Intro and some decals.

[NiteWalker 10]

Hey guys. I found this site through a google search after being on tshirt forums for a bit. I'm still there and will continue to post (later this year I'm getting a heat press and new vinyl cutter) but the vinyl section is a bit inactive. I like all the show your work threads I've checked out and everyone here seems pretty nice so here I am!

About me and my vinyl:

I have a Roland Stika SV-12 I bought earlier this year I've become pretty intimate with. It's a fine machine and has handled everything I've needed of it. I use Adobe Illustrator CS3, Photoshop CS3 and CutStudio on a windows based PC. So far all of my work has been give aways to family and friends but I plan to open a small web based service very soon. I have a pretty bad knee injury so cut, weed and mail out seems like a decent way to make a few side pennies.

I use FDC 4200 series vinyl and R-Tape AT-60 application tape. I have some Oracal 651 samples on the way. I might switch to that since there's so many more colors available and I just found out FDC discontinued one of my favorites (#110 Dark Slate Gray). Also, the Oracal 651 has a longer shelf life, which is important to me as some of the colors I use are seldom used.

As much as I love my Stika, later this year I'll be getting a Roland GX-24. I've watched pretty much every video online about it and am convinced that's the cutter for me. It has all the features I want and is at a very fair price. It makes sense for me since I'll be doing t-shirts as well as decals later this year when I upgrade and get the GX-24 and a heat press. I think I'm gonna go with the Hotronix Auto Open clamshell 16x20. That seems to be the most versatile for me. I still love my Stika though and I might even keep it around. It's been a well serving companion.

Well that's about it for me and my vinyl and how I do it. Here's some decals I made recently.

The first two are decals made for my daughters. They picked the font and graphic. The third is some 2 color roses I made for my wife and them. The last in this post is one of the very first decals I made when I got my Stika. There were a lot of bubbles during the application process and I learned a lot. Thankfully that particular decal went on my laptop and the heat from it being on and in use smoothed the bubbles out. Now none remain. Also it was one of my first 2 layer decals and again I learned a lot. Some of the finer details were a bit harder to weed out but I managed.

More to come in the next post.

[stikit kid 0]

Wow, those are some very nice cuts.

I am new as well and am about to purchase my first machine hopefully this weekend.

And would be very happy if I could make anything close to those.

[NiteWalker 10]

Here's the rest of the pictures of the decals I made. I make them pretty frequently due to my knee injury and not being able to move around much so I'll post new pics in this thread as I make new decals.

Here's the rest of round 2.

The first is a largemouth bass I did for my father. I'm really happy with the results of this one. It came out great. The blue backing on the white (it's FDC 4200 series #102 Crystal White) makes weeding so much easier. The second is a pair of 3 color hibiscus I made for my wife. She chose the colors. I accidentally pulled up the registration marks during weeding of the purple petals so I layered the yellow and green together and then placed them by eye over the petals. The third is a simple name badge I made for my wife from the leftover scraps from the hibiscus decals. The longest part doing this one was making all the paint drips in Photoshop CS3. The last is just a bunch of decals I made in the middle of the nite while bored and hopped up on diet mtn dew. That bunch of decals taught me a lot about patience and weeding small details. I know about copyright laws and all that; these are strictly personal use. Right now I have a bunch on my vinyl tool box (pic of that later) and the rest will probably go on the printer stand I have on the way for my Stika.

Thanks for looking!

[NiteWalker 10]

Wow, those are some very nice cuts.

I am new as well and am about to purchase my first machine hopefully this weekend.

And would be very happy if I could make anything close to those.

Thanks!

The Stika is a great cutter to get started with; simple to use, accurate and it feels like a very high quality machine, even though it's considered a hobbyist machine. Two of the most important things I learned are to have lots of patience during weeding, especially doing small details, and most importantly, set your cutter depth until it's absolutely perfect. Too shallow and it won't cut all the way through the vinyl, too deep and it crumples up small details.

What cutter are you looking at?

[stikit kid 0]

I was thinking about getting the uscutter laserpoint 24" since I plan on doing some larger decals in the future.  But I have not made the decision yet.  The Roland stika does look pretty appetizing....but not sure if its in my budget.

[g 0]

I was thinking about getting the uscutter laserpoint 24" since I plan on doing some larger decals in the future.  But I have not made the decision yet.  The Roland stika does look pretty appetizing....but not sure if its in my budget.

Unless you plan on using the cutter for contour cuts you'd be better off getting a pcut or something a little less expensive.  I'm only saying that because I bought a laserpoint 24" for my first cutter and I have yet to use the contour laser on it and its been about a year and a half. I thought I'd be using it alot more but just never got around to it. Just something to think about.

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Go with the roland great cutters

[NiteWalker 10]

Some more decals. The first is a tribal lion head in gold I did for one of my daughters. The next is a pegasus for the same daughter. Third is a very nice 2 color design for my other daughter. The lining up of the two layers was ever so slightly off and shows upon close inspection but she's happy with it. Lastly is an owl decal I made for my oldest daughter's teacher.

Any questions are welcome!

And yes, Roland cutters are great. I'm sure others like graphtec and uscutter are fine as well, but I know and use Roland, and I've had no problems so far and I like the cut studio software. It's these reasons I decided on the GX-24 as my step up cutter.

[leadermon 0]

You'll love the GX-24. It's a precision machine and do the same intricate cuts over and over at a good speed.

like these..

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/leadermon/IMG_5084.jpg[/img]

[NiteWalker 10]

Now that's what I'm talkin about!

Great work! The detail on the cars is awesome. I can't wait to get my GX-24. Two of the main features I want after using the Stika for a while is the flexibility of sizes it can take (scraps can be used) along with the fact that it takes rolls. No more measuring and cutting vinyl to rough size! Also the downforce adjustment is done by changing the setting on the cutter; on my Stka it's changed by manually taking the blade holder out and adjusting it by turning the cap on the holder. Not too bad if you use only a couple of types of vinyl but since I plan on doing t-shirts it'll get tedious.

Here's a few more I did.

The first is just a couple of sports numbers I wanted to try out. The next is some nameplates I did to sort of mimic street signs. The last are some more logos. My daughters chose the color of those.

[leadermon 0]

The GX-24 has a GREAT menu for set up compared to some entry level machines. Material, size, down force and speed are all easy to set up. It even measures the material for you..too small and it spits it out though..otherwise great machine for the money

Cool work BTW..looks like you have a customer base already for your work!!

[Guest kenya]

Welcome NiteWalker..... you've done some nice work. 

[NiteWalker 10]

Thanks!

Here's another decal I did late last nite. It's a bedroom sign for my nephew. He wanted in the Fullmetal Alchemist logo style. $ layers and pretty big. It would have came out great But the transfer tape bunched up over the gray "C" and it caused a crease and moved it slightly. He's happy with it though, so I'm happy. Were it for a paying customer I'd do it over. It was a pretty big decal as well; about 15" across.

[JoeCamaro 11]

Great jobs NiteWalker!

Leadermom, that's an awesome chevelle! Wow, I just can't believe it! I had one of those.

[leadermon 0]

Great jobs NiteWalker!

Leadermom, that's an awesome chevelle! Wow, I just can't believe it! I had one of those.

Thanks..I have a Camaro vector license too.

;-)

[NiteWalker 10]

Here's another one. This one came out nice. My wife wanted something for the side of her dresser so she helped me design it. It's 4 colors, layered, but the only 2 layers deep (the white on the panda is on top of the black). She really likes the writing and the way it looks almost like kanji but is really just fancy lettering. It's about 10"x11". Designed in Illustrator CS3.

edit:You can see my new X-Acto cutting mat in the background. It's great; 18"x24", 5mm thick and perfect contrast between the guidelines and background. $25 and change shipped from shoplet. I was cutting on a Fiskars 6"x18".

[JoeCamaro 11]

Thats a cute Panda.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

Thats a cute Panda.

yes it is