Ghosted logos are the most visible way a cup order ages, and the outcome was decided before the first cup was fired.

What an on-glaze decal is

Artwork printed onto transfer paper, applied to the finished glaze and fixed in a low-temperature firing. It sits on top of the glassy surface — vivid, cheap, and exposed.

Every commercial wash cycle takes a little: heat, alkaline chemistry and abrasion. A busy café runs thousands of cycles a year, so the fade is not bad luck. It is arithmetic.

What in-glaze firing changes

In-glaze decoration is fired hot enough that the artwork sinks into the molten surface of the glaze itself; under-glaze goes on before the glaze and lives beneath it.

Either way there is nothing sitting on the surface to abrade. The logo survives every cycle the porcelain does, which is all of them.

The honest trade

In-glaze firing narrows the colour palette somewhat — some vivid pigments do not survive the temperature — and it costs more than a decal.

For a retail gift set washed by hand a few times a month, on-glaze is a perfectly honest choice. For a working rail it is a countdown.

What to ask a supplier

One question: “where does the print sit?” A supplier who has specified their own product answers in one word.

Then ask for the method on the quote. Ours is there by default, next to the millilitres.