will either need to use waterslide transfers, the black panel mugs (a black mug with a sublimatable white panel section) or a dedicated mug printing outfit for which a run of 40 mugs with different designs would be unjustifiably expensive to do.

I would suggest that you consider whether you could base your horror designs on a white sublimatable mug where you could have your image covering a rectangle of approx 90mm high x 220mm wide in colour.

[Andrew]

Panel sublimation mugs would be the way to go. These generally cost 70/80p more than the white counterpart but if printed well can look good. Bright sunlight can show up the panel print quite a bit but under normal use they can look very effective.

[WorthDoingRight]

Panel sublimation mugs sold by BMS have a panel approx 80mm x 180mm that your image fits into. Sample of the mugs here http://www.printerowners.co.uk/sublimat ... on-mug.htm

[Reg]

Unless these have changed but the ones I have the panel is 82 mm x 102 mm.

[Andrew]

There are a few different option on the market. I have tried some in the past that have a full top to bottom white panel, others that have an oversized panel going close to the handle so can only print in an oven plus a few other variations. Different suppliers/manufacturers have their own versions so no real industry standard.

[WorthDoingRight]

This is the trouble with panel mugs, no uniform panel size so if your regular supplier runs out you might be 'up the creek with no paddle'. This is the main reason I suggested whether he could produce a design that would be ok on a white mug as these are much more likely to be available.

[dazjames]

Thanks for all advice and replies, there is much more to this mug business than meets the eye.

[bms]

Unless these have changed but the ones I have the panel is 82 mm x 102 mm.

Yes they've changed.

[gorgall2]

Does the entire mug have to be black, I have done these before that only left a white handle and a small strip of white either side.
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