| .FAQ
Can you print first and we pay later? What payments do you take?
Sorry :) We have to take payment up front. These are personalized
mugs, so if we take an order that someone decides they no longer want,
we're not able to resell them. We do take MC, Visa , PayPal and Discover, so you
can call us to place your order before we print. However, we won't do
any printing and no charges will be made on your card until you ok your
image by email.
How
is this done? What is this process?
We
take a good quality photo from you and do the necessary work to prepare
the image for sublimation. We make reductions in size, touch up the
color if necessary and add borders, for example. Severely damaged photos
or collage images (such as antique photos, torn or water spotted photos,
collage images) that require intensive time for repair before mug
sublimation printing are subjects to other fees. Please inquire first.
The process is called sublimation in which special dyes or inks are used
to imprint an image on a cup. The inks, under high heat, turn into a gas
which penetrates the outer coating of specially glazed mugs to accept
this dye, and when cool, becomes part of the glaze. This is why the
image doesn't fade off like normal screen printed images do. Then each
image is measured and taped to the mug in preparation for imprinting.
All of this is done by hand.
How much are your mugs? and what are the shipping costs?
Mugs are a bit heavy and each 11 oz. white ceramic mug is approx $7.95 to $8.95
to ship priority mail
if you are ordering one. But if you are ordering more,
the shipping goes down considerably and we then ship by UPS. A
15 oz white ceramic mug costs about the same to ship. Packages
are not shipped insured unless you request it.
Though the postal service has raised their rates, and though our
imprinting costs have actually gone up in the last year and half, we
have done our level best to keep our prices the same as they were four
years ago. We have actually had no price increases in that time.
However, because of the high expense of shipping and producing the mugs,
we actually encourage you, if you are looking for more than one mug, to
do several at a time because your shipping costs DO go down. In that
event, we ship by UPS instead of the POSTAL service. When the work is
completed, we can give you the final amount. Up to that time. we can
give you an approx. shipping quote.
If you do receive a broken
insured package, save
all the packing materials and let us know immediately.
Do you ship Express, Global Express, Overnight, UPS?
Yes, we've done any and all of that depending on where it was going and
at the customer's request. It takes a bit of checking out to get the the
best prices, though. We had a large order for a California company,
several personalized mugs for their employees at Christmas. It turned
out that it was actually cheaper for us to ship by 2 day express rather
than overnight air and it would still get there on their deadline since
things shipped faster to California from our area than they do to, for
example, Maine. We will do the same for you too :) Regardless if it's
going to the U.K or Mexico, or here in the lower 48.
Wedding Mugs,
Father's Day Mugs, Mother's Day Mugs, Birthday Mugs, etc. Can you do
these?
Yes. These are actually no different than
any other mug. It's just what you wish to have put on them. But we can
offer a dark cobalt mg, or a choice of three different white mugs with
different colored interiors of forest green, cobalt blue, or rich red.
Can we use our own mugs
and have you put our images on them?
No. We've been asked by restaurants, wineries, etc if they could use
their own mugs and have us put their own logo on their mugs.
Unfortunately, we can't, though we wish we could do this for you. But it
takes a special glaze on the mugs for the inks to work. An ordinary mug
will not take the application of these particular inks. If you are
partial to your mugs, you might look into having your mugs screen
printed instead.
Can you ship to Canada?
Yes. We can and we have. But it is more expensive than shipping to the
lower 48 states. Also, it's best that you do not wait til just shortly
before a holiday. For example; having us create mugs for you a few days
before a special holiday or birthday and then shipping express. The
shipping express is really prohibitive. Give us plenty of lead time.
It'll save you money.
Can you ship overseas?
Yes, We can and we have. Please give us plenty of lead time for your
needs (holidays or special occasions) and give us all your particulars
(complete shipping address) so that we can give you as complete an
estimate as possible.
What don't you do?
Well,
we don't do pornographic images. Period. And if we feel some image or
text is of questionable or dubious 'character', or would in anyway
reflect badly on our family oriented business, then we do reserve the
right to refuse that particular job.
How do I care for the mug?
While dishwasher safe, and printed with great quality inks, we still
recommend not letting them sit on the windowsill in strong sunlight! and
hand washing if possible.
What do you need from me?
A
good quality photo, scanned at 300 dpi. The better the photo, the better
the image, the better your end product! We can make some adjustments,
but to save you time and money, please send images that are well
lighted, well scanned, and free from damage. We do reserve the right to
reject photos that are not of quality printing requirements. To ensure
your chances of being accepted for printing and sublimation, feel free
to inquire first with an image. If you are able to, make the image
approx. 3.30 inches high and wide.
Email Us
Composite photos (photos that have been layered from one graphic program
to another) usually aren't as good to work with. Most often the best
ones are ones that have either been taken with traditional camera
film and been scanned or from a digital camera and downloaded.
How long does is take to get my order?
We
try to get these out as quick as possible, but a lot depends on how many
orders are ahead of you :). Should we experience any difficulties
(equipment malfunctions, shipment delays) you'll be notified
immediately. However, we usually get shipments out fairly quick. If it's
during the Christmas Holidays, however, PLEASE order way ahead of time
if you can!
More than one image; Do
you only put one image on?
You can have your image on one side, and you can have names and dates on
the other. Sometimes we can put images on both sides. The coffee mug at the top was a gift after a memorable catch
one afternoon after fishing for a week and getting nothing.....the
opposite side said "You finally caught him!" You can even have a bit of
fun with your personalization. Just tell us what you want and how you
want it to read. We'll do the rest.
What if I'm not happy with the mug?
Well, first, we send you a graphic image by email,. You need to ok
this before we imprint. If you ok the mug, we imprint and you decide you
don't want that image or text, you will probably be stuck for the cost
of the unwanted mug as well as the new one we imprint. So take the time
to be sure you are ok'ing exactly what you want on your mugs.
Occasionally, despite doing everything right, (i.e using the right inks,
the right papers, the right mugs with the right imprinting glazes, the
right software programs) we get a snafu even we can't fix! sometimes the
images we are given will not print out correctly no matter WHAT we do.
In that instance, we only ask for the cost of the ink printing and
nothing else. Why does this happen? There are many variables, some of
which may lie in the images sent to us. Some are composites of many
different images made in many different programs. No two programs, no
two printers, no two computer monitors and not two sets of eyes will
ever view color exactly the same way. So we do the best we can, but if
we aren't able to produce what you want, we stop before it gets to far
out of hand. Remember that color is not viewed the same way by everyone.
Can I get them done cheap?
Every one of these, whether we do one or three hundred, is hand done.
Each image is printed, then cut out and taped to the mug after being
measured as closely as possible to try to make sure that, (if there are
several that are alike) each one will be as close as possible to the
previous one. Each mug is heated in a heat press one at a time. This is
a time consuming process and there is no actual assembly line. We really do try
to make each one as even as possible. We try to take care with each one.
With so much time that goes into each one, and given the nature of the
special inks and glazes that allows us to put these images on these
mugs, images that do not come off with time like traditional screen
printing does, we truly cannot compete with the Chinese on this one,
sorry :) However, if you ARE doing a bulk order, we have done some
discounts, so please feel free to call us. 307-532-4642
Using Licensed Images
We currently don't have any licensing to use any copyrighted images.
However, if someone brings an image to us to use on their mug, we will
put in on for them (at our discretion of course!). But we don't have any
right to sell or resell any licensed image on mugs per se.
Manipulating Your Photos
Sometimes we get photos that don't work no matter what we do. It doesn't
happen often, but it does happen. In fact, in all the time we've been
printing, it's actually only happened three times! While we would
love to make ALL of our customers happy 100% of the time, sometimes with
the photos we're handed, this just isn't possible. We had a customer
once, that no matter what we did ( and we did everything we knew
how to do) we could not get the color right. We wasted a lot of mugs and
ink. This customer was upset because we didn't take the extra time to
photoshop the image before printing. This wasted our time and money and
yours. (Please read
What do you need from me?)
If we need to take the time to
photoshop an image for you, we will need to charge for that time. Our
time is valuable and so is yours. In the end, he wasn't charged for the
mugs, but he was charged for our inks. We will look at an image to see
if it works on a mug, and we might even do a color test to see how it
prints out. If we do need to manipulate an image, it will be a $30.00 an
hour charge.
Bulk Orders
We've done bulk orders, yes. The largest was
an order for 350 mugs in the 15 oz size. And, each one was hand done
with a wrap around image style. We have also done orders for a lawyer in
California, and an Electrical Company in California, both of which were
Christmas orders for their employees and all were personalized mugs for
them. What are the advantages compared to us over other companies? I was
told, visiting with these people and asking why, as a small business, we
were chosen. I was told it was because we didn't require a hefty minimum
order, and even if our prices were a bit higher, the no-minimum
outweighed what they would have had to buy otherwise. Additionally, they
liked the quality, the color of the imprinting and the longevity of a
sublimated mug over a screen printed one. Ultimately it's up to you. If
you would like to visit with us, feel free to call at 307-532-4642
How do I order?
You can select one of the mugs above and pay by paypal and then email
your image to us (we do not have an uploading service at this
time) or you can call us and place an order by phone with your Visa,
Mastercard or Discover and then let us know which mug you like. Then email us your file. We'll begin from there.
Can you ship to anyone I want?
We
can ship to anyone in the U.S and Canada that you specify as a gift
recipient. Shipping to Canada and overseas will be more.
What about refunds?
These are personalized gifts. Sorry, no refunds.
Rawhide Gifts and Gallery
1600 E. Valley RD
Torrington, Wyoming
307-532-4642
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