As with most things I get into these days it seems to get out of hand and everyone wants one, now it's etched mugs and its gone from the couple I was going to make to 11 and knowing how these things work it will only get more out of hand.
These are for the guy's at work and its pretty good practice in design layout, tracking down images, vectorizing, etching and painting so a good start.
I have been searching for mugs to use and its pretty straight forward in that the mugs need to be straight, I am using a vinyl resist and conforming to the shape of a curved mug as I tried doesn't quite work without distorting the pattern. Obviously this only applies if your design covers the mug top to bottom as mine do, if its just a name then no problem a nice curved porcelain would be great.
I have found eBay full of mugs for sale in batches from 24 to 72 or as many as required but after a search around the shops I have picked up a dozen for 75p each and as there are going to be enhanced by me then they don't require to be fancy.
I have mixed up the designs a little by using silhouettes and line art with the idea of a humorous theme to each one, apart from the Senior Chief, I'm not mad enough to incur his wraith but the rest of the guy's are fair game.
Once the image was downloaded I then converted it to a vector format and because the quality of a downloaded image has a DPI of around 72 which is very rough they all required a little straightening up and in some cases the smaller elements within the design required enlarging a little or they where to small to either cut or weed.
I made a box around the image the size of the mug then sent to the cutting machine.
I trimmed each template to size and weeded before applying the transfer tape.
I positioned the mug before removing the backing paper and centering the resist to the mug and squeegeed it on.
I had a lot to do so got busy.
Because I didn't want any damage to the glaze either from overblasting or overspray I had to fully mask the whole of the mug.
Only 9 here and received a request for 2 more after blasting these.
I used the suction gun to blast these at a pressure of around 40 psi, I could have used the pressure pot but wanted to see how my new Hydrovane compressor worked with the 6 mm nozzle in the gun and very pleased to say it supplied more than enough air. I didn't etch to deeply into the mug as I intended to use a spray paint to colour and I know from experience that the spray thickness is measured in microns so even with 3 coats of paint on just a little depth is sufficient.
It only took a few minutes each to blast then a good blow with air and a tack rag to ensure that there was no grit hiding in the corners then a first very light spray of black gloss to key in on each mug then giving ten minutes or so before the next coat and so on until happy with the coverage.
It would be nice to say that everything worked out great after the spraying but I was a little overzealous in the removal of the resist, as its been such a long time since I have done this sort of work that I tried to remove the resist to early. I waited till that evening to remove the first one and it pulled some of the paint out, so that mug went in the bin. I then waited till the morning and removed another resist which pulled a little less paint off, in the bin then waited till the afternoon and pulled even less paint off, in the bin but this afternoon after 2 days drying the resist pulled of perfect.
So after buying more mugs I have been back in the cabinet and re-blasted the thrown ones.
These have come out great, very crisp lines, I did take more care removing the resist after 2 days and once removed I used a new razor to trim any paint around the edges of the etch.
The 2 colour mug with the hearts required the black paint masking before applying the red. When applying the mask it is best not to place the glue from the mask onto the paint as it will impress the pattern of the mask weave onto the fresh paint as I found out, it will take a couple of days to harden. To prevent leaving an impression I covered the fresh paint with the vinyl backing, this has a smooth silicone surface that will not damage the paint or stick to it then masked on top. The second colour to the Scotty dog was painted on by hand.
I have ordered a selection of Rub n Buff to try out as it may be safer to use in the future, I'm also not sure about the durability of the gloss paint as it will have to contend with boiling water then being washed after each use with possibly a scouring pad thrown into the mix. Not sure Rub n Buff will be any good for that either, we'll see.
Paul
I made a box around the image the size of the mug then sent to the cutting machine.
I trimmed each template to size and weeded before applying the transfer tape.
I positioned the mug before removing the backing paper and centering the resist to the mug and squeegeed it on.
Because I didn't want any damage to the glaze either from overblasting or overspray I had to fully mask the whole of the mug.
Only 9 here and received a request for 2 more after blasting these.
I used the suction gun to blast these at a pressure of around 40 psi, I could have used the pressure pot but wanted to see how my new Hydrovane compressor worked with the 6 mm nozzle in the gun and very pleased to say it supplied more than enough air. I didn't etch to deeply into the mug as I intended to use a spray paint to colour and I know from experience that the spray thickness is measured in microns so even with 3 coats of paint on just a little depth is sufficient.
It only took a few minutes each to blast then a good blow with air and a tack rag to ensure that there was no grit hiding in the corners then a first very light spray of black gloss to key in on each mug then giving ten minutes or so before the next coat and so on until happy with the coverage.
It would be nice to say that everything worked out great after the spraying but I was a little overzealous in the removal of the resist, as its been such a long time since I have done this sort of work that I tried to remove the resist to early. I waited till that evening to remove the first one and it pulled some of the paint out, so that mug went in the bin. I then waited till the morning and removed another resist which pulled a little less paint off, in the bin then waited till the afternoon and pulled even less paint off, in the bin but this afternoon after 2 days drying the resist pulled of perfect.
So after buying more mugs I have been back in the cabinet and re-blasted the thrown ones.
These have come out great, very crisp lines, I did take more care removing the resist after 2 days and once removed I used a new razor to trim any paint around the edges of the etch.
The 2 colour mug with the hearts required the black paint masking before applying the red. When applying the mask it is best not to place the glue from the mask onto the paint as it will impress the pattern of the mask weave onto the fresh paint as I found out, it will take a couple of days to harden. To prevent leaving an impression I covered the fresh paint with the vinyl backing, this has a smooth silicone surface that will not damage the paint or stick to it then masked on top. The second colour to the Scotty dog was painted on by hand.
I have ordered a selection of Rub n Buff to try out as it may be safer to use in the future, I'm also not sure about the durability of the gloss paint as it will have to contend with boiling water then being washed after each use with possibly a scouring pad thrown into the mix. Not sure Rub n Buff will be any good for that either, we'll see.
Paul
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