SOS!! Questions about how to do a 2 color design - NEED HELP FAST!!

[happytree 0]

Hi,

I'm still a newbie at this and I've gotten myself into more than a few messes already... :-  Here is my latest. 

I got all gung-ho about designing cute little things for kids rooms and I've sold quite a few on Etsy already.  I even had the bright idea to design a couple of 2 color designs where the colors overlap, thinking "all I have to do is lay the top color over the bottom one...EASY!".  OK, now that I've sold a couple I'm having a real hard time figuring out the proper way to do this.  I'm going to include pictures of my 2 designs so that maybe someone could give me some suggestions.

The first is a bird in a birdcage.  My questions are, (1) in order to get the bird "under" the bars of the birdcage, do I need to cut a HUGE piece of vinyl in the color of the bird and then weed out all that excess and waste all that vinyl, so that I have room to lay the birdcage on top?  (2) If so, how do I tell Signblazer to leave the bird where it is in the design, rather than cutting it out in the bottom right corner?

The next design is a child's name with a simple overlay, but my question about it is the same as number (1) above.  Do I have to cut a HUGE piece of brown vinyl with the "e" at the beginning in order to leave space to put the rest of the name or is there some other way?  It seems to me that's the only way to do it, but I pray not because that is a tremendous waste of  vinyl!  Why didn't I think about this before I made the design??? 

Anyway, I have a couple of orders that are waiting on me to figure this out, so someone please give some advice ASAP!

Thanks in advance!

[bamafan2277 50]

What I would do with the bird design is cut multiple copys of the bird out the width of the vinyl. depending on the size of the bird and vinyl you may get 3-4 birds in one row. then save the extras for the next time you have to cut a bird cage.

Or let it cut in the bottom corner but when done cut your piece off and trim it down before weeding so you have a scrap piece that you can cut something smaller on.

I have a box I keep my scraps in to use for small stuff or if I can going to etch something I can use the odd scraps to mask off that area.

[happytree 0]

Thanks for your reply!  Maybe I'm thinking about this all wrong.  My assumption is that I actually OVERLAY one color over the other.  Is that right?  Or do I somehow tell the software to cut the vinyl so that they "piece" together to where it looks like it's overlaid?

If I'm right about laying one color over the top of the other one, then my question is:  how do I have a large enough canvas to lay the TOP piece?  In other words, I have to have a piece of backing large enough to lay the birdcage on top of the bird.  The only way I know to do that is to cut the bird right in the middle of a large piece of vinyl, then weed away all the outside part, then lay the birdcage over the bird.  I'm really hoping that I'm wrong and maybe the second option is the correct way to do it, although it sounds a bit intricate.

Thanks again!

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

videos from youtube.com

[rrc1962 0]

I think what you're wanting to do is have both colors on one backing with app tape applied so your customer can just apply it as one graphic.  That's difficult to do.  You should cut the bird, cut the cage, then ship the two with instructions on how to apply it. IE: apply the bird first then apply the cage over the bird.  You could cut the bird where the cage overlaps, but then registration becomes critical when applying.

If you really want to ship it as one unit, you will probably have to cut the bird where the cage overlaps.  You would lay down your app tape on the larger one, peel it up carefully and lay it back down on the smaller one.  Peel that up and reapply to the first backing.  Both colors are now ready to apply as one unit.  Registration is critical as the bars on the cage have to line up exactly with the their respective cutouts on the bird.

You could try it without cutting the bird.  It should still work.  I've only done it the other way.

[happytree 0]

Aha!!  That's the best thing to do...why didn't I think of that??  (speaking of shipping as two separate decals)  OK, so with the "emma" design you would do the same thing?  Ship the "e", the "mma" and the bird as 3 separate pieces and have the customer apply them?  Will I run into any extra hassle for the customer that way?  I've already had some feedback from people about having trouble applying and I don't want to risk my reputation just for the sake of a cute two-color design.

I'm not exactly sure I'm following your other suggestion, but its probably just my lack of know-how and terminology. 

Thanks Speedoggy for your reply, however, maybe the file is too big or something, because my computer has just been sitting here waiting ever since I first saw your reply.  And I've already gotten rrc1962's reply, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Thanks to all of you, and if there are any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them, too.

Allison

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

are you clicking on the play buttons on the videos? 

[happytree 0]

No, there's nothing there, just a line from you that says "videos from youtube.com" and then a huge blank white space below it and my computer is still trying to load it.  I've refreshed several times.  It may just be the computer I'm on.  I'm at work.  I can try again at home and see if I can see anything.  Thanks!

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

ok,  they are there,  3 videos...  guess you will have to wait. 

[rrc1962 0]

Aha!!  That's the best thing to do...why didn't I think of that??  (speaking of shipping as two separate decals)  OK, so with the "emma" design you would do the same thing?  Ship the "e", the "mma" and the bird as 3 separate pieces and have the customer apply them?  Will I run into any extra hassle for the customer that way?  I've already had some feedback from people about having trouble applying and I don't want to risk my reputation just for the sake of a cute two-color design.

I'm not exactly sure I'm following your other suggestion, but its probably just my lack of know-how and terminology. 

Thanks Speedoggy for your reply, however, maybe the file is too big or something, because my computer has just been sitting here waiting ever since I first saw your reply.  And I've already gotten rrc1962's reply, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Thanks to all of you, and if there are any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them, too.

Allison

Yes, The "mma", "E" and birds would be separate.  Applying it that way could be easier for the customer than trying to apply one large graphic and deal with the issues that go along with that.

As for shipping it as one unit, you have the carrier paper that the vinyl is stuck to, the vinyl and the app tape.  Cut out the top most part of the image.  When you trim and weed, make sure to leave enough carrier paper to encompass the entire graphic.  Next, cut the graphics that will end up under the main graphic.

Now you have to get the smaller graphics that are different colors on the same piece of carrier paper that the larger main graphic is on.  Make sure everything is weeded properly then apply app tape to the larger topmost graphic, again, making sure there is enough to encompass the entire finished graphic.  Next, lay it upside down and peel off the carrier paper and put it aside. In the case of your first graphic, you would now have the cage stuck to app tape laying upside down on the table...sticky side of the vinyl facing up and exposed. 

Be careful now.  This is when the whole project can end up in the trash real quick.  Next, take the smaller image, still stuck to the carrier paper, the bird in this case, and position it vinyl side down on the larger graphic laying upside down on the table.  Be careful.  If you get trapped air between two pieces of layered vinyl, it's game over.  Hinge it and use proper squeegee technique.  After it's down, carefully peel off the carrier paper from the small graphic.  You can eliminate the possibility of getting trapped air between vinyl by cutting out the lower graphic where the topmost graphic overlays it. 

Now you have the two different colors on the same piece of app tape facing sticky side up.  Anything that gets on the vinyl at this point will end up between the vinyl and what ever the customer sticks it on, and they will notice it.  The last step is to re-apply the carrier paper that you removed from the larger graphic and put aside.  Lay it back down and squeegee it smooth.

That's about it.  It's time consuming and there is no room for error.  You should be including application instruction with it anyway.  Applying this stuff is tricky and you don't want the customer trying to figure it out on their own.  I would just include a good set of instructions and maybe a video that they can watch online of you doing a multi-layered install on the same substrate they will be applying it on. IE: a painted wall.

[rrc1962 0]

If you can get to Speeds videos, the third one is a good method.  I like it better than my own, although I really prefer layering during the install.

[happytree 0]

rrc, thank you so much for all the information!!  Boy, that sounds tough!!  I definitely think you're right about it being easier as separate graphics.  I feel silly that I didn't think of that to begin with.    But that's what you guys are here for, right?    I will definitely try to watch the videos, I just didn't have a chance last night.  I have 7 orders to do tonight (including the 2 we've been talking about), so I don't know if I'll have time tonight either!  But I definitely will and thanks again to all of you for your help!

Allison