Well, it's been awhile since I posted anything, the BP Oil Spill has been quite a stall for my business plan. Instead of making shirts for local yachties, I have been forced to plan some new angles. Since I am located on the road to the beach at Dauphin Island, the dream of opening a storefront may never happen at this location.
Some money could be made in political tee shirts, that is a consideration, but I have started to focus on traveling to flea markets and fairs. I am particularly attracted to the idea of trying a Renaissance Faire. We have a camper and could load up everything and have a weekend booth pretty easily. I am scouring the web for schedules of upcoming faires and will choose one to be the guinea pig soon.
I thought I would make most of my goods well ahead of time, and then bring the printer and heat press and take photos in front of a clever painted backdrop and offer personalized items to the fair-goers.
Then there are some items that will be easy and cheap to offer. There are some cool inkjet printed balloons here (http://www.dyetrans.com/sublimation_blank_balloons.php). These are pretty nice, you actually print right on the balloons. They don't float, they have sticks. There are templates for all kinds of occasions and several are flowery and very suitable for the fairs. I plan to design some just for the kids. I can sell them for $6 and $8 and make a tidy margin for myself.
I have lots of ideas for other small things and a few big projects. Stay tuned and I will start posting my plans.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Introduction to Dye Sublimation Imprinting
Whew! Finally I get back to you, my dear reader, with what is supposed to be a blog about my little side business I am creating from scratch. I have taken a little vacation from writing, but I think I am inspired again and have some things to write about.
It occurs to me that some folks may not know anything about dye sublimation. It's an imprinting process, used to put images on various products. As any process, it requires a few things to work.
1) First, a computer with software for manipulating images. I use PhotoShop Elements, which is an inexpensive version of real PS, but costs only $100 or so.
2) An inkjet printer. The printer must have the special "Micro-Piezo" printhead. Certain printers have this, and here's a short list of the ones that will work:
Epson: C120, 1400, WF1100, WF30, 4880, 7880, 9880
Ricoh: GX7000, GX5050N and e3300N
I have a GX700, by the way, it cost me $700 a year ago, but I see they are more expensive now, but it's worth it as I can print up to 13" x 19", which is big enough for me.
3) Sublimation ink. There are only a few companies that make this ink, some Chinese ones (avoid) and Sawgrass Inks in North Carolina. Sawgrass makes ArTainium and SubliJet brand inks and both work very well, you just have to stick with whichever you install, you cannot switch about. I use a GX7000 with SubliJet-R inks, they cost about $110. each and it uses four cartridges, so that cost me a bundle.
4) Heat press. Now, that's one thing not to skimp on. I have seen a lot of complaints about cheap Chinese heat presses bought on ebay and there are no warranties not parts to fix them when they break. I have a George Knight DK20, which ran me $1200. It presses up to 16" x 20", so that matches up with my printing capacity.
5) Things to decorate. The dye sub process works with polyester. Main rule is that the item must either be polyester fabric or coated with a poly compound. Polyester clothing is available at any WalMart, but coated items like mugs or tiles must be ordered from a supplier. I use Conde Systems almost exclusively.
Here's a great video from Conde, showing all the items I just mentioned:
Well, I hope this quick primer brings you up to speed, now I have to work on my business logo.
It occurs to me that some folks may not know anything about dye sublimation. It's an imprinting process, used to put images on various products. As any process, it requires a few things to work.
1) First, a computer with software for manipulating images. I use PhotoShop Elements, which is an inexpensive version of real PS, but costs only $100 or so.
2) An inkjet printer. The printer must have the special "Micro-Piezo" printhead. Certain printers have this, and here's a short list of the ones that will work:
Epson: C120, 1400, WF1100, WF30, 4880, 7880, 9880
Ricoh: GX7000, GX5050N and e3300N
I have a GX700, by the way, it cost me $700 a year ago, but I see they are more expensive now, but it's worth it as I can print up to 13" x 19", which is big enough for me.
3) Sublimation ink. There are only a few companies that make this ink, some Chinese ones (avoid) and Sawgrass Inks in North Carolina. Sawgrass makes ArTainium and SubliJet brand inks and both work very well, you just have to stick with whichever you install, you cannot switch about. I use a GX7000 with SubliJet-R inks, they cost about $110. each and it uses four cartridges, so that cost me a bundle.
4) Heat press. Now, that's one thing not to skimp on. I have seen a lot of complaints about cheap Chinese heat presses bought on ebay and there are no warranties not parts to fix them when they break. I have a George Knight DK20, which ran me $1200. It presses up to 16" x 20", so that matches up with my printing capacity.
5) Things to decorate. The dye sub process works with polyester. Main rule is that the item must either be polyester fabric or coated with a poly compound. Polyester clothing is available at any WalMart, but coated items like mugs or tiles must be ordered from a supplier. I use Conde Systems almost exclusively.
Here's a great video from Conde, showing all the items I just mentioned:
Well, I hope this quick primer brings you up to speed, now I have to work on my business logo.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Laying out the products
I am still looking to see what items we want to make for the Mermaid's Chest. For those of you who haven't heard the back story, this is a fledgling enterprise. We have been slowly buying the needed equipment and converting a very old garage into a viable workspace.
The overall goal is to open a shop, but first we want to sharpen our skills with some events and flea market visits. I have in mind the bi-yearly Renaissance Faires held at the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds. Mind you, we have great interest in fantasy art so that genre should suit us. The products we want for those venues will be graphic intensive.
tee shirts jewelry
laptop cases cellphone cases
puzzles throw blankets
mousepads tote bags
plaques
The other concentration will be on selling items in the beach community where we live. A good friend has a tourist shop and we are collaborating with her to place items on consignment. Those items will be more photographic and personalized in nature. We hope to supply items for beach weddings as well.
flip flops tiled boxes water bottles
sports towels bbq aprons car flags
golf club covers backpacks huggers
And, as my husband is a plumber and tile installer, emphasis will be placed on marketing tile murals for kitchens and showers. There are also a lot of kitchen and household items we can image:
light switch covers cutting boards wine boxes
pillows coasters framed artwork/plaques
serving trays backsplash murals clocks
mugs glassware plates
And, this is only a partial list of product ideas. I'll bet right now you think we are spreading ourselves a little thin with such a large range, but that is the beauty of dye sublimation transfer. We can buy the items as few or as many as we need, thanks to our great supplier, Conde Systems (www.conde.com). And our imprinting setup allows us to print one at a time or in production mode to fill large orders.
Plus, Conde offers customisable flyers and catalogs in which we can insert our logo (when we decide on it). We can use their artwork and product photos, too. As good as any franchise without the surrender of control.
Well, I really must see what kind of logo I can create. Next blog will be about working with graphics. Toodle-oo.
The overall goal is to open a shop, but first we want to sharpen our skills with some events and flea market visits. I have in mind the bi-yearly Renaissance Faires held at the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds. Mind you, we have great interest in fantasy art so that genre should suit us. The products we want for those venues will be graphic intensive.
tee shirts jewelry
laptop cases cellphone cases
puzzles throw blankets
mousepads tote bags
plaques
The other concentration will be on selling items in the beach community where we live. A good friend has a tourist shop and we are collaborating with her to place items on consignment. Those items will be more photographic and personalized in nature. We hope to supply items for beach weddings as well.
flip flops tiled boxes water bottles
sports towels bbq aprons car flags
golf club covers backpacks huggers
And, as my husband is a plumber and tile installer, emphasis will be placed on marketing tile murals for kitchens and showers. There are also a lot of kitchen and household items we can image:
light switch covers cutting boards wine boxes
pillows coasters framed artwork/plaques
serving trays backsplash murals clocks
mugs glassware plates
And, this is only a partial list of product ideas. I'll bet right now you think we are spreading ourselves a little thin with such a large range, but that is the beauty of dye sublimation transfer. We can buy the items as few or as many as we need, thanks to our great supplier, Conde Systems (www.conde.com). And our imprinting setup allows us to print one at a time or in production mode to fill large orders.
Plus, Conde offers customisable flyers and catalogs in which we can insert our logo (when we decide on it). We can use their artwork and product photos, too. As good as any franchise without the surrender of control.
Well, I really must see what kind of logo I can create. Next blog will be about working with graphics. Toodle-oo.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Springing into action
Well, my title is kind of optimistic, as the weather is NOT springlike today, but we do have hints of the beautiful season coming up, so I am in planning mode. We are first going to be finishing the bathroom for the workshop. Since the particulars of those plans are rather mundane, I will skip ahead to some product ideas I have had:
Flip flops! Now to be known as "Graphic Sandals", which I predict will become the craze of summer! These are the coolest, really. Regular, thick soled, well made flip flops with any photo or motif printed on them. Think of the possibilities:
I found these cool dye sublimation imprintable flip flops at Conde Systems (http://www.conde.com/). As a beta tester, I can tell you they imprint just like mousepads, easily and nicely but with a lot of burnt rubber smell, so I do recommend good ventilation for big production.
The shoes also require assembly, of course, you have to pull the straps through the holes. And, since nearly
everyone has had a pair of these sandals before, you know it's not that had to squeeze the little knobby thing through the hole, but if you rip the hole the shoes are useless. So, there is a tool for that part of the operation, so I recommend you get one of them, it is much safer and easier if you have it.
So, now I am working on several templates that I can use to show potential clients. Conde has flyers I can use with my own logo...uhoh...I guess I need to come up with a logo....hmmm, see ya'll soon!
Flip flops! Now to be known as "Graphic Sandals", which I predict will become the craze of summer! These are the coolest, really. Regular, thick soled, well made flip flops with any photo or motif printed on them. Think of the possibilities:
- Beach wedding: send all the guests these cool shoes as "Save the Date" reminders.
- The Bride herself will love these sandals imprinted with her vows (like a "cheat sheet")
- Swim meets and teams can have photo shoes for fundraising
- Tourists will love collecting these sandals from each cool place they visit.
- Family reunions can imprint them with old photos of the dear departed ancestors
I found these cool dye sublimation imprintable flip flops at Conde Systems (http://www.conde.com/). As a beta tester, I can tell you they imprint just like mousepads, easily and nicely but with a lot of burnt rubber smell, so I do recommend good ventilation for big production.
The shoes also require assembly, of course, you have to pull the straps through the holes. And, since nearly
everyone has had a pair of these sandals before, you know it's not that had to squeeze the little knobby thing through the hole, but if you rip the hole the shoes are useless. So, there is a tool for that part of the operation, so I recommend you get one of them, it is much safer and easier if you have it.
So, now I am working on several templates that I can use to show potential clients. Conde has flyers I can use with my own logo...uhoh...I guess I need to come up with a logo....hmmm, see ya'll soon!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Necessary Equipment
As we work on setting up our shop, I thought I would list the essential equipment we have already assembled:
1) Computer, of course, with a flat screen - it has a good processor with a lotta RAM, says my son, the computer college graduate.
2) Software: we have a copy of Corel, it's old, I may have to upgrade. Personally, I prefer PhotoShop Elements and may use that but it is important to have a good art program.
3) Camera, 8.2 megapixels is pretty good.
4) Scanner, I may have to pick up a better one, this one is very old.
5) Dye Sublimation Printer - my big investment, I got a Ricoh GX7000. I can print 11X17 with it and if I buy a bypass tray I can get up to 13" wide.
6) Sublimation inks - only one company makes it for the printer- 4 cartridges (Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black) SubliJet-R inks.
7) Regular office printer, my Ricoh GX5050n, the one that uses the $28 a set inks. (Also CMYK)
8) My heat press: I have Hix 15x15. We have it bolted to a heavy desk already.
There you go, now here's the damage:
1) Computer - $400 so far (used http://craigslist.com)
2) Software - $200 so far (ebay, but be careful!)
3)Camera - $80 (Best Buy)
4) Scanner $25 (ebay again)
5) GX7000 - $720 (http://www.conde.com)
6) Inks $400 (conde.com, too)
7) GX5050n $300 (they had a great incentive sale at Conde!!)
8) Heat Press - $250 (ebay, a real deal for a good brand)
Total $3,125.oo
Next, we can talk about small accessories. By the way, this equipment enables us to put photo quality images on a variety of products, like tee shirts, tiles and a huge array of popular items. Follow my blog to hear more as we get the Mermaid's Chest created!
1) Computer, of course, with a flat screen - it has a good processor with a lotta RAM, says my son, the computer college graduate.
2) Software: we have a copy of Corel, it's old, I may have to upgrade. Personally, I prefer PhotoShop Elements and may use that but it is important to have a good art program.
3) Camera, 8.2 megapixels is pretty good.
4) Scanner, I may have to pick up a better one, this one is very old.
5) Dye Sublimation Printer - my big investment, I got a Ricoh GX7000. I can print 11X17 with it and if I buy a bypass tray I can get up to 13" wide.
6) Sublimation inks - only one company makes it for the printer- 4 cartridges (Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black) SubliJet-R inks.
7) Regular office printer, my Ricoh GX5050n, the one that uses the $28 a set inks. (Also CMYK)
8) My heat press: I have Hix 15x15. We have it bolted to a heavy desk already.
There you go, now here's the damage:
1) Computer - $400 so far (used http://craigslist.com)
2) Software - $200 so far (ebay, but be careful!)
3)Camera - $80 (Best Buy)
4) Scanner $25 (ebay again)
5) GX7000 - $720 (http://www.conde.com)
6) Inks $400 (conde.com, too)
7) GX5050n $300 (they had a great incentive sale at Conde!!)
8) Heat Press - $250 (ebay, a real deal for a good brand)
Total $3,125.oo
Next, we can talk about small accessories. By the way, this equipment enables us to put photo quality images on a variety of products, like tee shirts, tiles and a huge array of popular items. Follow my blog to hear more as we get the Mermaid's Chest created!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Making Photo Balloons
A really cool thing is available to average folks like you and me, but the business entrepreneurs have appropriated it and no one knows about it! If you have a simple inkjet printer and a computer, you can make the coolest gifts for your friends and family for about $3 each!!!
Here it is, really cool balloons! Not Mylar balloons like they have at the supermarket, but photo balloons. These balloons come with free software to add artwork and photos and soon you can create lovely and fun items just for your friends. So new, that most people will be amazed and delighted to see them.
I found them at http://www.dyetrans.com/sublimation_blank_balloons.php
The balloons are in a cardboard frame that fits in your printer, the small ones fit any printer and you can get the large ones if your printer will print 11”x17” paper. The printer has to be an inkjet, not a laser. Also, they say if you have an all-in-one printer that gets fairly hot, it is not ideal for creating the balloons. The best printer has a straight paper path, too, one that doesn’t bend the paper so much. I have a little Ricoh GX5050N* and it works great. I had to set it for A4 size paper, but after I figured that out it was no problem. The Conde folks have complete instructions, plus a video on their website, so check it out.
*(By the way, if you have one of the Ricoh GelsPrinters, Conde sells 40ml versions of the ink they use for $7 a cartridge! That’s an unbelievable price!)
You can choose from a huge array of colorful frames that fit each balloon, which are available in hearts, stars and round shapes. The artwork is for holidays, birthdays and even has a section that is for kids to color. You choose the art, add your photo and text if you want and hit print. The assembly is easy, with a little tube and a straw that you blow up and a stand that holds it. No helium, no popping, they are fantastic!
Good luck in all your endeavors and have Happy Holidays!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Setting Up The Mermaid's Chest
We are starting our new business in our garage.The garage itself needed a major makeover and that is just about completed, so I have turned my attention to equipment and office machines.
I have a fairly good computer but I needed a printer for general officework and I have chosen the Ricoh Gelsprinter GX5050n. (http://www.dyetrans.com/browse_ricoh?printer=GX5050N). Now, I have several reasons for choosing the Ricoh. One is that I already purchased another Ricoh, the GX7000, which we are setting up to use for dye sublimation printing on products, the core of our product line. The GX7000 is a bigger (13" wide) printer but I am so impressed with how fast and nice it prints, I was more than enthusiastic about another Gelsprinter. They use only four cartridges and they have a convenient and easy ink delivery system.
Plus, and this is the big tip for today: you can purchase the starter ink cartridges for $7 each from http://www.conde.com! These carts are smaller than the regular ones, but they print over 400 pages, and the $40 ones only print 1000 pages. Doing the math makes me a smart cookie!
I have a fairly good computer but I needed a printer for general officework and I have chosen the Ricoh Gelsprinter GX5050n. (http://www.dyetrans.com/browse_ricoh?printer=GX5050N). Now, I have several reasons for choosing the Ricoh. One is that I already purchased another Ricoh, the GX7000, which we are setting up to use for dye sublimation printing on products, the core of our product line. The GX7000 is a bigger (13" wide) printer but I am so impressed with how fast and nice it prints, I was more than enthusiastic about another Gelsprinter. They use only four cartridges and they have a convenient and easy ink delivery system.
Plus, and this is the big tip for today: you can purchase the starter ink cartridges for $7 each from http://www.conde.com! These carts are smaller than the regular ones, but they print over 400 pages, and the $40 ones only print 1000 pages. Doing the math makes me a smart cookie!
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