Military Designs

Military Designs

http://www.zazzle.com/eod_master_motto_oef_ribbon_embroidered_shirt-231178945759516055?rf=238462365320447599

http://www.zazzle.com/eod_master_motto_oef_ribbon_embroidered_shirt-231178945759516055?rf=238462365320447599

Cafe Press shirts

I previously wrote about my experience of ordering shirts from Cafe Press.  I designed and ordered a shirt from my personal store, after receiving it I had a chance to wear and wash it a few times.  So far the shirt is holding up well to washing with no noticeable fading of the colors.  I think the shirt shrank a bit after washing it once so I should have got a larger size but that's not a big issue.  I do recommend ordering shirts from Cafe Press, but can only recommend lighter shirts with printing for now since I have not ordered a dark shirt.
I had ordered from zazzle a dark shirt with printing and that experience was not so great for the person I got it for. They say the printing came off after the first wash, Zazzle says there must have been  a printing error and would replace it.  That situation is still pending a pic from the recipient.  I can not recommend dark shirts at Zazzle for now and have no experience with light shirts either.  Stay tuned.

New website

I was impressed to create a stand alone site.   The purpose is to direct potential customers to the items of interest.  I've now taken over the domain I created for Cafe Press and directed it towards my own site Military Vectors.  On Military Vectors, you can look for a unit, badge or particular product.  You can see examples of graphics work as well as designs that can be customized for your use.  My Facebook is also more active with almost 450 "fans" seeing new designs coming out.  I've recently filled a few design requests for US Cavalry and Explosive Specialists.  I had designed the Homeland Security logo and TSA logo for their Bomb Technicians but after speaking with PR, found out I couldn't use them.
Many of our military members have multiple badges and one of the things I'm doing is keeping a running list of combinations I put together with either a CIB, EIB, CAB group 1 badge or combinations with groups 2-5.
If you want a customized display or have any ideas, send me a note.

Cafe Press shirt

In my previous post, I was talking about ordering a shirt from my Cafe Press store.  Got my shirt last night in the mail box.  It was folded up and wrapped with a brown paper band.  The design had a lot of small printed areas so the printing quality wasn't that bad.  If you look at my design I have the Special Forces patch at the bottom as an example, the SF tab is not that sharp and the CFMB, CAB and Airborne wings aren't either.  I can understand since they print the ink directly on the shirt, the shirt being absorbent and all, that fine detail would be difficult to obtain.  All in all, taking into consideration the direct printing, the qualities of tshirts, and the fine detail I would normally not have on a design, I think the shirt came out pretty well.

I don't know the quality of their other products, but the shirts don't seem to be worth the money that I have to charge to make any type of living.

I'm looking into selling silk-screened shirts through printmojo.com so stay tuned for updates.

Cafe Press

I've decided to order a t-shirt from www.cafepress.com to test the quality of the product I'm offering with my designs.  I designed a shirt that I can wear to advertise my www.militaryvectors.com page which is the link to my Cafe Press online store.  The product is an Organic Men's shirt size Medium.   I've heard a few negative things so I want to check for myself.  I've heard the direct printing fades quickly, I've heard they use iron-ons and they peel.  I would offer screen printing, which would be a higher quality product but the cost is up front and so sizes and quantities are limited to what I set up.  

The shirt I designed is 2-sided with my EOD badge and Veteran on the front.  On the back, I've put my website and a bunch of other badges and patches as examples.  I've put a "I didn't earn these" disclaimer since I don't want to misrepresent my military career. 

I placed my order on Wednesday and I've already got word that it is on the way.  About a 4 day production time, I'll post a new blog once it arrives to comment on my new shirt. 

Military Vectors and Graphics

Today I got a call from a lady looking for an EOD badge vector that her son could use in a foam board cutout.  The format he needed was EPS which is a vector format available on most CAD programs and Adobe Illustrator which I use to create my designs.  The benefit of vector art is that its scalability is limitless.  Properly constructed, vector art can be shrank or enlarged with no loss of resolution and no distortion, everything stays in place with relation to everything else.  I'm writing about this since all of my illustrations can be purchased as vector art, the fee is higher since the options are much greater.  An EPS file is the blueprint for the drawing and at that point can be edited and changed freely.  Of course, you need the program and knowledge on how it works.

What I have so far in military badges:
Airborne - Basic, Senior, Master and 1-5 Combat Jumps for each
Air Assault
Army Aviation - Basic, Senior and Master
Army Aviator - Basic, Senior and Master
Army Flight Surgeon - Basic, Senior and Master
Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) - 1st through 4th Award
Combat Action Badge (CAB) - 1st through 4th Award
Diver - 2nd Class, 1st Class and Master
Expert Field Medical Badge
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) - Basic, Advanced and Master
Freefall (HALO) - Basic and Jump Master
Naval Parachutist
Navy SEAL
Pathfinder
Purple Heart - with and without ribbon
South Korean Jump Wings - Basic, Senior, Master and Gold

More info can be found on my website I also have a Bomb Suit and AH-64 Apache illustrated