Here's one I made earlier ......

[AdamB]

I was making some t-shirts over the weekend with vinyl so I thought I would take a few snap shots and notes along the way for an article I help with, some may find it useful so I've pasted the info below?

(not teaching anyone to suck eggs at all but the notes below were written for people with no experience in how to make/print/cut a t-shirt.

An important point to note is that this design was all cut with a CRAFT ROBBO - so it's not the size that matters but how it's handled that counts (lol).

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A: The Design - obviously a very special occasion so I wanted to create something that would be unique to wear and serve it's purpose. Also, some may like the 'Nulli' stuff, others may not, so it's trying to create something that suits everyone (sometimes you can't - sometimes you can). Hopefully the design suits many which is the main purpose.
Also, a note to bear in mind is that on garments I work with vinyl which is in coloured sheets so I need solid colours and have to keep this in mind straight from the word go (I usually work in black on white then add colour as I progress). This particular design took many weeks to get right and then to vectorised in layers (using photoshop) so I could see if it would work or not when each layer is placed on top of each other in the final press.


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B: This is where the pressing starts and each colour layer has been previously 'weeded' (the term given when all vinyl not required has been pulled away) leaving just what is required to be pressed/printed. The Silver layer is the base layer (black will be placed on top) and I use a base layer (a layer always on the bottom) in most designs with multi colours.


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C: After silver has been pressed and peeled away (the vinyl has a heat activated bonding agent) I start to add the rest of the colours (this layer being gold).


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D: Next we have the black layer being placed onto the silver. Also, another note worth making is that vinyl will shrink if heated too much so it's a case of pressing for a few seconds to bond and then pull-away the carrier sheet.


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E: Next goes on the red flashes and you may noticed that each flash has been cut away so it fits like a jigsaw around the capstar, this is the photoshop process at the very beginning I mentioned - if it's not done correctly there then nothing will work.


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F: The first of the white layers in then pressed at the top of the design, and knowing that vinyl shrinks (remember stage D) it's a fine line to get it just right otherwise nothing will connect (i.e the bits won't connect on the final design).


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G: The second of the white layers is now pressed and you may now be thinking that there's a lot more to this than first expected - and I haven't even explained the process of 'weeding' yet (pulling off the vinyl that's not required) which takes time in itself.


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H: The final layer is the '2013' in Silver - which could have been done before the white but I chose to do this last.


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I: After all layers have been pressed the garment is then pressed for a longer period to make sure everything is bonded and secure. So, counting this final press I have now pressed this t-shirt 8 times (with all layers being covered by silicon sheets to avoid scorching).


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J: The finished print, all ready to be tagged and bagged ready for postage - easy eh!

[Dave271069]

And I thought my one vinyl text t-shirts were a problem, well done very informative and helpful, nice t-shirt.

[AdamB]

And I thought my one vinyl text t-shirts were a problem, well done very informative and helpful, nice t-shirt.

Not the 'worst' design I've made up though - that would be this one! (lol)
(by worse, I mean time to prep and weed - the print itself looked really nice, just a nightmare to weed)

http://www.dyesubforum.co.uk/vbforum/sh ... tmare-weed

[socialgiraffe]

Really nice design and great post.

[Paul]

cool post Adam! But I dont want to ask how much this tshirt cost to make!!!

[mrs maggot]

nice work, i love working with more than one colour, the main costs are the time involved really, and that sometimes is the hardest part to pass on

[ADP]

Great post Adam , really like the design to

[Ian M]

Fantastic post Adam & what a superb job too. Well done mate. :biggrin:

[AdamB]

Thanks all - the cost of the design was reduced by multiple prints to be honest. This was an anniversary design and I knew that there would be a lot of takers, the design may seem complex for a single print but I (kind of) knew that I would be selling multiples and also variations on the same design (i.e just 2 colours in a hoodie design).

On another note - I had loads of samples of YOLO the other day and I was going to do some print review/tests as there are papers that I haven't used before - is this worth doing or has it been done already somewhere else?

[RogerC]

Looks very nice....pray tell where do you order 'patience' in the quantity needed for all that weeding?....