Photo mugs are a very popular personalized gift choice. And there is no shortage of mugs online and in retail shops to choose from.
Generally, there are two main components are required to make photo mug – the ink and the mug. Dye sublimation process is used to make photo mug. Sublimation is when a solid changes to a gas without becoming a liquid in between. The most common example is when dry ice evaporates to a gas, never becoming a liquid first. These mugs are manufactured specifically for the sublimation process with a special coating.

So to make a photo mug, the manufacturer prints an image on transfer paper using sublimation inks. Then the paper is clamped to the mug, and the clamped pair is heated to 300 degrees. The mug coating becomes porous and the ink vaporizes and is absorbed by the coating on the mug. Cool it down, remove the paper, and the ink has been transferred to the mug.

What can go wrong? If the coating on the mug is low-quality, the paper can stick to the mug, leaving a rough surface texture when the paper is scraped off. Or the coating is not uniform or cloudy, making the image weak and unsaturated. If the mug is heated for too long or at too high a temperature, the image diffuses, making it look fuzzy. And some mugs are just poorly made, with large variations is size or wall thickness, especially noticeable when more than one mug is bought as a set. Or if the walls of the mug are not cylindrical, but are conical, the clamp holding the paper to the mug loses pressure along the top or bottom, resulting in an incomplete image transfer.

All of this also assumes that the image printed on the transfer paper is printed at 150 dpi minimum, and the printer is properly calibrated using a calibration image on a daily basis.

Cheap mugs usually have inferior coatings that will not provide accurate, sharp color reproduction. Sublimation technology has evolved a great deal over the last 5 years, and some manufacturers have not kept up. Ask where the mug was made , check that the walls are cylindrical and the image sharp. If you cannot look at samples, look for endorsements or recommendations.

You can make attractive photo glass pendant with your or your beloved one’s photo. Select a photo that represent your style, make sure to select the one has better face exposure. Apart from human photos, why not to consider your favourite pet’s photo or a flower or even your favourite quote, can be a great choice for your photo pendent.
1. Select an image or using computer graphics tool resize an image/photo that will fit your glass tile. Various size glass tiles can be bought from online retailers, if you can’t find one that similar in size with image then resize the image with photo editor.
2. Spray the image with clear acrylic sealer. Make sure to allow the sealer to dry properly before proceeding ahead.

3. Now apply a thin layer of clear glue on the opposite side of your glass tile. At this point, the back-side of the glass tile will feel little rougher than the front side of the tile.

4. Press firmly your chosen image on the side, where you have applied glue. Make sure to clean any excess glue from the side of the tile.
5. Wait until the glue is dry fully.
6.Now apply another layer of glue on the back of the pendant.
7.Apply a thin layer of superglue or e-6000 to the flat panel of your jewellery bail.
8. Now press firmly the back side of the pendant on top of the other one, and let the glue to dry.

It’s a great idea to start your own home-based business in the current turbulent job market and global economic crisis. Photo Crystal business can be considered a business with low-risk, less investment, considerably less training and business space required to start yourself as a entrepreneur.

Before straight jumping into photo crystal business, it is important, like any other business, understanding and exploring the possible market in your target demographic area. You should also consider seriously your marketing channel, i.e. how you going to sell your crystal products, if you are considering online marketing, which is definitely one of best marketing channel for photo crystal, photo glass, and crystal vases based product, then you must need to understand the required knowledge and strategy to promote your website and products to maximum possible exposure to your target customers. Such thing may require some specialised knowledge such website developer, search engine optimisation for your photocrystal products. Simple putting a website, describing what services and products you have may not be enough to reach your customers, as getting sales through online channel becomes very competitive over the last few years.

Decide what items you want to produce, initially. Common products are imprinted glass awards, photo glass based products, display photos on glass crystal, various photo crystal gifts, souvenirs and the list goes on. Family photos, pets, special memories or festival and award crystals are just some possible applications for your customers.

Though starting photo crystal business does not need to invest big amount of money; crystal solidification machine, a computer (preferably a Mac computer, which is bit costly in comparison to PC), scanner, camera and a printer are the core instruments required for photo crystal making, where most of your initial investment will go. Where other raw materials, for example, crystal ink, glue, printer ink, crystal base, empty photo glass are kind of day-to-day cost depending on demand, which can be bought from respective merchandisers and they are not so costly. You don’t need to carry a lot of crystal glass inventory, either, so you can pretty much get paid as you go.