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No, sublimation inks only work in certain models of Epson and Ricoh printers. The reason for this is Epson and Ricoh printers use a cold technology to spray ink out on to the page. The sublimation inks are heat activated. If you used a different printer that used heat to put ink on to the page...you’d have a big problem! |
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No, you can not use any regular mug. You have to buy mugs with a polymer coating that can accept sublimation inks. Blank sublimation mugs are very cheap ranging from $0.70 to $1.50 per 11 oz mug depending on the quantity you buy. Keep in mind that if you buy a case of sublimation mugs, they can be a little pricey to ship because they are heavy! |
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You can buy sublimation inks that can plug into certain model Epson and Ricoh printers. You simply print out the mirror image of what you want to transfer on to sublimation paper. (sublimation paper is just a coated stock of paper that doesn’t allow the ink to penetrate the page) You will tape the image to the mug with heat resistant tape. To heat the mug up, you can either use a mug heat press or a mug wrap to bake it. At 400 degrees the ink vaporizes and dyes into the polymer coated mug. That’s it...you are done! |
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How does sublimation work? |
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Think back to high school chemistry. Sublimation literally means to go from a solid to a gas by skipping to liquid phase. Sublimation inks do the same think. When heated to 400 degrees they vaporize off the page and can dye into any white polymer based coating. |
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What is sublimation printing? |
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How does sublimation printing work? |
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Can I use any old mug? |
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Can I use any printer I have laying around? |
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It will cost you about $1,000 for a good starter package. A good new printer that is reliable is the Ricoh GX5050 for sublimation printer Most packages include the sublimation paper. For heating your mugs, you have two options. The quickest method is using a mug heat press. A great starter model is the George Knight DK3 mug heat press which goes for about $750. Its heavy duty and it can doe larger mugs and beer steins. The cheapest option is to use mug wraps. Mug wraps usually cost about $25 each. With mug wraps, you can use a regular oven to bake the mugs, but it will take longer. |
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How much does it cost to get into sublimation mug printing? |
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How do I decorate mugs? |
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Learn how to decorate mugs and make some extra money! |
