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Rodney · June 16th, 2009

I got the CoastalBusiness newsletter a day or so ago and it had a neat product in it...Photo Ballons that you can print on with your inkjet printer that don't require a heat press to cure.

Photo Ballons at Coastal Business

Has anybody tried these yet? I'd love to see how they turn out "in real life"

pukingdeserthobo · June 16th, 2009

that pretty cool, get that and then the custom m&m's and ur have a dope gift basket

krol · June 17th, 2009

Rodney,
I just received mine. I did a test star-shaped balloon. I printed it on an Epson C88. It will only print on a top loading printer. Colors, clarity etc look good. However the alignment is off (printed outside the star shape on both sides) and there are no instructions that come with it to fix that or anything else. The "Help" button in the software is inoperable. The balloons themselves are pretty fragile and I tore it in three spots removing it from sheet. So I'm just going to let these sit until I get some guidance. Otherwise I'll be doing expensive experiments.

Monte Carlo · June 17th, 2009

Rodney,
I bought a balloon kit at the indy show from conde. Karen is correct you do have to trial adjust the alignment for the printing. They have many templates and the software is kinda user friendly. I printed mine on a epson 120 and i have all three small shapes figured out finallly (you need to keep a log for each shape and size as you print them and the different shapes). They are easy to rip while removing them from the serrated sheet if you don't take your time . They have 3 air chambers in each balloon with a one way valve in them to keep the air in . The first three i did have been inflated for 9 days now with absolutely no leakage. I am not selling them yet but everybody that see's them likes them. Next step is getting the large size figured out on the 1800.

veedub3 · June 17th, 2009

I got the email the other day but I seen an infomercial one night around 3am last month. From the show I could see the potential problems the other poster spoke about. The person doing the infomercial nearly ripped one pulling it from the carrier sheet and when it came off the printer you could tell the print was off. Also once she got it together, It would not stand on it's own even though it was on a stand. She had to hold her hand behind it to keep it propped up.
I went to Coastal and looked at it but for now I think I am going to pass.

Katrina

Shuffy · June 17th, 2009

why use the program for just Balloons . . . use the program for your transfers also . .
just reverse the person picture before importing it into the balloon program . . makes a GREAT design for kids Tee's . . not to mention the grandma's that like to have their grandbabies pic's on their shirts . . . yes?!

Diane
;o}

Rodney · June 18th, 2009

Hi Karen, thanks for the feedback on your tests. If you get a chance, could you post a photo or two of how they turned of for you?

Diane, that's a neat idea for using the software to make cool transfer designs.

MotoskinGraphix · June 18th, 2009

What do cake decorators print with and on to get images on the cake?

joeshaul · June 18th, 2009

I got a bunch of these at last year's ASD/AMD, me and my mother thought it'd be a good addition to the personalized theme of our store. We bought them under the name x-balloon and it came from China, but I'm quite positive it's the same product just being distributed here now.

They get a lot of attention in our store, however the price is a hard sell around here. The cost of the balloon is around $2'ish, then you got the cost to print, and most importantly the prep time, the time to take a photo/scan one in and touch up, choose a design, then print, which drives the price up beyond what most people are willing to pay here when I can give them other products like an engraved necklace, printed poster, etc at the same price.

Edit: I've had the same balloons inflated in our shop for around 8 months now and no issues with leaking or anything.

clay@coastal · June 19th, 2009

Here are a couple tips for those of you who have the balloons:

-The balloons will not fall over if you have the pieces on correct. The two small triangular clips need to be higher up on the balloon so that it cups the bottom.

-They will print off the template, if you don’t measure the whole piece that you put in your printer…(We are working on user friendly instructions right now) You have to select “USER DEFINED” in the printer properties, because the sizes are not a common paper size…here are the sizes.
18cm – 8.35” x11.80”
28cm – 13.10” x 16.85”
(the Epson 1400 will not allow you to enter high enough to get to 13.10, it will only let you do 12.95, but that works too.)

-You can make your own templates in your own design program. The balloon software accepts and reads Photoshop files. So you can open one of the photoshop files within the Balloon Program’s folder within your computer. There is a template for each size and shape balloon for you to work from

Hope this helps.

selzler · June 19th, 2009

I got some from conde about 3 weeks and they print great and sell fast for birthdays and new baby I bought 3 doz and ran out inless then 2 weeks try them they are a lot of fun.

auggieboy · June 19th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotoskinGraphix


	What do cake decorators print with and on to get images on the cake?

There are a few suppliers out there that sell ink cartridges with food safe ink in them. My sister has some loaded in a Canon printer. You then print on an edible paper (like rice paper), that you can put on top of a frosted cake.

ino · June 19th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by auggieboy


	There are a few suppliers out there that sell ink cartridges with food safe ink in them. My sister has some loaded in a Canon printer. You then print on an edible paper (like rice paper), that you can put on top of a frosted cake.

Can you eat that printed rice paper ?

auggieboy · June 20th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by ino


	Can you eat that printed rice paper ?

Yes most definitely, that's why it's safe to put on cookies or cakes, it has no taste at all. It kind of melts into the frosting when you place it on top.

multi-id · June 26th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by krol


	Rodney, I just received mine. I did a test star-shaped balloon. I printed it on an Epson C88. It will only print on a top loading printer. Colors, clarity etc look good. However the alignment is off (printed outside the star shape on both sides) and there are no instructions that come with it to fix that or anything else. The "Help" button in the software is inoperable. The balloons themselves are pretty fragile and I tore it in three spots removing it from sheet. So I'm just going to let these sit until I get some guidance. Otherwise I'll be doing expensive experiments.

I had the same problem and I choose A4 paper size and it resolve the problem

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Anybody see the inkjet printable balloons from Coastal Business?