[lkallus]

Hello everyone, I have a client who would like this image on some shopping totes for use in her boutique. I found some canvas jumbo totes for about $1.99 on Promotional Canvas tote bags custom sizes and styles from cheap totes now with t-shirts and screen printing (anyone know another place for large shopping totes?) and ordered a few to see how they look.

Screen printing this image would be difficult (every letter of her shop name is a different color.

Would you guys recommend custom plastisol transfers like from transfer express? Or custom digital transfers?

Could I print them myself with an ink jet printer with ink-jet transfer paper I got from Ryonet? Would they look nice/hold-up? I have been learning screen printing, haven't begun to use (learn) my heat press yet.

She wants 100 of them on BLACK totes so I need a good bright print.

Thanks for all of your help!

(My next question will be what is a good range to charge her per tote. I kow it'll depend on my cost but if a customer would only expect to pay $__- $__ per tote for a 100 with this image, I better choose a method where I don't end up losing money)

Laura

 

[lkallus]

Oops, I am a dork. Sorry, attached now is the image.
Thanks!

 

[laz0924]

I think you have too many colors for plastisol transfers, they can only print like 3 or 4 colors

 

[FatKat Printz]

Oops, I am a dork. Sorry, attached now is the image.
Thanks!

You could DTG on these 100% cotton bags from SanMar..

 

[lben]

Wow, well a heat transfer would be an option... until you got to the part about black tote bags! That really throws a kink into the plans. You could try those transfers for dark material. Or I'm thinking your only other option is going to be a DTG if you can find one in your area, and I don't know if they can do totes or not, you'd have to ask. Or if it was screen printed it would have to be a 4 color process with a white base.

It might look cute on paper, but I don't think she understands that a logo like that is going to be very, very expensive to replicate on other products, especially on a black background.

 

[csw]

Pretty sure other vendors have similar options but Transfer Express' Cad Printz would be my choice to get this done.

 

[GatorTots]

If you have access to a printer/cutter such as a Versacamm, you could print unlimited colors and it would show on a black tote.

 

[FatKat Printz]

but you really need to know what the customer expects for the feel of the tote bag and the image..

DTG, Versacamm and transfers all have different feels.

Stahl's which is also Transfer Express could quote you with your image.
Vector would be better too..

 

[lkallus]

Thanks for the suggestions you guys. I only have a Roland Gs24 cutter (that I haven't really learned to use yest. Is there high quality transfer paper that would work? I have an ink jet printer I bought to do transfers but the only ones I did had very bright color but a paper feel to it . I bought transfer paper for inkjet from Ryonet. I am not sure she is too worried about the feel, as they are for customers to use as they shop.

I will get a quote from the places you all suggested like Transfer Express, etc. for custom transfers.

I had not considered DTG but I will ask the shop I contract to sometimes. Is 100 totes too much for DTG?

I ordered some Totes to practice on...maybe now is a good time to learn that Roland cutter....

 

[lben]

Thanks for the suggestions you guys. I only have a Roland Gs24 cutter (that I haven't really learned to use yest. Is there high quality transfer paper that would work? I have an ink jet printer I bought to do transfers but the only ones I did had very bright color but a paper feel to it . I bought transfer paper for inkjet from Ryonet. I am not sure she is too worried about the feel, as they are for customers to use as they shop.

I will get a quote from the places you all suggested like Transfer Express, etc. for custom transfers.

I had not considered DTG but I will ask the shop I contract to sometimes. Is 100 totes too much for DTG?

I ordered some Totes to practice on...maybe now is a good time to learn that Roland cutter....

I had a tiny cutter (craft robo) that I never used because the directions were so hard to understand. So it sat for 3 years collecting dust.

In July I bought a graphtech CE5000-60 (24 in plotter/cutter) and was forced to learn how to use it on the fly. In 3 days time I cut out and applied my first lettering for water bottles for a kid's soccer team. It was so easy to use.

I'm still struggling to learn coreldraw and the term "vector" might just as well be in Chinese. I had no clue what that meant. But have been able to do some nice stuff with it. Now I have to learn screen printing. I love my vinyl cutter. I just wish I would have bought it years ago.

 

[lkallus]

What material do you use with your cutter? Vinyl? What did you use for those water bottles? From what I understand, vinyl is best for 1 or 2 color jobs. What about multi-color? Can I get a quality print with an inkjet? I bought an Epson 1400 color that I hope to use. But what paper/material to print on for a nice feel and nice color?

 

[FatKat Printz]

I'm still struggling to learn coreldraw and the term "vector" might just as well be in Chinese. I had no clue what that meant. But have been able to do some nice stuff with it. Now I have to learn screen printing. I love my vinyl cutter. I just wish I would have bought it years ago.

Vector Magic has a great page to understand the meaning of vector..

Vector Magic Support | Frequently Asked Questions

check out the faq's and I hope this helps. We use Illustrator and Corel Draw to help with our vectors. But Vector Magic is very helpful too.. you don't have to buy the desktop version you can pay every 3 months. Its great!!

 

[lben]

What material do you use with your cutter? Vinyl? What did you use for those water bottles? From what I understand, vinyl is best for 1 or 2 color jobs. What about multi-color? Can I get a quality print with an inkjet? I bought an Epson 1400 color that I hope to use. But what paper/material to print on for a nice feel and nice color?

You have to have a special printer/cutter like a versacamm in order to print on vinyl. I used vinyl from Stahls and Ryonet. On the water bottles I used white sign vinyl and the color logo was done by Stahls.

You can get quality prints with inkjet, but I've never used the paper for printing on dark material. I understand it is thick, but don't know what it feels like. It really shouldn't matter though because it isn't going on clothing, it's going on a tote bag.