Important Information You Need To Know

In addition to providing you with the best products we can find, we also want to provide you with great information…to help you succeed! Here are some more important tips and tricks, to help get you on that road.

• When you run your finger across a beautifully imprinted mug and feel nothing, it has been imaged with a process called “inkjet sublimation”. The reason you feel nothing is because the image is in the coating on the mug, rather than on the mug.

• The sides of the mug need to be relatively straight. We have seen some cheap mugs shaped more like a barrel, than a cylinder. Your transfer paper cannot be on an area with a severe taper. Put a straightedge or ruler to the side of your mug, to check for straightness, before taping your transfer to the mug.
  
• Generally speaking, your transfer image should be at least .25" away from the inside bottom of your mug. Here's why. The bottom of your mug will be much colder than the rest of the mug and you will have to greatly increase your press time or you will have a lot of mugs with light areas at the bottom. Be practical and keep your image away from the inside bottom of the mug.
  
  
• We also suggest that you keep your image about .75" away from the handle on a 15-oz. mug. You may be able to get a little closer on an 11 or 12-oz. mug. The most important thing to remember is to not have your image all the way to the edge of the heater band on your press. This is the coolest area of heat and you will greatly increase your reject rate if you are too close.
  
  
• The inside wall of the heater band on your press has a piece of Teflon laminated to it. Occasionally, there will be enough build up of sublimation ink on the Teflon that it needs to be cleaned. This is caused by "blow-back" (minute particles of the ink randomly blowing back through the paper, while the mug is sublimating). Make sure the press is cold and then clean the Teflon with rubbing alcohol. You can also wrap a mug with a piece of 100% polyester cloth and run it through a heating cycle. This "dry-cleaning" effect happens because polyester sublimates as good as the polymer coating on the mug.
  
  
• If there is a slight taper on your mug, remember that you really don't want even your paper to touch that area (much less your image). "Papering over" a taper will often cause the paper to crease slightly as you close your press. This causes streaks on your sublimated image.
  
  
• "White spots" (actually this is un-sublimated areas) are usually caused by the polymer coating on the mug being "spotty". This will also happen if your coating is "soft" (the coating on a mug for inkjet sublimation is "hard"). However, before you decide that is the problem, make sure that you are printing on the correct side of your sublimation paper. Printing on the wrong side of the paper can also produce a spotty look.
  
  
• You will need a special high-temperature tape to tape your images on your mugs. We offer a tape deal, with a heavy tape dispenser and three rolls of tape for $39.95. You can also get just one roll of tape for $7.50 and cut it with scissors. We like the dispenser because, to us, it is very aggravating to fool around with cutting up little pieces of tape that want to instantly "pig-tail" as soon as you cut them (that brings out the "varmint" in us).
  
  
• When you are ordering mugs, make sure that you specify that you are doing Inkjet Sublimation or you may be sent mugs with the wrong coating. Some manufacturers also offer mugs that they claim can be used for either inkjet sublimation or dye sublimation (this is a totally different process). We have tested these "universal" mugs and have been very unimpressed. Stick with the mugs that are made specifically for inkjet sublimation.
  
  
• Remember that while good mugs will have few defects in the entire case, they are not Rolex© watches. One or two defective mugs in a case of 36 should be acceptable. If rejects get up to 5 or 6 a case, contact your supplier for replacements. No one should expect total perfection but neither should they accept junk.
  
  
• Here is one last piece of knowledge, to keep you from perhaps being mislead about this statement that is often stated about many mug presses: "full-wrap, top to bottom heat". Many take that to mean that you can completely cover a mug with an image, with that press. You can't. Full-wrap means that the heat goes all the way around the mug. True. Some take that to mean that the heat goes all the way to the handle. Untrue. Top to bottom heat means that the heat is throughout the heater band. True. Some take that to mean than an image can be actually top to bottom on a mug. Untrue, or at the very least impractical. While it can be done theoretically, you may mess up 50% of your mugs in the attempt. Be practical. Have fun. Make money.

While we have discussed only inkjet sublimation as the printing method for mugs, there are two other processes: dye-sublimation (this uses a ribbon printer) and transfers from a color laser copier. While we don't sell supplies for either, we did want to mention them.

If you already have this equipment, the Phoenix™ mug press will work with either method. If you don't have this equipment, we will suggest that you consider inkjet sublimation because of the superior look and colorfastness of the mugs in a dishwasher.

Well, that's about it. Making mugs is not rocket science and can be fun and profitable. Depending upon volume, event, location (and your selling skills) custom 15-oz. mugs sell for between $7.95 and $14.95 (yes, it can vary that much). You can figure that you have about $2.50 in each mug (this includes the cost of a premium mug, sublimation ink and paper and freight on a premium mug).

Every type of entrepreneur that you can think of produces mugs: storefront retailers, home and web-based retailer's as well as mobile and special event retailers. We wouldn't let that worry us, however. The good old US of A is really big, with lots of opportunity for everyone.

We even have companies that make them just to give away to employees, customers and prospects. Everyone appreciates a personalized gift and making their own is a lot cheaper than almost anything else they can give.

Should you get into the "mug business"? We dunno. We can teach you how to successfully make a mug and we constantly share ideas (for example, in our monthly newsletter "Toner Times") to help you be successful, but after that it's up to you. That's another great thing about our country…lots of opportunity.

We do know one thing, for sure. Whatever you decide to do, we will be there, trying to help you succeed!

If you need more information or just want to feel more comfortable by talking to a "live" person, call us (Jack or John, we're the owners) at 800-908-9916 or e-mail us at staff@sublimationcartridge.com

Have a great day!

Go to the Phoenix mug press page