Innovation: Logo It & Tee Square It Heat Press Alignment Tools

Innovator: Louis Robin, LJ Robin Marketing

Contact Info: lou@ljrobin.com – HeatPressEssentials.com – HeatPressTransferNetwork.com

City/State of Innovation: Stockton, CA

Brief Description of Innovation:  The Tee Square It! is 3 rulers in one and allows a user to center and align heat applied graphics onto apparel.  Logo It! is another alignment tool for placing left chest logo or designs onto garments.  Both innovations are to be used in conjunction with a heat press.

Equipment Used for Innovation: Any Heat Press

Materials Used for innovation: 3/16″ Acrylic Plastic and Screen Printed Gridwork 

Accessories Used: To be used in conjunction with heat press transfers.

Other details and a brief history: I retired from the dept of veteran affairs as chief of service in LA.  I ran all retail and restaurant operations for 3 hospitals.  Retiring in 2000 at 57 left a lot of holes in my daily life.  Somehow I started doing t-shirts as a small business.  I did some great work, but had a few complaints about centering  – hey I am old…so I looked at what was out there to help me do a better job.  I did not like the designs or pricing that was currently on the market for like products so I came up with my own.  I offered it to a few people I knew and before long I had a lot of requests.  It took off beyond my expectations.  The Logo It! is a new product that addresses the same sort of needs as the tee square it, but is for left chest logos.  I invented or designed both of these products to assist me in my business by allowing me to make sure that heat applied graphics were properly placed on apparel.  I saw and addressed a need for a product that is easy to use and cost effective.

Here are a few photos of the innovation:

Logo It and Tee Square It

Logo It Up Close

See videos of this innovation from Lou Robin and more at http://www.youtube.com/badalou

Innovation: Heat Press Printed Encapsulated Twill

Innovator: Josh Ellsworth, Imprintables Warehouse

Contact Info: josh@imprintables.com – http://www.joshellsworth.com – 1-800-347-0068 x.236

City/State of Innovation: Uniontown, PA

Brief Description of Innovation: Heat Pressing an image/graphic onto white twill, then cutting the twill as well as a vinyl encapsulation then heat pressing to garment.

Equipment Used for Innovation: Any Heat Press, A Vinyl Cutter that can cut tackle twill – I used a Roland GX-24, A Printer compatible with selected paper – I used the Roland Versacamm VP300

Materials Used for innovation: Transfer Media or Paper – I used the Solutions clear material for the Roland Versacamm, mainly for the durability aspects of the solvent ink, Eco-Film Heat Transfer Vinyl or another cad-cut material to seal the outside edge of the twill, Pressure Sensitive White Poly-twill

Accessories Used: Weeding tools and a cover sheet (I used Kraft Paper)

Other details: This innovation sprung from one that I put out there over a year ago that first featured the concept of sealing the edge of tackle twill with cad-cut vinyl instead of sewing it.  I took this process one step further and added a full color aspect to it.  Before trying to conquer the full color aspect, I would recommend watching this video to gain an understanding of the overall concept and workflow to complete a simple encapsulation of twill with a heat press:  Video Tutorial

Now that you’ve watched the video here is the explanation of adding a full color image to the process.  First things first, you must use white twill if you are using a transfer paper or cad-color media for light colors.  If you have opaque transfer paper you can use any color twill, but will need to know the basic concepts behind using opaque paper – specifically related to trimming.  So…You basically print your full color image oin transfer paper, heat seal it to the blank piece of twill.  Now you have your image on the twill.  take your twill to the vinyl cutter and send your cut file that you wish to cut from twill.  Remove your lettering/twill design and place it on the garment.  Now load your cutter with the cad-cut heat press vinyl of choice – I use and sell Eco-Film – then output your cut file that is going to be used with the vinyl.  Go to the heat press and do your best to register the vinyl over top of the twill and heat press it.  Go show it to all of your friends and charge a premium for these garments.  This is not an easy process and there is increased labor, so price the work as such.  I love using this process with hoodies and fleece garments. 

Other Success Tips:  Try offering the customer a small repeatable pattern so that registration does not become an issue.  If you are not using a solvent printer and Solutions clear material, be sure that you have a transfer paper that will stick to the twill and last in the wash.  Most twills are 100% polyester.  You will not want to use a junky transfer paper with this process – that would be like putting ketchup on filet mignon.

Here are a few photos of the innovation:

Innovation:  Reverse Embossing for Apparel

Innovator:  Josh Ellsworth, Imprintables Warehouse

Contact Info:  josh@imprintables.com -  http://www.joshellsworth.com – 1-800-347-0068 x.236

City/State of Innovation:  Uniontown, PA

Brief Description of Innovation:  Heat pressing a cad-cut material on top of a puff material to give the garment a reverse embossed graphic. 

Equipment Used for Innovation:  Any Heat Press, Any Vinyl Cutter

Materials Used for innovation:  Cad-Color Solutions Puff Material, Solutions Magic Mask, Eco-Film Heat Transfer Vinyl

Accessories Used:  Weeding tools and a cover sheet (I used Teflon)

Other details:  The process for this innovation was simple.  I took a basic graphic that already was designed and being used in conjuntion with our cad-print system for doing full color graphics onto apparel.  We have a unique material that leaves a puff effect, that is being used as a stand alone product.  This material is being used primarily by people who own solvent printers like the Roland Versacamm.  I thought that this material has a unique effect and I should be able to find an application for it for folks who just have a vinyl cutter.  If I can find an application for it, I will be able to sell more puff material:)  So that led me to expirementing.  After consulting with other industry experts and getting some ideas from people using the material I arrived at this result.

Basically, I took my design – cut it out of puff instead of printing it and cutting it.  Then I masked it to get it ready to apply to the garment.  I then went into the software that I used (CorelDRAW) and added a box around the design.  I sent this box (after rounding the corners) to the cutter and had it cut on a variety of materials – all in our Eco-Film line up – I ended up with our Eco-Film Electric in Orange for my favorite result.  So then over to the heat press.  I first applied the puff material down: 320 degrees for 5 seconds.  Peeled away the masking material.  Then I lined up my Eco-Film vinyl design right over top of the Puff.  Heat pressed them together for 10 seconds, hot peeled the backing and thats it.  A new innovation is born.  I’ll rely on you experts to take it to the next level with design and effects.

Here are a few photos of my creation: