Today started with a simple goal: print a few custom mugs. By the end of the day it had turned into a full exploration of printer maintenance, layout templates, heat press behavior, and workflow optimization.

Sublimation looks simple from the outside. Print an image, tape it to a mug, apply heat, and the design transfers permanently into the coating.

In practice, every step introduces variables. Measuring mugs, aligning artwork, trimming paper, taping transfers, managing press temperature, and even deciding which side of the mug counts as the “front” can all affect the final result.

By the end of the day I had not only produced test mugs, but also refined the process that will be used for a much larger run.

Starting With the Printer

The printer I’m using is an Epson EcoTank ET-2800 converted to sublimation ink.

Converted sublimation printers need occasional maintenance prints to keep the ink flowing through the print head. Most people use simple purge sheets with color bars.

At first I decided that if I was going to print maintenance sheets, they might as well be interesting.

Instead of plain blocks of color, I experimented with designing a set of purge sheets in the style of 1880s block prints. Each page doubled as a functional cleaning sheet while still being visually interesting.

There were several versions:

• a weekly sheet with equal coverage of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black
• individual sheets for each color when cleaning specific nozzles

The designs included decorative typography and instructions, but their real job was simply to keep ink moving through the printer.

Maintenance can still have a little character.

Rethinking the Purge Sheets

After thinking about it further, I ended up abandoning those decorative purge sheets for the time being.

The goal of a purge print is not to make something look good. The goal is simply to keep ink flowing through each nozzle channel.

When a design includes gradients, shading, or blended colors, the printer may mix inks together to produce the appearance of those colors rather than pushing large amounts of each individual ink channel through the print head.

That means a design might look colorful while still using relatively little of each individual ink.

At that point I started worrying that I might be wasting paper instead of actually exercising the ink system.

What I really needed was continuous ink flow, not attractive maintenance pages.

Since I’m already producing real sublimation prints, those jobs themselves will likely keep the ink moving. Dedicated purge sheets can always be revisited later if needed, but for now they seemed unnecessary.

Sometimes the best optimization is simply removing an unnecessary step.

Measuring the Mug

Before designing the layout, I measured the mug itself.

Using a flexible fabric ruler, I measured both the circumference and height. Handles tend to get in the way, so flexible measuring tools help.

The measurements came out to:

Circumference: 10.25 inches
Height: 3.625 inches

To place designs evenly on both sides of the mug, the circumference was divided in half.

10.25 ÷ 2 = 5.125 inches

That distance determines the spacing between front and back graphics.

Rather than filling the entire mug height, I resized the artwork to 3-inch circular logos, leaving some space above and below the design.

Building a Layout Template

For the layout, I used Google Docs.

It’s not traditional design software, but it works surprisingly well for precise positioning when images are set to absolute placement.

The artwork was first flipped horizontally in GIMP so that it would appear correctly after sublimation.

The first logo was placed at the top-left corner of the page and sized to 3×3 inches. The second logo was placed 5.13 inches to the right. The perfect spacing would have been 5.125 inches, but Google Docs only allows two decimal places.

Fortunately, the difference is only five thousandths of an inch—far smaller than any real-world alignment error.

Once the first pair was positioned, I duplicated them to build a 2×3 grid across the page.

Final placement coordinates ended up as:

Mug	Front	Back
1	0.2×0.2	5.33×0.2
2	0.2×3.9	5.33×3.9
3	0.2×7.6	5.33×7.6

This gives three transfers per sheet with small margins for trimming.

Now I have a reusable template that can be used for future mug designs as well.

Choosing Transfer Paper

The mug kit came with pre-cut sublimation paper sized for mugs, but the paper looked slightly off-color and inexpensive.

Rather than risk inconsistent results, I chose to use A-Sub sublimation paper instead.

The designs were printed on full letter-sized sheets and then trimmed down to size using a paper cutter.

Straight edges are important when wrapping transfers around mugs. Crooked cuts can cause alignment problems and make taping more difficult.

Speeding Up the Taping Process

One of the slowest parts of the process in the past was simply taping the transfer to the mug.

Labor quickly becomes the biggest cost when producing multiple mugs.

To make that step faster, I added two inexpensive tools.

The first was a multi-roll heat tape dispenser. The device holds several rolls of tape and automatically cuts small strips when a knob is turned.

Each turn produces four ready-to-use tape pieces. Instead of pulling tape, tearing it, and repeating the process, the strips are already staged and easy to grab. Also, I’m not spending a few minutes hunting for the edge and peeling it off the roll.

Small improvements like that remove friction from repetitive tasks.

Using a Mug Cradle for Alignment

The second tool was a cup cradle designed to hold cylindrical objects between adjustable walls.

Instead of clamping the mug between the walls, I found it worked better by resting the mug on the top edges of the cradle.

This allows the handle to hang freely between the walls.

Gravity naturally centers the handle and keeps the mug stable while the transfer is aligned and taped in place.

Once the center of the transfer is secured, the mug can be flipped so the handle faces upward and the remaining edges can be taped down.

The cradle effectively eliminates the need for a second set of hands.

Setting Up the Heat Press

Before turning on the mug press, the pressure needed to be adjusted.

During shipping the press had been tightened so much that a mug wouldn’t even fit into the heating element.

The heating pad is adjustable using two separate dials. Both had to be loosened significantly before a mug could be inserted.

Because I wanted the option of pressing two mugs at once, the pressure adjustments had to be aligned evenly across both dials to maintain consistent contact.

Too much pressure risks breaking the mug handle.
Too little pressure can allow the transfer paper to shift or cause blurry transfers.

Finding the right balance is part of the setup process.

Dialing In Temperature and Time

The instructions that came with the mugs suggested the following settings:

390°F
70 seconds

Because ceramic mugs absorb heat quickly, inserting them into the press causes the displayed temperature to drop temporarily.

Rather than starting the timer immediately, I waited for the press to return to the target temperature before beginning the timing cycle.

In a production environment, this step usually becomes part of a consistent rhythm where machines and operators settle into a predictable workflow.

First Test Results

The first two mugs produced encouraging results.

The printed transfers looked darker than the ones I had previously seen at the library, and the color transfer appeared strong after pressing.

There was a small amount of ghosting near the edges, but it was subtle enough that most people wouldn’t notice unless they were looking for it.

A Temperature Reading That Didn’t Make Sense

When I inserted a third mug into the press, something unusual happened.

The temperature reading didn’t drop at all.

Normally the display decreases slightly when a cold mug is inserted, then gradually climbs back to the target temperature.

This time the display remained fixed at 390°F.

That immediately raised some suspicion.

The mug was pressed anyway, but the result was a heavily ghosted transfer. At that point I began to doubt whether the press display was reporting the true surface temperature.

The wiring for the heating element appeared secure, but it’s possible that the controller’s thermistor is measuring the heating element itself rather than the actual temperature of the contact surface.

Verifying the temperature with an infrared thermometer will likely be the next step.

Trust the process, but verify the tools.

A Curious Smell

Another detail that stood out during the process was the smell.

I hadn’t noticed it previously when using the mug press at the library. At the time I was also working with the laser cutter, so any sublimation smell may have blended into the general workshop air.

At home, however, it was much more noticeable.

Staff at the library had once mentioned that sublimation sometimes smells a bit like fish. I can’t quite place the exact comparison myself, but the smell is definitely unique. It isn’t overpowering or unpleasant, just distinctive.

It likely comes from a combination of things being heated at once: sublimation ink turning to vapor, the coating on the mugs absorbing the dye, the paper’s release coating, and possibly the adhesive in the heat-resistant tape.

Whatever the exact source, it’s another reminder that the process involves more chemistry than it might appear at first glance.

Things Learned Along the Way

Several useful observations came out of the tests.

Sublimation prints often look dull on paper but become vibrant after pressing.

Removing and reinserting mugs during the process causes severe ghosting.

Tiny dust particles can cause small speckled areas where dye does not transfer.

And machine displays should never be assumed to be perfectly accurate without independent verification.

The Unexpected Mug Orientation Question

As I prepared to produce a different, larger run of forty-eight mugs, another question appeared.

The design includes two different images.

Which one goes on the front?

That turns out to be more complicated than expected.

Is the front the side the user sees while drinking?

Or the side that faces everyone else?

And what happens when someone holds the mug left-handed?

Rather than guessing, the better approach was simply to ask the client.

Sometimes the simplest solution is the most reliable.

Process Over Product

What started as a small printing task turned into a day of experimentation and learning.

Templates were built. Tools were tested. Workflows were refined. Equipment behavior was questioned.

Every project introduces a few surprises.

Each improvement makes the next run smoother.

And by the time the forty-eight mugs are ready to print, the process behind them will be far more reliable than when the day began.