ddprinting

Yea, I did this one awhile back and it was piece by piece because my cutter is only 24". I now have someone else wanting it but can't find this tree again for the life of me and they are set on this one.

So I have been cutting vinyl for the last few years just for myself, friends and the business that I work for but have recently decided to try and grow my customer base. I started a Facebook page and have had good luck so far with it and just a couple days ago a gym that does mostly MMA training and fights contacted me wanting a large logo for the gym windows and then also asked about doing logos on the fighters shorts and sponsorship banners. The window logo, no problem, I'm not quite ready to start doing anything with clothing yet so my question is about how you guys work out sponsorship deals or if you even do them? The owner said they do banners for their sponsors. I really have no clue about how to go about this so any suggestions or past experience would be appreciated! Would you offer to make the banners for their gym so they could take to the fights and that would be your sponsorship contribution or would you work out some kind of deal where you give them money in return for them getting their banner and such from you in the future? Thanks for any help cause I don't know where to start with this one, I'm just new and dumb haha.

Thanks for the advice so far guys! I kinda had the thought of it being bad in the back of my head but didn't know if it was worth it or not. It reminds me of when I had a car that I had some sponsorships on and I was always looking for more sponsors just for free stuff. I just have never been on the other side of sponsorships and didn't know if they paid off or but I'm gunna go ahead and say not worth it.

I haven't got anything hosted with Go Daddy but I did use them to get a couple domain names. I'm not sure I want to deal with them again because of all the calls at all different times and different numbers. I signed up at Wix but haven't had much time to play with it yet but planning on using them to host or at least give them a shot.

I finally just got a Facebook page put together and just am looking for any criticism on it..... https://www.facebook.com/drdgraphix Let me know what you think...

Also on the decals for that boat I used oracal 651, what would your choice of vinyl been? From my experience around boats the decals get scraped up rather fast and replaced anyway so I didn't think 951 was necessary but I guess I will see how they hold up and go from there. All the boat names and registration numbers I make from 651 and have now issues yet.

Ted I did make the decals for that boat. The old decals on it were something kinda similar but had some printed shading on them. I switched a few small things on the new ones but am pretty happy the way they turned out especially since it was one of the bigger things I have done like that so far. The only thing that bugs me about it is I don't feel like all of them are lined up exactly where they should be but maybe I have just stared at them too long and am obsessing about it. Unfortunately I didn't install them, the body shop guy at the dealership did so I didn't have any control over the alignment. Up until now I have done mostly lettering so I don't have many pictures of other work yet but I'm trying to get a portfolio built up. Joker your stuff is looking good too!

I'm pretty new to all this too but you have to start somewhere. I finally just got some time to get a page together cuz I broke my ankle and took last week off of my day job. Jay your page looks good.

I work for a large boat dealership so that's how I got started with the vinyl. I just started out doing boat registration numbers for all the new boats we sell but lately I have been trying to do different things. The closest lake of any size is about 50 minutes away and we are one of the largest full service dealers in the Midwest, hard to believe for a lot of people since we aren't right on a lake.

So a couple years ago I got a cutter just so I could make boat registration numbers and other small decals for the boat dealership I work at and just came up with a name of D & D Printing so I could get going fast. My initials are DRD so keep in mind for the other couple names im gunna ask what you think about. Now I'm wanting to expand and eventually go on my own doing vinyl so I'm rethinking a name. If I just saw D & D Printing not know what it was I would think of something like Office Max in the department where they make Xerox copies for people or some business similar. So now I have came up with a couple different names so I can get going permanently. The 3 I thought of were D & D Graphix, Dr.D Graphix and Dr.D Graphics. I like the Dr. D cuz that's my initials but at the same time I almost feel that is kinda a gimmicky name, something about the Dr part??? I just obsess over stupid things like this so I would like any input outside of my family and gf. Thanks in advance and I know there is soo much info on here I will def. be back some more. I have spent the last couple years just lurking here and have decided to do more with the vinyl stuff cuz of everything I have read on here.

I like the "Designs" part and thanks for the input. When I hear "So And So Decals" I feel like that is a kiosk in the mall selling pre cut decals or the one guy at the county fair selling the copyright decals. I'm really trying to decide between the D & D or the Dr. D but I like the designs idea. Thanks slice&dice.

They must of had some good fingernails picking that off in the parking lot lol. I bet they got bored after awhile.

Good to hear, I've never had any problems yet and good to hear that from you too Jay. Is 651 the main vinyl that most of you guys use? What times do you use 751/951???

Have you had any problems with 651 when it goes through car washes or gets power washed? Do you have any disclaimer when you install 651 about things like that??? I about always use 651 for boat lettering and decals and have never had any complaints/problems yet.

Thanks Jay, I have read tons of your post and watch your videos and they are always helpful. Thanks for everything, I'm sure I will be back later. Thanks again!

I've spent hours reading info on the forum and all you guys are super helpful but I have a quick question. I got my cutter a couple years ago mainly to cut single color boat registration numbers but have recently been experimenting with shadowing and multiple colors and have a question of how I make a shadow like the one in the pic. The outline is now problem but I'm having a hard time figuring out the shadow one the word "RED". Any advice would be appreciated. Everytime I try a shadow it does all of the letters and not just the top right side. I'm sure its something simple but I'm new to anything besides single color basic lettering and it is frustrating. BTW I'm using SignBlazer, I have Inkscape but have very little to no time with it.

Thanks, Jay2703. I just watched your video and am going to play around with what I need and should be able to figure it out. You guys are awesome and thanks for all your help. I'm basically new to all of this because all I've done is single color but I'm trying new things now so I'm sure I will be back with more questions. Thanks again for the help!!!

I'm going to check out SignBlazer and see if there is some option for a 3D option. If there isn't is this something you guys would just draw out by hand???