[silentoblivion1]

Just brainstorming a few ideas,
I want to print and sell my own designs online and like many of you who do will also either want to or do print t-shirts and other items for people.

I would like to do this as gives two potential methods of income and each service could draw customers in for the other one.

I was having a talk with a friend and we were on about offering printing services to local bands as in my area theres a massive number of them, and alot of bands want merchandise making (my old one included) but for the amount of t-shirts bands would want it would be too expensive, but I would like to try make it more affordable for them and hopefully gain a rep as being good at helping small local bands get merchandise out there.

Anyway was brain storming and thought, printing stuff like guitar picks, badges etc for the bands to give away or sell would be good. Could even go as far as iPod/phone covers etc.
How would these items be printed? Is it the same method that you use to print on mugs?

Does anyone know of any equipment that does this?

 

[LMCTees]

You may want to check into sublimation printing if you want to print on those kinds of items. They use this method for mugs a lot of the time.

 

[silentoblivion1]

thanks.
would this print guitar picks, badges etc?

 

[silentoblivion1]

seen you can do t-shirts with this method? what is it like?

 

[LMCTees]

You use a heat press to transfer the image onto your items.

 

[silentoblivion1]

so is sublimation more about the item being printed on being suitable? like you need a special type of mug that can be printed onto?
trying to research it now

 

[lben]

You need products specifically manufactured for sublimation. Tees are possible, but they have to be white 100% polyester or a very light pastel 100% polyester. The tee blanks are expensive. Go to Sublimation Printing, Unisub Blanks, Supplies, Inks, Video Tips and Tricks, Transfer Paper, Heat Presses, Direct to Garment and click on sublimation, then click on blanks to see what kinds of products are available for sublimating on. I have never seen guitar pics on there. Those might require pad printing.

 

[silentoblivion1]

Blanks seem expensive, be better to use another method.
I can't find any info on how to print picks and badges. Plenty of companies will do it but no info on how its done.

What's pad printing?

 

[silentoblivion1]

also would this be suitable for everything I need?
Anyone know of the brands of products offered? Are they good?

Posted a thread before but didnt get much response

Heat press & vinyl cutter packages

 

[lben]

Pad printing is a method of printing using ink, a plate, and a silicon pad. To see it in action check out the youtube videos on it. The problem with pad printing is the ink, once mixed is only good for up to 8-12 hours. And you have to buy blanks (if you can find them) in large quantities. And they are limited in the amount of colors. Most only do one color but the really expensive presses can do I think up to 6 colors.

 

[ryan barker]

for the picks, you're likely to go with pad printing, but hot stamping can be done, too. pickworld.com has a minimum order of 100 picks, printed (i'm assuming this is pretty basic for the price), for $65. just an idea on this, but perhaps you can find a guy with a laser engraver (some trophy/awards shops have them, some do it as a standalone business) that can make you a pad stamper. if that's possible, you're good to go, and if you wanted a couple of different colours, you can get a couple of different stamps made up, one for each colour like in screen printing, make a little jig, and do it that way. i'm not sure how well the stamped ink would hold up versus the pad printing (certainly not as good), but it all rubs off anyway after so long....

so, i'd guess that pad printing would be the way to go for the most professional and longest lasting results. it's also one of those things that you're not likely to want to get involved in on a DYI basis unless you're really meaning to move tons and tons of 'em.

i don't think they make picks for sublimation. pretty sure they don't, but you can look around. not sure if a pick would stand up to the heat anyway.

as far as offering band merchandise, i'd thought about that, too. the problem is they want such low quantities and at a price that they can make a couple of bucks. on top of that, they want it to be all customized. if i know the guys, that's one thing (which i'd do it for cost and they'd likely throw a couple bucks in for my trouble or compensate me in beer and/or no cover charges as if i wanted to hang out in bars every weekend, lol), or if they put in a large enough order, which probably rarely happens for your typical bar band, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be enough money in it to justify everything.

for shirts, what these guys need to learn to do is cut a stencil and buy some spray paint, lol. i can't restock four shirts and sell them at wholesale prices just so some guys can turn around and sell them for a profit, that's just a waste of my time, especially for people i don't even know, ya know?

 

[ryan barker]

how handy are you? can you tear apart an ink jet printer and rig it up to print on picks?

 

[GadsdenGraphics]

A logo on plastic picks might be doable - you might make a metal mask and sandblast them, followed by paint application into the etched areas. Wipe off the excess and apply some kind of clearcoat to protect it.

Text, though? Yuck. Laser engraving would be the only way I can think of, or silk-screening. That's not my area though, so I don't have the first idea what kind of inks you would use, and I imagine the screens would be cost prohibitive for small orders.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.

 

[silentoblivion1]

Yeh I know what you mean
been going over this problem in my head because most band t shirts would be best done screen printed which for say 20 or under doesn't seem to be worth it. A mate asked me to find him a quote for 16 t shirts I think and the quote came back about £6 a shirt which I thought was reasonable, especially when the quote showed a breakdown of it but he thought it was expensive. But this includes delivery so I said even if you made £2 a shirt profit its not bad for a small band, its more about exposure at that stage.

maybe dtg would be more profitable for small quantity band t shirts.

Im a bit handy, know alot of people who are, would a modified inkjet be able to print on picks?

For small quantity t shirts what would be a good method beside dtg? I thought about vinyl but seems only good for basic designs and I've read inkjet heat press transfers wash off quick.

Not expecting massive orders at start up so aiming for more print on demand to start with

 

[GadsdenGraphics]

I need had a Epson r220 inkjet that could print to CDs, so if inwas going to go that way, that would be the printer I'd look at first. It had a plastic tray that held a CD, and I'd think you could modify it to hold picks.

Ink is your problem, though. Is there an ink that would adhere to plastic and show up against dark colors like that?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.