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Hi guys, total novice here 
I'm basically looking for a few of the knowledgeable folk here to read through my initial plan/idea and give me any feedback or advice as to what you think may be the best way for me to go?
I get a bit of extra work now and then as a freelance graphic designer. Something I've wanted to do for a while however, like most of you here, is transfer some of my designs onto fabric and try and make a few extra £ that way. However, I don't plan on transferring my work onto t-shirts, I plan to transfer my designs onto babies bibs. Yep, that's right, babies bibs!
So as you can already tell the scale that I will be working with will be quite a bit smaller compared to what most of you are used to. I'll just be making small, cute designs with the odd silly slogan and hopefully using the correct tools/equipment to heat transfer these onto babies bibs.
I have attached an example of the kind of things I will be making to this msg.
I already own Adobe Illustrator, as I use this now and then for the other design work I do. So I will be using this to create my vector designs.
I've sourced some 100% cotton white bibs at a very very cheap price, and plan on using the Jet Pro Soft Stretch heat transfer paper to transfer my designs from my printer to the bib.
My main questions really relate to the following:
1. Currently the inkjet printer I own is only capable of taking dye ink cartridges, so I would like to purchase a small inkjet printer that takes a pigment ink cartridge. I've heard Epson printers are the way to go but wondered if someone could suggest something that would be suitable for the work that I will be doing?
Again the size I will be working with is going to be kind of small, so I don't need a big A3 printer, or a printer with wide printing capabilities. I just want something that's small, solid, will do the job and isn't going to break the bank??
2. Are 100% cotton bibs the way people think I should go? I've heard a mix of maybe 50% cotton and 50% polyester is pretty good. But wonder if at this basic level, of small designs on small bits of fabric it will make a huge difference.
3. Taking into consideration the smaller scale I will be working with. Can someone suggest me a small Heat Press that they think would be adequate?? Again, like the printer I'm looking for something on the more affordable side and I guess hope that there's almost a decent 'mini heat press' currently available on the market?
4. I've heard a lot about plotters but don't think for me, working at this level anyway one would be necessary? So far I've just used a cutting mat and a scalpel, or just a plain old pair of scissors, which both seem to do the job just fine.
I've already knocked up a couple of designs but used a home iron - I'm sure we've all tried this before, I wanted to see what is was like and figured it would be a good point to start my learning process
To be honest, the results weren't anywhere near as bad as I thought they would be, considering I used poor quality paper and ink, and transferred the design onto the garment using a standard iron! But moving forward, I would obviously like to do things as properly, especially as I plan to try and sell these at some point.
Thanks to all those who have read this and for any help that's thrown my way.
I'm basically looking for a few of the knowledgeable folk here to read through my initial plan/idea and give me any feedback or advice as to what you think may be the best way for me to go?
I get a bit of extra work now and then as a freelance graphic designer. Something I've wanted to do for a while however, like most of you here, is transfer some of my designs onto fabric and try and make a few extra £ that way. However, I don't plan on transferring my work onto t-shirts, I plan to transfer my designs onto babies bibs. Yep, that's right, babies bibs!
So as you can already tell the scale that I will be working with will be quite a bit smaller compared to what most of you are used to. I'll just be making small, cute designs with the odd silly slogan and hopefully using the correct tools/equipment to heat transfer these onto babies bibs.
I have attached an example of the kind of things I will be making to this msg.
I already own Adobe Illustrator, as I use this now and then for the other design work I do. So I will be using this to create my vector designs.
I've sourced some 100% cotton white bibs at a very very cheap price, and plan on using the Jet Pro Soft Stretch heat transfer paper to transfer my designs from my printer to the bib.
My main questions really relate to the following:
1. Currently the inkjet printer I own is only capable of taking dye ink cartridges, so I would like to purchase a small inkjet printer that takes a pigment ink cartridge. I've heard Epson printers are the way to go but wondered if someone could suggest something that would be suitable for the work that I will be doing?
Again the size I will be working with is going to be kind of small, so I don't need a big A3 printer, or a printer with wide printing capabilities. I just want something that's small, solid, will do the job and isn't going to break the bank??
2. Are 100% cotton bibs the way people think I should go? I've heard a mix of maybe 50% cotton and 50% polyester is pretty good. But wonder if at this basic level, of small designs on small bits of fabric it will make a huge difference.
3. Taking into consideration the smaller scale I will be working with. Can someone suggest me a small Heat Press that they think would be adequate?? Again, like the printer I'm looking for something on the more affordable side and I guess hope that there's almost a decent 'mini heat press' currently available on the market?
4. I've heard a lot about plotters but don't think for me, working at this level anyway one would be necessary? So far I've just used a cutting mat and a scalpel, or just a plain old pair of scissors, which both seem to do the job just fine.
I've already knocked up a couple of designs but used a home iron - I'm sure we've all tried this before, I wanted to see what is was like and figured it would be a good point to start my learning process
To be honest, the results weren't anywhere near as bad as I thought they would be, considering I used poor quality paper and ink, and transferred the design onto the garment using a standard iron! But moving forward, I would obviously like to do things as properly, especially as I plan to try and sell these at some point.
Thanks to all those who have read this and for any help that's thrown my way.
