Choose Your Favorite New Custom Transfer Layout!
Jan/120
We are excited to be able to provide you with the not only the largest collection of customizable layouts, but also the best. This year we have added over 200 new layouts to our Easy Prints® customizable transfer layout collection, giving your customer thousands of choices and giving you the ability to provide artwork with just a few clicks.
Beginning this week, we will be giving you a sneak peak of some of these layouts by Great Dane Graphics, a new member of the Stahls’ team, whose artwork is now part of the Easy Prints custom transfer layout collection. These new Easy Prints provide your customer with the look similar to what you find in the fashion retail stores like Abercrombie, Hollister and The Buckle!
Each Wednesday we will release five of the new layouts. As they are released they will be orderable online and viewable customized on our Easy View™ design tool, free to all Transfer Express dealers.
In mid January you will get to vote on which of the 20 layouts is your favorite. And three lucky voters will win $50 towards their own order! So be sure to watch each week and exercise your right to vote for your chance to win.
Use Your Customer’s Clip Art in Our T-Shirt Designer
Sep/110
Below is a recent testimonial from a customer that knows the value of our Custom Clip Art program at Transfer Express.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
I am not sure that I can express my appreciation to you and the delight that I felt when I went to your website today and saw that I could not only SEE my CCA but that I could put them into Easy Print layouts to view. You guys are AMAZING! This will help my sales tremendously and make my life so much easier. Again, THANK YOU!
Ingrid
From Indiana
What is the Custom Clip Art program?
If your customer has a logo or clip art that they would like to reuse in our customizeable layouts, we can archive it for you. Imagine your customer’s logo or clip art in place of all our eagle clip art or others shown in the Easy Prints® layouts. This gives you the power to offer your customer lots of options. Your archived Custom Clip Arts are viewable online and can be used in our online T-Shirt designer to create a truly custom T-shirt design in seconds.
How to order a Custom Clip Art?
Place an Easy Prints Plus order that includes the artwork you would like to archive. Request what speicific art that you need to be archived. For a flat one time fee of $15, we will assign that logo or clip art a unique number just for you. Once the plus order is complete your Custom Clip Art will appear online and be ready to use!
Got custom art that you need custom transfers for?
Click here to send us the art to get your quote or order started.
Put your custom logo in our layouts
Tips for Screen Printing Custom Artwork: Bonus Tip
Aug/110
Create Your Own Gang Sheet
Gang sheets are a fast and easy way to save money when buying screen printed transfers. If your custom image is small enough for gang sheets, send us your artwork and we will certainly make the gang sheet for you. However, if you would like to make your own gang sheet, here are a few tips on how to make the most of the “real estate” on each sheet.
- For smaller images, make sure that all line thicknesses and show-thru thicknesses meet the minimum requirements.
- All images on the sheet can be as close as you want. However, keep in mind that you have to cut apart your images. Don’t put them so close together that you are wasting time cutting out tightly close images. We recommend leaving a ½” spacing between all images that you will be cutting apart.
- The images don’t all have to be facing one direction. Rotate them based on their shape to fit as many as you can onto one sheet.
- Add as many different images as you would like to a gang sheet. They do not all have to be the same image.
For more information and tips on gang sheets, watch our video.
All images on a gang sheet do not need to be facing the same direction, be the same size or even the same image.
Tips for Screen Printing Custom Artwork: Tip 5 – Color Placement
Aug/110
When creating custom artwork for screen printed transfers, color placement is important. The screen printing process uses spot colors. You can use spot colors when creating art, but it is not required. However, you should use consistent colors in your file.
Here are some guidelines for color placement in your custom art:
- It doesn’t matter if you use a spot color, a CMYK value, or an RGB value as long as it is the same throughout. So if you use CMYK values, use CMYK throughout your whole file.
- Use the same color to represent each color in your design. For example, if you have a blue area, use the same blue for all those blue areas.
- If it helps to add a background color to match the apparel color, go ahead and try that. This helps if you are using a white ink as one of your colors and want to distinguish the ink from the background or show-thru areas.
All CMYK colors were used in this artwork with a gold background used for apparel representation only.
Colors appear differently on different computer monitors. If you would like a more accurate idea of how your colors will look when printed, use one of our Color Selectors that are part of our marketing kit or available separately.
A good spot color palette to use in Adobe Illustrator® and CorelDraw® is the “Pantone® solid coated” palette that comes with the software.
Tips for Screen Printing Custom Artwork: Tip 4 – Detail Guidelines
Aug/110
Many questions arise when it comes to custom artwork for screen printed transfers and the amount of detail that is able to be printed. The guidelines are different than that of other printed materials such as our digital Cad-Printz™ transfers or other process printed jobs like brochures, business cards or flyers. The biggest difference for screen printed transfers is line thickness and show-thru thickness.
Line Thickness
Line thickness varies depending on which type of ink you would like your transfers printed with:
- Our recommended line thickness for Hot Split, Goof Proof®, Polytrans and Elasti Prints® is .012″ thick for printed areas.
- Our recommended line thickness for Reflective and Glitter is .025″ thick for printed areas.
- Our recommended line thickness for non-Puff colors is .012″ thick for printed areas (This may need increased if printed next to a Puff color. Be aware that Puff ink will increase the printed line thickness. A line that is .023″ will puff up to become .05″ in the applied transfer.)
To test the line thickness in your artwork files, try doing the following:
1. Create a line in your file and make it a different color than your artwork.
2. Set the thickness of the line to .012″.
3. Now move the line around, setting it over top of any artwork that may have thin areas of color. All of your artwork should be at least as thick as that line whether it be text, outlines or objects.
4. Delete the line when you have finished checking your file.
Any portion of artwork that is less than the recommended thickness is not guaranteed to be printed.
Make sure your line thickness meets the minimum requirements for the ink formula you choose.
Show-thru Thickness
Show-thru areas are any area in your design that has no ink but is surrounded by ink. These areas need to be as thick as the following guidelines:
- Our recommended show-thru thickness for all screen printed ink formulas is .04″ thick for show-thru areas except for Puff.
- Puff show-thru thickness should be .1″ thick.
To test the show-thru thickness in your artwork files, try doing the following:
1. Create a line in your file and make it a different color than your artwork.
2. Set the thickness of the line to .045″.
3. Now move the line around, setting it over top of any small non-printing areas. All non-printing reas need to be open at least as wide as that line.
4. Delete the line when you have finished checking your file.
Show-thru thickness is important so the artwork will not close up once it is printed and applied to the garment. This applies to any non-printing area including the open spaces within text.
Make sure your show-thru thickness meets the minimum requirements for the ink formula you choose.
Following these guidelines will help you with the amount of detail you can have in your screen printed designs.
Tips for Screen Printing Custom Artwork: Tip 3 – Converting Text to Curves
Aug/110
One of the questions we recommended in Tip 2 that you ask your customers when they provide artwork was to ask about the fonts and to make sure they were converted to curves/outlines. We will cover that in more detail this week since it is probably the most important aspect when sending in custom artwork for screen printing.
Text in artwork needs to be “converted to curves”. This means that once the text is converted, it is no longer text. It becomes a shape or in other words, a piece of art. The benefit of this is that no matter which computer the file is being viewed on, it will appear the same. It is no longer dependent on having the font installed on each computer. This ensures that your artwork looks the same on our computer as it did on yours and the computer your customer created it on.
To convert to curves in CorelDraw®:
- Select your text
- Click the ‘Arrange’ menu
- Choose ‘Convert to Curves’
The 'Convert to Curves' option is located under the 'Arrange' menu in CorelDraw
Make sure you do this for all text that is in the file.
To convert to curves (create outlines) in Adobe Illustrator®:
- Select your text
- Click the ‘Type’ menu
- Choose ‘Create Outlines’
The 'Create Outlines' option is located under the 'Type' menu in Illustrator
Again, make sure you do this for all text that is in the file.
Making sure that your text is converted to curves is extremely important. Watch our video tutorials on converting text to curves and then also reducing the node count afterwards.
Tips for Screen Printing Custom Artwork: Tip 1 – Software to Create Artwork
Jul/110
Transfer Express’ collection of clip art and layouts is very extensive and continues to grow each year. That being said, you don’t have to be an artist to order our designs. Simply customize and order our Easy Prints® layouts. However, we are seeing an increase in the amount of uploaded art to our web site for custom orders – Easy Prints® Plus. In this new series of blogs, we will give you the Top 5 Tips for Screen Printing Custom Artwork to help make your experience the best possible for submitting custom artwork to us.
The first tip this week starts at the beginning. It deals with software for creating and/or editing custom artwork. There are many programs you may use to do this, however, there are really two main programs we would suggest using – CorelDraw® or Adobe Illustrator®. These programs are great in the graphic arts industry including art for screen printing.
Create custom artwork for screen printing in CorelDraw (left) or Illustrator (right).
The Graphic Software
CorelDraw and Illustrator are programs that professionals use. However, you can learn them just as easily. Both of the creators of these programs allow you to download a free 30 day trial. This gives you a free opportunity to play with the programs and get your feet wet. Test out each program to see which one you may prefer. Spending a few minutes in the program everyday will allow you to get accustomed to it and by the end of the 30 day trial, you may have decided that yes, this is something you can do and would like to purchase.
Resources
While learning the programs, there are many resources online for free to help you if you get stuck on a particular problem. Search the internet or YouTube, and there are many videos and tutorials to view for almost any situation in either of these two programs.
Great info at:
AdvancedArtist.com
Sending Us Your Creations
Did you make something you need transfers of? Uploading artwork to our web site is very easy. On the upper navigation tabs, click on the “Send Us Your Artwork” tab. Upon signing in, click on the “Upload File” button. From there, simply fill out the information in the form and browse for your saved artwork file on your computer. And voila, it’s that easy! Once your art is reviewed we will call you to discuss your quote or order.
Get screen printed plastisol and digital transfers made from you artwork
Now go get your free 30 day trial and experiment! Who knows, you may have some skills you never knew you had…
Important Links:
CorelDRAW X5 Information
Converting Text to Curves When Sending Your Own Artwork
Jun/110
When you create a design using text, the text is live. In other words, the appearance of your text can change depending on the computer it is being viewed on. This is because you have certain fonts installed on your computer while others may not have those particular fonts. For example, if you use the font Arial in your design and you send it to someone without Arial, it will default to another font and may look completely different than your original design.
The text in the design to the right defaulted to another font without the original font installed.
To prevent this from happening, when you are finished with your artwork, convert your text to curves. The text then becomes vector art. It is no longer text so you will not be able to edit it like you would text. Therefore, you may want to save your converted text as a new file such as “name_curves.cdr” so you can go back, if needed, to your original text and edit it.
Converting your text is very simple. Here is how:
- In CorelDraw, select your text, and in the “Arrange” menu, choose “Convert to Curves”.
- In Adobe Illustrator, select your text, and in the “Type” menu, choose “Create Outlines”.
- In Adobe Photoshop, select your text layer, and in the “Layer” menu, choose “Rasterize” and then “Type”.
Your text will no longer be editable as text. However, since it is no longer text, you don’t have to worry about the appearance changing from computer to computer. It is like any other piece of art.
In this example, the text is live and can be edited with the Type Tool.
In this example, the text is now converted to curves and is outlined by nodes (or points).
By doing this one easy step, you can save yourself time and know that your artwork will appear the same on our computers as it did on yours when it comes to text.
Add Style to Your Custom T-shirt Designs with Free Internet Fonts
Jun/110
Fonts are a good way to enhance your designs. Fonts themselves are a whole industry in itself. There are some people that design fonts for a living.
Searching for and downloading new fonts can be quick and easy. Once you know how, you can spend endless amounts of time searching for fonts that you like. There are literally thousands and thousands of fonts online that designers have created. Some fonts are free to use while others you must pay for. Most fonts have some sort of licensing agreement so you must know your end use when it comes to using new fonts.
Searching for new fonts can be fun. A certain font can really improve your design. There are different kinds that go with various types of designs.
To begin searching for new fonts, Google is the best place to start. If you don’t really know what you’re looking for, basic searches like “fonts” or “free fonts” will be a good start. If you have more of an idea of what type of font you would like, you might try more specific searches like “script fonts” or “block letter fonts”. Most font sites will have a variety. If you find a page you like, you can browse their selections. Some sites to try are www.dafont.com or www.myfonts.com.
Once you find a font you like, the next part is to download and install the font in the correct place on your computer in order to use it.
For this example, you found a font that will match the design you are working on. You simply download the font to your computer. Most sites will have a download button. Make sure to save it to a location where you can find the files for the next step. You may have to unzip the font. After you download and unzip the font if needed, there is one more step before you can use it. You must put the font file into the correct place on your computer. For Windows users, this location is C:\Windows\Fonts.
To move this file, open the folder that you downloaded. Copy the font file only. There are different types of fonts, so depending on the type of font you downloaded, it may have a different file extension. For this example, it is an Open Type Font, so the file extension is “.otf”. Another common font extention is .ttf.
Copy the downloaded font file.
Next, open your “C” drive (your computer’s hard drive) and then open your “Windows” folder. Inside the “Windows” folder, you will find the “Fonts” folder. Copy the font file into this “Fonts” folder.
Paste the font file into your C:WindowsFonts folder to use the new font.
That’s it! That’s all there is to downloading new fonts to use! However, if you have your design application open, some require you to close the program and reopen it before your font will be visible to use.
Now you can create new and edgy designs using unique fonts! In spite of this, if you’re like us, searching for fonts can be addictive and time consuming! It will suck you in to the infinite world of fonts! Enjoy! Remember if you create artwork with fonts you download you will need to convert it to curves before you upload it to us. Plus, if you upload art with a font you downloaded, list the font name in our upload notes area. This will help us if we need to make changes to your art.
Caution: Be very careful on what you are downloading fonts. There are many viruses on the internet so make sure what you are downloading is safe. Stick to safe sites that you can trust. If you are unsure of a site, it is best to stay away from it.
How to Prep Your Own Artwork for CAD-PRINTZ Printing
May/110
RGB Vs. CMYK Color Mode:
We make it easy for our customers by providing all the artwork you could ever imagine with Easy Prints® layouts and clipart, which the selection continues to grow each year. However, sometimes your customers provide their own artwork or maybe you have come up with some very nice artwork yourself. In these cases, one of the most common questions that re-occur has to do with the color mode of the artwork files. The color mode of your artwork file is basically the colors that your artwork is rendered in its end use. To determine which color mode you want, you must know your end use for the artwork. There are various color modes, while RGB and CMYK are the most common.
RGB (standing for Red, Green, Blue) is a color mode used by computer monitors, televisions, and any sort of electronic screen. All of the colors you see on the screen are actually made up of various combinations of tiny red, green and blue “boxes” known as pixels. This is also the color mode used by all internet graphics. If you are making any artwork for the web or any other project that will be viewed on a monitor, you would want to use RGB as the color mode.
However, RGB is not a color mode meant for printing. CMYK (standing for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (Black)) is the other main color mode which is meant for printing. By combining different percentages of the ink colors, cyan, magenta, yellow and black, a wide variety of other colors are created. This is the method used by your ink jet printer at home all the way to commercial printing presses. CMYK is also known as “full color”, “4-color” or “process color” printing. We use CMYK as the color mode to print all of our CAD-PRINTZ™. This includes all of the digital transfers, wall graphics, banners, stickers and window clings. If you try to print artwork that is RGB using CMYK, the colors will not be consistent and will most likely be very different from how they appear on your computer screen. Therefore, if you are sending us artwork for any CAD-PRINTZ™ product, we need the color mode in CMYK.
Changing the color mode of your artwork file depends on the computer application you are using. Please check your users guide for your particular application that you are using for details.
RGB and CMYK Color Model
