I'm gonna show you how to make a Personilised cup, with anything you want printed on it, for free, using recycled materials. Please vote, favourite & have fun!

Step 1: Materials

For this project were going to be basing this on a starbucks Seattle Latte cup. You can base it on any cup you want, but you will need 2 cups unless you use the seattle latte cup ( 1 cup for template, one for actual drinking).

You're also going to need:

Some clear stickyback plastic (just under a4 size),

A sheet of a4 plain paper

Some thicker a4 card (2 sheets of a4 plain will do)

https://cdn.instructables.com/FB6/DEVB/HUU1E5K5/FB6DEVBHUU1E5K5.LARGE.jpg

Step 2: Drink Up & Cut!

Its time! Drink up your amazing latte, and savour the taste...

Skip to step 5 if your using the Seattle Latte as your cup, otherwise read on...

You want to cut right down the side vertically of the cup. Then cut out the entire base, so it openes flat. You should get a nice map of the side of the cup.

Step 3: Scan!

A rather simple step here, you want to scan the map of your cup.

Make sure the scaling options are set right, hopefully the map should be able to fit on a4.

Firstly in a vivid colour (like black) outline of the map. Then place the outlined side down into the scanner.

I know that instead of using a cup and cutting it up you can use maths and work out the area of top and bottom, but after many, many, many hours of thinking its much easiernto do it this way, otherwise you have to work out the curvatu of the top of the cup, which takes ages - this is much simpler

Below is the template that i made.

Step 4: Design/ Personalise Your Cup

Here comes the fun part - personalisation!!

Using photoshop or similar, make up a design for your cup. Do it however you want, dont worry about mking it to shape, just design it! You can use the premade instructables one I made, or edit it if you dont like parts of it.

Once you have done, flatten the layers, and make the background outside your design transparent.

Step 5: Warp the Image

Now we want to add in the image that we scanned of the plan of the cup. Move it to the background, and centre it.

Place your drawing on top and go to edit>transform>warp. Now warp the top and bottom of the image, until it matches up with the scan you took. Try and make sure no black marker is visable, making sure that you make yout image as close to the map as possible.

Step 6: Print

Ok, now you've designed it, time to print it!

Take an A4 sheet of plain paper, and stick it to a piece of thin card. This is to stop the old starbucks logo from shining through.

Then print your image. Make sure paper is landscape, and it is NOT fit to paper when you print!! The width of the top horizontally should be 22cm, and the bottom 16cm (on a Seattle Latte cup). You may need to scale to get this right. I also made sure my printer quality was in best.

Step 7: Apply the Film

Now its printed, and you cant wait to get it on your cup!!

However, to waterproof it, and make it immune to washing and spills, were going to have to cover it in sticky back plastic.

Cut it out with a pair of scissors carefully and make sure it wraps around your cup nicely. If so, proceed!

Place your design face up on your workbench/table, and start applying the film over the design. I used a credit card to help smoothen it all out and make sure there are no bubbles.

Imagine your applying a screen protector to your hones screen. Slowly, carefully and no air bubbles or creases.

Its ok if you stick it onto your desk - it comes off very easily. I purposly stuck the excess onto my desk, so that i could get a nice smooth edge.

Once you've done, go over a final time to check for any mistakes, then proceed to cut off the excess film around the design. Now your design is waterproofed, one one side :p

Step 8: Stick It Onto Your Cup!

A rather simple step, but one you have to be careful about.

I ran a trickle of superglue down the side of my design, and alligned it against the cup. There is already a seam down the side of the cup where the original printing was - use this for guidence.

Make sure you wrap it around VERY tightly as you dont want any air / water getting inside the soace between the design and cup.

Add another seam of superglue ( or whatever you are using) to the other side, and finish off the cup. Voila, admire your new cup!

This cup isnt dishwasher proof (I've not tested it yet...) so i suggest you hand wash it, but come on - its almost free?!