CherokeeDesign

I would say to go by the ink manufacturer's directions as far as temperature (I think the inks I have say they cure at 325*F) and time (again I think mine say 20 seconds). There are 2 ways I have read to do it: 1. put the printed shirt up on your press, and bring the platen down to 1/2" or so from the shirt, and hold it in place for the 20-30 seconds (not touching the ink or shirt). I have a couple small wood blocks that are about 1/2" high, and I just bring the heat platen down so they touch, that way it's the same every time. 2. use a heat gun to flash dry the ink, then actually bring the platen down, and close the press like you would in heat transfer. You can use either the teflon sheet, or I have tried using a piece of the backing paper from regular sign vinyl. That makes it *really* smooth, more so than I like, but it's another method you can experiment with.

Ran this through whatthefont.com, and all the fonts installed on my computer with no luck. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

The only 2 reasons I've had similar problems is if it's 1) too damn cold out, or 2) I didn't shake the application fluid well. I forgot to shake it well one time, and had the exact same results. Never had that problem again as long as I remember to shake the bottle before using it.

That's amazing. I've considered getting into screen printing in the past, but the cost always kept me from doing it. I love making stuff like that, and I even have welding gear (if the steel arms are a better idea). One of my friends has a complete screen printing setup, but I'd love to have my own equipment. I might try this myself. Thanks for the post!

I heard once that the front chest logo should be "over the heart". Starting out, I used to always get too far to the side. What I started doing was taking measurements from shirts that I already had, if I liked where the logo was placed (not ones I had printed). I would measure both down from the collar, and from the centerline. Measurements vary, a taller design will be higher than a shorter one, and if you're doing a series of same size logos on different size shirts, it will vary too. One example, I have a shirt design that I've been selling on ebay, where the front logo is about 4.5" wide by maybe 2.5" tall. I come down 4" from the collar to top of design, and I measure about 6.5" from the center to the far edge on large and XL shirts. I'll come down another 1/2" or so for 2X/3X, and go up 1/2" or so on smaller sizes. I'm happy with how they turn out. Long day and I'm probably not making much sense, short answer, I think I downloaded this from here a while back. Direct2Shirt-Image-Placement-Cheat-Sheet.pdf Direct2Shirt-Image-Placement-Cheat-Sheet.pdf

It gets easier with time. One of those see-through acrylic rulers like CyberSultan mentioned would be good. Folding and pre-pressing would be a good idea also. Starting out, you can measure and find the center of your design, then align that with the center of the shirt. You can double check by measuring the edges of the design on each side, to the edge of the shirt or sleeve seam. If you think you had it centered, and it's 5" from one edge, and 7" from the other, try again. Be careful not to stretch the fabric when measuring, don't pull the fabric any more than what you need to pull out a wrinkle/fold etc. Just get it all laid flat. Making sure it's straight, what I do is hold it up at arms length. The stickiness of the film is usually enough to hold it in place if you don't move too fast. I hold by the very outer corners of the shoulders as straight as I can. Take your time and don't rush. Your eye is actually very accurate. It will come in time. If there is text in your design, imagine a straight line under the bottom of the letters of the *longest* line, and keep an eye on that when checking level. If there's no text, try to decide what part of the design your eye is most naturally drawn to, when a person is looking at the shirt, and align that.

I'll bid, if you're still looking: For 1 color white on navy blue, I'll do the t-shirts for $10/ea on Gildan Ultra cotton (6.1 oz, pre-shrunk 100% cotton): 9 shirts @ $10 = $90 Gildan Ultra cotton hooded @ $25/ea (9.5 oz, 80/20 cotton/polyester): 2 @ $25 = $50 or, Gildan Heavyweight blend (7.75 oz, 50/50, not as thick/heavy as Ultra...I recommend Ultra) @ $20/ea: $40 $10 shipping, $150 to your door, although I agree with the others that posted about buying a heat press. It's a great service to offer. I can deliver in about 1 week from the time you place the order. Send me an email/IM if interested, I haven't been on the forums as much lately.

I'm considering offering a military discount, anyone offer this? Questions: 1. What percent is the discount? 2. Active duty only, or include former service? 3. What proof do you require? Is asking a DD-214 too invasive? I want some proof, I don't want everyone coming to me saying "I was in the military" and wanting a discount. But I don't want to request too personal of information either. Obviously I'd take a current ID, but curious about former service. I'm thinking something like 10%, both current and former service. If nothing else, I'd like just to do it around Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, etc.

He has returned to the US from his overseas military deployment. Welcome Home, and thanks for your service.

I've never used the "Easyweed", so don't have much advice. Just wanted to say the shirts look great, very well done. I hope you get it figured out. Have you checked your heat press with an infrared thermometer to make sure it's at the proper heat setting (seeing if the setting is the same as the actual temperature of the platen)?

Check out some templates, you can go to sites like freewebsitetemplates.com or freewebtemplates.com. They have a bunch of them you can download free and experiment. As others posted, check out other sites, especially ones for similar businesses and see what you like and don't like.

awesome, that is PERFECT, thank you so much!

When I try to export this as an .eps from SignBlazer Elements, I click the "OK" and nothing happens. Is that because it's the "elements" version, or am I doing something wrong? I can recreate a logo that I need perfectly in SBE with the text/font effects, and I'm not able to duplicate it in Photoshop, Inkscape, etc (unless I just don't know all the features). Here's what I need, I just need this as an .eps or maybe even a high res .jpg to create a certificate to be printed (which I'm using Photoshop for). It's just red text in "Handel" font, with an arc, with white/red/white outlines (2 objects in file). Thanks for any possible help or advice. MFS.SBD MFS.SBD

Very good, 2 colors and everything for the first one!

looks like Georgia bold to me.

You're welcome, glad it helped. What Jay said, and I use guides. I use a horizontal guide to keep the bottom of the letters in alignment, and 2 vertical ones to make sure the spacing is the same between letters. It's kind of a pain, but it's the best I have found so far. Overall I'm very happy with the SignBlazer software, but automatic kerning would be nice.

oops, I need sleeveless, am I overlooking them on that page? found them, thank you.

Long shot I know, but I can do a small order if I can find a source for these. S&S doesn't have them.

Font appears to be "Brophy Script", which is a commercial font. I have "Brody Script" in SignBlazer Elements which looks the same. http://www.searchfreefonts.com/free/brody.htm

When I was in school, nothing big. I'm about 45 minutes from University of Iowa so there was always the big Dan Gable legends about how he trained during his career and how he pushed his teams as a coach. I spent 7 years training with Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawler who both came from wrestling backgrounds, and their work ethics were just inhuman. High level wrestlers make the "Terminator" character from the movies look like Johnny Fairplay. [/hijack, sorry]

here's some feet to play around with. feet.eps feet.eps

Removing/replacing pricing sounds good to me. For offering any sort of long term outdoor sign, I would stick with the aluminum and not offer coroplast. I would at least double your cost on the aluminum (if you can get the blank for $10, charge $20 + your initial vinyl + labor costs of $71).

Good info from everyone, I'll just comment on midwaste's post because it's the closest to what I do. I'm home based and not ready for a store front. Another thing I did was create a flyer (attached) with some samples of work I've done. I have the business cards, and I have a website, but I wanted something to fill the gap. Something with more info than a business card, to attract attention and hopefully spark enough interest that they'll view my website and hopefully want work done. I didn't feel like handing a business card saying "I have samples on my website" would be as effective. So I thought of a way to put a way for them to see a few samples right in their hand, and hopefully they will want to see more and visit my website. I made my flyer so that it fit 2 on an 8.5x11" page and took them to Kinko's. Here the color copies are $.49, so for ~$25 I got 100 flyers. I keep them in my truck with my business cards and hand them out. I printed a very brief summary of the services that I offer, and had maybe 5-6 pictures: a van, a couple t-shirts, a website template I did for a local business, etc. I'm also going to start mailing them out, I'm going to contact some of the local real estate offices and stress the banners. I've seen a lot of them used recently on commercial properties, "2900+ Square Feet" etc. I sent one to a local office, and got a call within a few days from their art dept. They do their design work in house, don't need anything now, but the lady said she was keeping my info for possible future use. That made me happy, as I knew it didn't just get immediately thrown away upon opening (maybe after the call). There's also been a lot of new construction recently and I'm keeping my eye on the commercial ones to see as they get closer to opening. There's a new buffet in a busy business area, and I saw today they are now open. So tomorrow I'm going to pitch them a "now open" etc banner. Consider a heat press for doing garments. Here in IL we get this stuff called "winter" and "snow" and I'm hoping that recent purchase will get me through the winter when I can't be out doing store windows, etc. I have a big pending order with a local gym that I'm optimistic about. I think the landscaping businesses are a good idea (yard signs, truck/trailer graphics), real estate (banners). Lots of pools will be opening, churches will have summer bible schools. There are a lot of possibilities to approach. Don't be afraid to approach places, and don't get discouraged if you don't get jobs every time. There's work out there, you just have to find it. An important thing I can tell you, is that in dealing with people: be professional, patient, friendly, and nice. There's a lot of attitude around here in the graphic design world. I get compliments on the fact that I am patient, and explain things in a way people can understand, without talking down to them. Also that I keep them involved in the process. People might not be artists, but they often have ideas about what they want, that maybe they can't express. Listen to them. I've been impressed with a couple recent projects from customers who weren't "artists", but had neat concepts in mind that came out well, because I listened to them rather than taking over. Customers take pride in that, and they'll come back to you. Also, with your welding experience, maybe you can fabricate mounts, etc cheaper than buying them. There's a guy here somewhat locally that fabricates various custom sign stands, mounts, etc, and even other sign shops go to him for that service. Maybe you can offer vinyl decals to the union locals, I see them on trucks around here sometimes. Use all of your network and experience that you can.