We design our mugs by starting with an idea and finding an attractive and often humorous way to work that idea onto the very small space of a coffee mug. We use Adobe Illustrator for most of our designs. Therefore we are able to customize just about any design.

Designing and producing mugs is not terribly difficult, but it involves many steps that require design skills, computer skills, manual dexterity, patience, and attention to detail. Here are some of the main steps we employ in the end-to-end process:

DESIGN: We use Adobe Illustrator CS5, which gives us great latitude to generate vector-based designs that can be scaled to any size. We also use Photoshop as required when we want to use a bitmap image in the design. Since we don't simply copy and paste designs from the web, we can customize just about any mug we list for sale.

PRINTING: In order to create a permanent and dishwasher-safe image on our mugs, we use the dye sublimation process. This process involves gel inks that are applied to a blank mug and are heated to 400 degrees in order to transfer and chemically bind the gel to the mug material itself. The printing of the image takes place on a printer with these specialized inks onto unique transfer paper.

PRESSING: A blank mug is selected and checked for any damage or imperfections. The printed transfer is **carefully** applied to the mug so that it is properly aligned. Dust and fibers must be avoided during this process, lest the mug be ruined. The mug with the taped-on transfer is then placed in a dedicated mug heat press for about 3 minutes. When complete, the mug is removed and immediately cooled to avoid out-gassing that can ruin the mug's appearance. The finished mug is inspected, and if it does not pass our quality standards it is trashed and re-done.

PACKING and SHIPPING: The finished mug(s) are packaged in a way to prevent even the harshest handling from breaking them. Shipping labels are printed and applied to the box. Delivery is then made to the local post office, usually on a daily basis.

Now that you know more about our process, we hope you will appreciate all of the work that goes into a beautiful-looking but very affordable coffee mug. We hope we have the opportunity to produce a mug for your very own, or as a special gift from you.

Thank You!
- Matt & Kathy

NOTE: Our family operates the following Etsy stores in addition to this one: "perksandrec", and "mattschrierphoto".