Corel 07 Nov

Published for the Association of CorelDRAW Professionals (ACDRP) / www.coreldrawpro.com

the entrepreneurial magazine for CorelDRAW

users worldwide

November 2007

Cover art and story by Kathryn Arnold

pg 27

Text on a Path

November 2007 2Click ads to go directly to advertisers web site.


29 Getting Ahead: Turn Your Website Into a Powerful Sales & Marketing Tool by Deborah Sexton

32 Marketing Secrets Be Thankful for the Good Times! by Donna Gray

35 Electronic Frontier: Photo Printers by Louie Alvarez

40 Traveling Tidbits: A Musical, A Rescue, An Oil Spill, Safe Travel, and An Agreement by Otis Veteto

CONTENTSNovember 2007

Colorado Heirloom Web Ad

Conde Systems Web Ad

Custom Graphic Technology Web Ad

Epilog Laser Corp. Web Ad

Geo. Knight & Co. Web Ad

JBL Graphics Web Ad

John E. Lepper Inc. Web Ad

Johnson Plastics Web Ad

Laser Reproductions Web Ad

LaserBits Inc. Web Ad

LaserSketch Web Ad

N&R International Web Ad

Paramount Services Inc. Web Ad

ProLink Graphics Svc Web Ad

The Magic Touch USA Web Ad

Trotec Laser Inc. Web Ad

Universal Laser Systems Web Ad

ADVERTISER INDEX

DEPARTMENTS

Click Web to go to advertisers website. Click Ad to go to the ad in this issue. Clicking the ad itself will go to website.

TRAINING: How to Use APPLICATIONS: How to Apply OPPORTUNITIES: How to Prot

5 Graphics News Wire with link to News Details

7 Inside ACDRP: The Industry Yellow Pages27 Laser Tip: Text on a Path

34 Product Focus: Gifts Made With Transfers38 GNN Network

38 Marketplace39 Contributing Writers

09 Using CorelDRAW: Using VBA Macros in CorelDRAW by Corel Corp. 12 Inside Color: The Myth of Turning Color Management Off in CorelDRAW X3 by David Milisock

15 Inside Transfers:Revisiting Color Laser Printer Transfers: New Applications by Bill Leek

17 Inside Print/Sublimation:Choosing Products for Sublimation by John McDaniel

19 Inside Screen Printing:Using Specialty Platens: Pocket Patch 1 by Jeff McDaniel

23 Inside Sandblasting:Stage Carving -- A Deer Jumping a Log by Judy McDaniel

24 Inside Engraving:Machine Accuracy 6: Hysteresisby John McDaniel

Your website is what you make it. It can be a powerful marketing and selling tool, or it can be completely ineffective.

Deborah Sexton, p. 31

Pg 12

Pg 17


GRAPHICS NEWS WIRE

November 2007

Product News Headlines:

Calendar (Web Link)Check out the upcoming training

classes and trade shows of interest to CorelDRAW users.

Stahls ID Direct Offers Mini-Ts for Decorating

Royal Apparel offers organic cotton mens jersey

Printa Systems stock full line of sublimation blanks

WW Group USA offers Freestyle placket sport shirt

Pantograms offers Kiosk II DTG Printer

Pacic Sportswear offers Glo-Tech headwear and dog tags

Hirsch introduces Tajima 8-head stretch and Embroidery i2 plug-in

Floriani Commercial adds SmartSizer Editing III

Sawgrass unveils Hybrid printer for Epson R1800

Imprintables Warehouse offers new colors for Spectra Eco Film

Transfer Express releases 2008 Marketing Kit

Hirsch has 7 in 1 Framing Kit

Great Dane Graphics has embroidery designs

ASI upgrades ESP Online

US Screen wins two DPI Top Product awards

Roland DGA wins DPI Top Products award

Johnson Plastics offers new novelty and gift items

Dalco offers Thermo Image lm and new catalog supplement

Digital Art Solutions releases Wide Format Graphics Version

TheMagicTouch unveils new WoW Transfer Paper

LaserSketch releases new PhotoPlas-Tic


Inside ACDRP

By Michael Neer, Executive Director

The Industry Yellow Pages

NOVEMBER 2007

Published by Association of CorelDRAW Professionals

President: John H. McDanielVice President: Judith McDaniel

Executive Director: Michael R. Neer Assoc. Exec. Director: Steven V. Neer

ACDRP Corporate Ofce: Albany, OR

EDITOR / PUBLISHER Michael R. [email protected]

GRAPHICS John MiseADVERTISING John McDaniel II [email protected]

541-990-6687

OFFICES Membership & Publishing ofces located at:

4709 N. El Capitan, Suite 103,Fresno, CA 93722;

800-276-8428, 559-276-8494 Fax [email protected]

Subscriptions: Free to qualied individuals and businesses. Send change of address to the above.

ACDRP Membership: $60/yr., See the website for details. Includes exclusive content and more.

Advertising: Request a Media Guide or download it from www.CorelDRAWPro.com.

Writers: CorelDRAWPro accepts articles from industry experts. Email publisher for details.

Copyright 2007 by ACDRP. All Rights Reserved.

Because of the keen competition among phone com-panies in our area, the local phone company has now started issuing The Real Yellow Pages. That may be a good distinction for local business, but what about within an industry.

In many ways, an INDUSTRY Yellow Pages is even more Real because it targets people within a specic industry. It connects people and businesses that have similar types of production but may need some professional help from colleagues -- for graphics work or extremely large jobs or technical jobs that they dont have equipment for and you do.

That ability to connect and help is now available with our new Graphic Services Guide, which we call the Industry Yellow Pages. . This is a great way to network within the CorelDRAW community of users nationwide and worldwide, and it ensures that jobs you get are all CorelDRAW-friendly. Artwork wont be issue, unless of course you are offering to do artwork for others. This is a much larger market than a local phone book!

Doing Work for Others. If you would like to offer your services to others, but havent gotten listed yet, you may be missing out some good new jobs.

Getting Help for Certain Jobs. If you need help with a specic job, then simply click on the Graphic Services Guide at www.coreldrawpro.com, or on the CorelDRAWPro E-News that you receive twice a month.

How GSG worksThe Graphic Services Guide is an online search

engine database listing businesses in 40 different service categories (see list on this page). It is searchable by key-word, and when you nd a company you are interested in,

you simply send an email Request For Quotation, giving them the specs for your job. Very straight forward!

Each company listed in GSG gets live links, a company description, and listing with details in the categories cho-sen. This is a lot more complete listing than you get in any phone book Yellow Pages! The cost to list is only $25 a year for the Basic Listing described above. ACDRP Members receive this Basic Listing FREE as part of their member-ship. Additional listing categories are $10 per year.

There is also an Enhanced GSG Listing for $145/year beyond the basic, or $120 for members, that allows you to add a photo or logo, and list in as many of the 40 cat-egories as you choose. This is a great way to maximize your results.

Advertising is also available. Companies can reserve a banner ad that will display at the top of the search results for any keyword. The cost is $45 per keyword per month. Again, this is much less than the local phone book Yellow Pages advertising.

How to get startedSimply go to www.coreldrawpro.com/ListGSG.htm and

follow the links to sign up. If you have any questions, call me at 800-276-8428.

Next month, well discuss the Industry Yellow Pages for suppliers that we call the Graphic Products Guide.


The names of the macros suggest their use. For example, Converter.Start lets you convert multiple les to a different le format. CorelMacros.CreateColorSwatch lets you generate rectangles lled with the colors of the color palette that you choose.

To record a macro

1. Click Tools > Visual Basic > Record.

2. In the Save Macro dialog box, type a name in the Macro name box. Also, you can add a short description in the Description box.

The Save Macro dialog box

3. From the Store macro in box, choose GlobalMacros.gms, and click OK.

Note that you can save the macro with your project (Graphic1 in the fol lowing example), or you can save it to GlobalMacros.gms, which is an open global macro storage (.gms) le. Storing a macro with your project lets you reuse the macro only in this project; storing a macro in the GlobalMacros.gms module makes it available in any CorelDRAW project.

Using CorelDRAWTraining

By Corel Corporation

Using VBA macros in CorelDRAW

continued on next page

Macros are recorded series of actions that let you perform tasks quickly. The macros in CorelDRAW are based on Microsoft Visual Basic For Applications (VBA), which is included in the installation of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3.

You can take advantage of the VBA macros available in the program, and you can record your own macros to automate tasks that you perform frequently. Recording macros is easy you dont need to know VBA to get started.

Simple VBA macros let you complete basic operations, such as saving les to a different le format or drawing shapes. However, VBA can also be used to create richer macros and applications to help you with complex tasks. For example, using the Calendar Wizard included in the program, you can create multi-page and single-page custom calendars in different languages.

If you want to access your favorite macros quickly, you can add buttons to your workspace.

To run a VBA macro

1. Click Tools > Visual Basic > Play.

2. From the Macros in list box, choose All Standard Projects to view available macros.

A list of the macros included in

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite

3. In the Macro name box, click a macro, and then click Run.

The Save Macro dialog box



4. Perform the actions you want to record. For your rst macro, you can begin by drawing and lling a few simple shapes and adding drop shadows as shown in the following example.

1. Click Tools > Visual Basic > Stop.

To try out your new macro, follow these steps:

1. Delete all shapes from your project.

2. Click Tools > Visual Basic > Play.

3. From the Macros in list box, choose GlobalMacros.gms.

4. In the Macro name box, click the macro name (RecordedMacros.MacroTest in the following example), and then click Run.

Note that the names of all recorded macros start with RecordedMacros.

The newly recorded macro is displayed in the CorelDRAW X3 Visual Basic for Applications Macros dialog box.

Running the macro will add the shapes back to the drawing window.

If you want to delete the macro, you can select it in the CorelDRAW X3 Visual Basic for Applications Macros dialog box, and then click Delete.

To create a button for a VBA macro

1. Click Tools > Customization.2. In the Customization list of categories, click Commands.3. From the Commands list box, choose Macros, and select the macro you want.

The Commands page of the Options dialog box. The chosen settings are indicated in red.

continued on next page



4. On the General tab, write the tooltip text for the button in the Tooltip Help box, and drag the macro name to a toolbar in the program window. When a black handle appears, release the mouse button.

Dragging the macro name to the standard toolbar

A button for the test macro has been added to the standard toolbar. When you point to the button, the tooltip is displayed.

From here...

To learn more about VBA and VBA macros, you can consult the CorelDRAW VBA Help and the VBA Programming Guide for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3.

To access the CorelDRAW VBA Help, click Tools > Visual Basic > Visual Basic Editor, and press F2. In the Object browser, choose CorelDRAW from the Library list box, and press F1.

To access the VBA Programming Guide for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3, on your Windows taskbar, click Start > All programs > CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 > Documentation.


INSIDE COLORBy David Milisock Training

The Myth of Turning Color

Management Off in CorelDRAW X3

If accurate reproduction of corporate color is a requirement for your work ow output, it is then imperative that you purchase a Postscript output device, period (a RIP device is recommended).

Only Postscript devices are designed to be properly calibrated and to reproduce colors from graphic applica-tions with complex les, and this purchase is ALWAYS MORE COST EFFECTIVE when done at the time you rst purchase your output device.

This article has been designed to resolve the issues of displaying various RGB and CMYK color spaces in the default Windows settings of IEC sRGB. Acrobat Reader uses sRGB as it is only display color space. Acrobat Professional and Standard will need to have the color management setting set to sRGB for the RGB working space.

After reading various individuals instructing users to turn color management off, I thought it would be a good idea if we explored what happens when you use this OFF setting in CorelDRAW.

Off is not really OFFThe reality of the situation is that YOU CANNOT

TURN COLOR MANAGEMENT OFF. I understand what the dialog box says, but in reality, using the color management off setting simply uses a dened set of color management parameters. The concept of this article is to understand exactly what happens when a user chooses this setting and how to take advantage of these settings.

Capture A shows the color management dialog and beside it are color swatches showing the resulting color conversions and their display from using those settings. The upper two rows of swatches shows the primary col-ors of RGB, one composite build of red on the right and below that the CMYK conversions that are sent to the printer for these settings. The bottom two rows are the base CMYK colors, the primary colors and a CMY 100 swatch, and the conversions to RGB that result from these color management settings.

The unfortunate aspect of these settings is that while the monitor display of RGB and CMYK match each other,

they are incorrect, and it is IMPOSSIBLE TO PRINT to an ink jet printer or press and match these displays. The conversions are incorrect (note the corresponding RGB and CMYK readings in Capture A) and therefore are impossible to reproduce on paper. What is happening here is that Corel is using mathematical calculations to create the conversions from RGB to CMYK and CMYK to RGB that are not current technology. In my opinion, the color management off setting should be removed and color management modernized to allow for proper calibration for composite printers.

Capture B is the same set of swatches as Capture A. The color management dialog shows that I have cho-sen Adobe RGB as my internal RGB and that I activated the arrow to my custom monitor prole. I also have selected a commercial CMYK separations printer prole and activated the arrow from the RGB. This will control the residing color space of RGB, CMYK, and therefore the RGB to CMYK and vice versa conversions.

Note now that the RGB swatches on the top row of

A


INSIDE COLOR

Capture B, and directly below them the CMYK conver-sions, are now quite different (note the difference in the RGB and CMYK reading and display between Capture A & B). The display accurately reects the abilities of an ink jet printer or printing press to reproduce these RGB colors in an industry standard manner. Notice not only how the CMYK swatches in the third row of Capture B now match what is possible on press, but how the RGB conversions in the bottom row match them. Compare this to Capture A where the third row does not match what can be printed and the bottom row of RGB conver-sions incorrectly matches the third row.

What this means for the user is that using color management off will not allow you to convert your RGB to a commercial CMYK or even a spot color. However, using color management with proper setting will not only allow you to convert your RGB to commercial CMYK or spot color, it will allow you to convert your press designs accurately for web or presentation display. Notice how all the correctly displayed CMYK swatches (3rd row) in Capture B converted to RGB and displayed correctly (bottom row).

By choosing the correct color management settings

you can do this as well and you can even reasonably calibrate your non-Postscript printer or develop methods for building color swatches that you can accurately repro-duce in print.

How to Use CorelDRAWs Color Management dialog

How can we take advan-tage of the properties of the Corel color management dia-log? First, when we print to our target printer with the settings shown in Capture A what happens is that all information is converted to

RGB, all native RGB numbers are passed along as assumed sRGB, and some spot colors and all CMYK conversions to RGB are incorrect. All this information is converted to LAB in the print driver and VIA a LAB connection applied to any color proles and the media prole used in the driver.

By understanding what happens, we can set our color management setting as shown in Capture A or B and print an RGB color calibration target to our non-Postscript printer. We can read the RGB printer target and produce an RGB printer prole to add corrections to the color in the print stream. By setting our color management setting as shown in Capture B, loading our newly created RGB printer prole and activating the arrow from the internal RGB to the composite printer, we can now work in the proper CMYK and or spot color space in CorelDRAW and have reason-ably calibrated output.

We need to remember to set our advanced setting, (Capture A_B) activated by double clicking the internal RGB icon. I have chosen the perceptual rendering set-ting. Automatic is not recommended as identical colors in vectors and image will render differently as automatic uses perceptual for images and saturation for vectors.

The one shortcoming of this procedure is that until you have a printer prole set for the composite printer, CorelDRAW will not allow you to send your internal RGB color space of choice to the device, which is an absolute must for proper RGB calibra-tion. This will result in a shift after your calibration when you activate the arrow from the internal RGB to the composite printer if you choose an internal RGB other then sRGB as the driver assumes sRGB by design. If you have a prole editor as well as a creator you can modify the prole to remove the shift.

As demonstrated by Capture C, CorelDRAW does not support CMYK to CMYK conversion in the print

Coming Soon to the CorelDRAWPro Book Store! A new book by columnist

David Milisock:

Color Management in the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite

For Professionals, Small Ofce and Home Ofce

Basic Color Theory Postscript and Non-Postscript Devices

RIPs for Ink Jets and Press Adobe Color Coordination

Color Continuity During Exportation and Much More

B


INSIDE COLOR

stream and as such CorelDRAW cannot support CMYK device simulation for hard proong in print driver devices. On the left is a CMYK image with a TIC (Total Ink Coverage) of 360. In the middle is the same image converted to a US WEB un-coated, a TIC of 256. On the right is

the TIC 360 image from the far left printed to a Postscript le using the un-coated web prole, a tic of 256. When imported back into CorelDRAW it has a TIC of 360, proving that no conversion took place and that CorelDRAW does not support device-specic CMYK hard proong in driver devices.

CorelDRAW does support RGB to CMYK conversions and therefore sup-ports device simulation in the display, and RGB to CMYK conversion on the y for export and print driver devices. CorelDRAW is a professional graphics program for print application and fully supports Postscript color manage-ment and RIP driver color calibrated output.

Settings for sublimation and non-Postscript devices

For those of you who have dye sub-limation printers or other non-Postscript devices a work flow demonstrated in Capture B may benet you. After setting your color management settings, build spot color and or CMYK swatches and duplicate those swatches. Convert the

duplicated swatches to RGB and print a test print only of the RGB conversions. Examine the test print and adjust the RGB conversions if needed. For example, a corporate client has a logo of PMS 356C and PMS 469C. You can create these swatches and print RGB converted dupli-

cates. Most likely the rst test print will be close and may only require a tweak on the color. You can then build a table of swatches with their corresponding RGB conversions for your corporate clients.

The advantage of this color man-agement setting is that the display in CorelDRAW is correct and so are the RGB conversions. This allows the user to see what the conversions look like before wasting expensive material. The proper conversions will be reected in the print stream, creating an environ-ment that is easier for the end user to build color swatches, and serve their corporate color needs without in some cases spending money on a RIP.

David Milisock is president of Custom Graphic Technologies Inc. He has been in the print production business since 1975, and specializes in professional support for the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. He can be reached at 717-509-3523 or [email protected]. See full bio on Writers Page.


INSIDE TRANSFERSBy Bill Leek Applications

Revisiting Color Laser Printer TransfersExciting New Applications for Hard Goods

Its been over three years since we began using and selling Color Laser Printer Transfer (CLPT) systems and supplies. During this time we have seen substan-tial technical advances. Even more important, we have learned the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the nuances, of this transfer technology.

We have developed procedures and supplies that make the process reliable and cost/labor effective. During the past year we have found and developed some new imprintable substrates. These new imprintables are a perfect match for the CLPT process. In this article, we will briey review some new ways to use a CLPT sys-tem effectively.

TECHNICAL ADVANCESFrom the beginning, we have preferred Okidata mod-

els as the CLPs of choice. Their toner is durable and UV

resistant. In addition, the Okidata models are designed with a straight-thru paper path that minimizes the chance for a paper jam. This summer Okidata introduced the new line of 8000 tabloid models that are priced $1000 less than their previous 12x18 models.

All of the new Okidata color lasers use a more durable toner. Most important, the new toner/printer combinations eliminate the slight but annoying back-grounding in white areas. This posed a serious prob-lem when pressing a complex logo or design against a white background.

Transfer paper technology for oil-less, high-temp laser printer applications has remained essentially unchanged. In 2008 we will be offering a paper with a heavier backing that will further reduce the chance of paper jams in a wider range of printer models.

IS CLPT A COMPLETE SUBSTITUTE FOR SUBLIMATION TRANSFER?

The answer is a resounding NO!You must take advantage of CLPTs strengths with a

new family of imprintables. If you treat CLPT as a clone of sublimation transfer, you can become easily frustrated. CLPT allows you to transfer to many new substrates and can be extremely cost effective. It works with many uncoated surfaces where sublimation is impossible or too expensive.

Here are some new applications that show great potential:

PLASTICS AND RESINSCLPT works at much lower temperatures than sub-

limation (250F to 300F vs. 390-400F).This provides the opportunity to transfer to a wide variety of plastic and resin substrates. In addition, the CLP toners do not migrate on the plastic surfaces as sublimation often does over time. Our best results have come using a variety of engravable plastics and a pure white hybrid resin/metallic compound.

The plastics (especially gold, silver and copper metallic) work great for name badges, plaques and small signs. You can press a group of name badges in about 50 seconds. There is no need for the post baking the toner that is required for metal and ceramic surfaces. The plastic cools quickly, has a great appearance and is UV and scratch resistant. Plastic sheets can be cut to size with an inexpensive plastic shear and corner cutter. The plastics are a perfect match for the CLPT process.

We have experimented with resin CLPT imprintables for some time. We wanted a material that would have

Color laser transferred glass is used to decorate the candle holder and ring box.

Metallic look plastic name badges, signs and plaques can be produced in less than a minute

using color laser transfers.


INSIDE TRANSFERS

the feel and weight of pure white tumbled stone. The prod-uct we are currently testing can be easily molded into a variety of shapes. The resin is waterproof and can be pressed in 2-3 min-utes.

Production time can be dramatically reduced by placing the hot pressed resin in a water bath for cool-ing. Resins cool at about the same rate as tumbled stone at

room temperature. The water bath reduces cooling time by 6-8 minutes.

PRESSING TO GLASSGlass has long been a great imprintable for CLPT.

Transfer to uncoated glass is very reliable. CLPT glass transfers must be post baked for 5 minutes to obtain a durable scratch resistant surface. The post baking adds contrast and density.

We like to bring out the color by backing the glass with a metallic or white substrate. We also have had

good luck heat apply-ing a white lm to the back of the glass. The inserts in the anni-versary candle and wooden ring box are a good example of effective use of CLPT glass.

USING YOUR IMAGINATIONFinding New Imprintables and Applications

We are always looking for new ways to use CLPT in new ways on new surfaces. Recently we produced person-alized jewelry using mother of pearl and other shell surfaces with sterling silver bales and chains. The resulting irides-cent images using the mother of pearl look great on pendants and bracelets. There are thousands of other surfaces and applica-tions you can experi-ment with.

CONCLUSIONSCLPT is worth serious consideration if you want

to create unique, higher end products to expand your product offerings. In addition, CLPT imprintables do not have to be polycoated for sublimation. They can signicantly reduce production costs and allow you to produce prototypes and lower volume custom items.

If you are looking for a substitute for producing mugs and Unisub products, CLPT would not be your best choice. If you want to create new products beyond the realm of sublimation, you should seriously consider CLPT.

Bill Leek is a color consultant for JBL Graphics in Houston, TX, and has over 30 years experience in com-puter engineering and graphics design. He has devel-oped several lines of color imprintable products, and does testing on a variety of products for different manu-facturers. He can be reached at [email protected] or 281-970-6677.

Pastel color laser image applied to hybrid resin stone box creates a

unique, soft look.

Detail of 2x2 inch ring box.

Heat applied poly white backing enhances color and contrast on this color laser

glass ornament.


INSIDE PRINT/SUBLIMATIONBy Judy and John McDaniel Applications

Choosing Products for Sublimation Last time we concluded our general discussion of

selecting a process to start a business or add to your existing business. This time well assume sublimation is the process youve selected to start with, or add. Well consider some of the products you can create, and sug-gest which of those products you might offer rst.

Starting from your StrengthIf youre already providing personalization services,

wed suggest you start there, with products you know. For example, if youre providing embroidery services, or screen printed shirts, consider starting with garments. If youre engraving plaques or badges, consider offer-ing your customers alternatives, i.e. sublimated plaques and badges.

In essence, if you start with products youre already providing, i.e. from your strengths, then you have a

ready market and you minimize the variables. If you know what makes an attractive embroidered or screen printed garment; or an engraved plaque or badge; then all youre doing by adding sublimation is simply adding a variation on an established product line. Youll probably nd your customers will thank you; ours have.

This doesnt mean you should ignore other product possibilities. You might create a display of additional products you can create to open your customers eyes to the possibilities. If youve been offering garments and add a display of sublimated hard goods, your customers might react by saying something like Gee, I didnt know you made ____ ! (ll in the blank). That will plant the seed that you offer some new products.

Where we StartedWhen we brought sublimation in we were already

offering sandblasted ceramic mugs, and we had also dabbled with pad-printed mugs. So one of the rst jobs we did was sublimated mugs for a local winter festival.

We were also approached by a church group to cre-ate products for them to use as fund raisers to celebrate their 100th year anniversary. For this purpose we created sandblasted cups and ornaments along with sublimated plates. The cups and ornaments were products we were already offering. The plates were new, however, we had produced a few with a digital printing process.

The digital print process uses a standard inkjet printer to produce an appliqu, which is then laminated, cut into the appropriated shape and applied to a nished product. It works well for hard goods. The sample plate we had on display prompted the church groups interest in creating a commemorative plate.

When we had our retail store in Sisters, OR, engrav-ing brass identication plates for various applications

One product idea is to create souvenir items for a resort or tourist area.

You can create unique items with art prints.

was a staple. In addition, we were often approached by local schools and other organizations to create plaques. Plaques was not a business weve actively pursued; its something that pursued us; primarily because of where we were.

For schools, which are always on a tight budget, sublimated plaques provide an economical alternative to rotary engraved ones. So almost immediately we decided to start offering sublimated plaques in place of traditional engraved ones. Its cheaper for them and more cost effective for us to produce.

Small signs are yet another service we provided. Here again we began offering sublimated signs in place of engraved ones. In fact, this area was so successful that one of the local sign companies that we worked for on a contract basis, decided to bring in sublimation themselves.

All of our initial jobs were with products we produced in other ways. In addition, with the exception of the winter festival mugs, all of our initial jobs were black and white. This allowed us to gain experience with the process, while keeping the variables to a minimum. Each of our initial projects was successful.


INSIDE PRINTING

What if youre just starting out...?If youre just starting out and you

dont have any other processes youre currently working with, then your task may be a little more daunting. Well assume youve made some deci-sions regarding products you plan to offer. Based on your product choices, acquire the equipment youll need, then practice, practice, practice -- and produce some samples.

Once you have your samples, youll need to begin marketing. You should by now have some idea whom youre going to sell to. After all thats what helped you decide which products to focus on.

If you already have a retail store and youre adding sublimated products, then all youll need is a point of purchase display. That may be something as simple as a display card with samples at the register where customers can place orders; or perhaps, if your store serves a resort community, you may choose to make some souvenirs for people to take home.

If youre working from home, or an industrial location, then you need to venture out in search of customers. You can accomplish this by making appointments and calling on prospective clients; joining the local chamber of commerce and networking through them; by setting up temporary displays at mall kiosks, craft fairs, and other shows; or by marketing via the internet. All of these methods well discuss in some detail in future articles.

When we rst started in the personalization business with rotary engraving, we marketed through shows and fairs. That generated retail customers who paid for our marketing efforts and also brought us industrial clients with whom we developed long-term relationships.

Selecting Startup EquipmentOnce youve decided to move ahead with subli-

mation, the next most critical decision is how large an image do you intend to transfer? This will determine your equipment requirements. If you plan to start with small products, then you can start with a small printer

and heat press. If you want to gener-ate larger images, youll need a printer that can produce larger transfers and perhaps a larger heat press. If you choose to produce mugs, you will also need a mug press in addition to your at press.

The best procedure is to (1) deter-mine the products you will be produc-ing; (2) the maximum size transfers youll need; and then (3) select the

appropriate printer and press or presses.When we started, we knew we were going to produce

mugs and at materials. We also wanted to be able to produce plates. So we started with a combo press and a separate cup press. The presses we selected gave us the ability to do at products, plates, caps, and mugs. We also anticipated moving into soft goods, so we chose a printer that could produce 11 x 17 prints -- prints large enough for t-shirts and sweat shirts.

ConclusionIf youre currently producing graphic products, con-

sider broadening your production methods to include sublimation as a start. If youre just starting out; choose your products, then your equipment. In either case, practice and produce samples. When youre satised, then its time to show your new items to existing and potential customers.

In the next few issues well explore some of our rst projects, including the CorelDRAW setups we used.

Judy and John McDaniel are owners of JHM Marketing in Albany, OR. JHM provides consulting and training services for the industry. They also owned and operated a retail personalized gift shop for six years in California, and over twelve years in Oregon. They can be reached by phone at 541-967-4271, via SKYPE (user name JHMcDaniel), or via email at [email protected]. See the full bio on the Writers Page.

You can also create souvenir soft goods items


INSIDE SCREEN PRINTINGBy Jeff McDaniel Applications

Using Specialty Platens: Pocket Patch 1

BackgroundIn our last article we scaled our artwork down for the front pocket patch on our shirt

and prepared the artwork for printing. In this article and the next, we will print our artwork and take it all the way through the production process. We will be briey touching on many process steps in this article. ACDRP members can look up the more detailed information in the archived articles www.acdrp.org

Figure 1

Our setup and yoursOur setup is the Printa 770 series screen printing

machine from Printa Systems Inc. All of the supplies and tools we will cover from here on were provided in the turn-key system from Printa with the 770. Your setup may be from another source but will most likely contain components of what we will discuss below. In addition to the standard Printa 770 set up, we will be using the Print-All system from Printa Systems Inc (see Figure 1).

Taking the artwork from computer to screenWe were careful to maximize our artwork space

on the lm and managed to get both of our color separations on 1 sheet (Pantone black and Pantone yellow).

Figure 2

Setting the location of your specialty platen

In order to use the specialty platen we need to nd out where it is located in relation to our screen. Our Printa 770 system came with

pre-punched Mylar transfer sheets. We originally took one of the Mylar sheets and traced our platens on it. Since this is a new platen we will go through the steps to add it to our Mylar sheet.

Mylar Step 1: First we will put our Mylar sheet on the exposure unit and place our specialty platen on another arm of the press (see Figure 3). It is important when placing platens to nd a repeatable location on the press arm so you can continually use the same transfer sheet to set up your artwork.

Figure 3


INSIDE SCREEN PRINTING

Mylar Step 2: Next we will place double-sided tape on the under side of the screen frame and attach the Mylar transfer to the screen frame by bringing the frame down and pressing rmly. Once the Mylar is attached we can lift the screen frame and bring the Mylar with it (see Figure 4).

Mylar Step 3: Now we will take the screen frame and swing it over the specialty platen we wish to trace onto our Mylar. Then from the underside we will trace the outline of our platen (see Figure 5).

Mylar Step 4: Now that we have a properly located tracing of the platen we will remove the Mylar from the screen frame and place it back on the exposure unit.

Placing the artworkSince we have a

good location now for our specialty platen, we can place the artwork on our exposure unit and get ready to transfer it to the screen.

Placing Step 1: First we will set our artwork in its approximate location and double check everything ts where we need it to (see Figure 6).

Placing Step 2: Next we will tape our rst photo positive down to a clean Mylar sheet in the desired location. After placing another Mylar sheet, we will micro adjust the second photo positive to match the rst (see Figure 7).

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7



Placing Step 3: Once we feel that we have adjusted the images correctly, we will double check that we have the appropriate overlap between the rst color and our trap color (see Figure 8).

Figure 8

Figure 9Attaching the cap-illary lm to the screen

Now we will re-move all of our photo positives and leave the original Mylar transfer sheet with the platen outline.

Attaching Step 1: Cut the capillary lm into a square roughly the correct size for the platen / image and test t (see Figure 9).

Figure 10

Figure 11

Attaching Step 2: Using cellophane tape on the non-contact side of the capillary lm place the lm on the exposure unit in place and swing down the screen. Apply rm pressure to the screen and cellophane tape to grab hold of the capillary lm at the desired location (see Figures 10 and 11).



Figure 12

Figure 13

Figure 14

Figure 15

Conclusion This time we touched on the steps required to create

a master transfer for our specialty platen. We also briey reviewed locating the artwork and attaching the capillary lm to the screen. In our next article we will expose our screens, rinse them, and produce our pocket patch.

Jeff McDaniel is the Owner/Operator of Creative Graphic in Philomath, Oregon. Jeff has been working with computers since the age of 5 and was a journeyman machinist before working in the graphic arts business. Creative Graphic offers services including laser engraving, rotary engraving, sandblasting, sublimation, image transfers, vinyl signs, banners, screen printing, and promotional products. Jeff routinely applies graphics to a wide variety of materials. You can contact Jeff by email at [email protected].

Attaching Step 3: Attach the capillary lm to the screen with water and a squeegee (see Figure 12).

Attaching Step 4: Remove the cellophane tape from the screen and capillary lm and put the screen into the dryer until it is thoroughly dry (see Figure 13).

While we are waiting for the screens to dry

Since it usually takes at least 20 minutes for the screens to dry enough for the next artwork steps, we will prep our platen for use while we wait.

Prep Step 1: Using a transfer tape, mask off the top of the platen (see Figure 14).

Prep Step 2: Spread platen adhesive over the entire surface of the platen (see Figure 15).


INSIDE SANDBLASTINGBy Judy McDaniel Applications

Stage Carving: A Deer Jumping a Log

Last time we practiced on a simple little bear with balloons. I hope that you had a good time with our little bear. This time I thought I would share with you another of my favorite pieces of clip art which is a deer jumping a log. This is from the great little collection that Rayzist has which I told you about when we did the eagle. This is another one of those pieces of clip art that they have marked SC for sand carving.

Ive decided to do my deer on the front of a glass block oil lamp for this exercise. Therefore, I will leave

Picture 1: The original image Picture 2: The image now numbered for stage carving.

the center of the ears black and the eyes and nose black because I will be looking directly at the carving. If I was going to blast it so that I was looking at it through the glass, then I would want to ungroup it and remove the black. They would, in that case, be blasted in a different sequence. Picture one shows the deer, and picture two shows the way I am going to number the deer.

The rst thing that I will do is blast all of the lines.

Then I want the antlers to look like they are coming at you, so I will made them number (1) one. Just remem-

ber that the same number cannot be touching. Look at the parts and which one is on top of the other? When I start blasting, I will peel all of the ones, then all of the twos, and so on.

You are going to want to try and shape the muscles, making them look muscular. Try to give them roundness. Remember to only blast the area where you still have a mask. If you blast a line that doesnt have a mask on one side of it, you will lose the line.

For the log, I numbered it here; however, there is another way that I prefer to do logs. I paint in the log with Elmers glue and then take a tooth pick and draw in knot holes and lines to make it look craggy. Ill let the glue dry over night and then blast it. Because the glue is thinner in some spots and thicker in others it will blast at different times, thus making the log look craggy.

This concludes the series on stage carving. I hope that it has started you on a path toward creating some really unique items.

Judy McDaniel, with her husband John are own-ers of JHM Marketing in Albany, OR. JHM provides consulting and training services for the industry. They also owned and operated Moments Remembered, a retail personalized gift shop for over ten years in Sisters, Oregon. They can be reached at 541-967-4271, fax 541-967-4272, or via email at [email protected]. See full bio on Writers Page.


INSIDE ENGRAVINGBy John McDaniel Applications

Machine Accuracy 6: HysteresisSo far in our discussion of the elements of machine

accuracy, weve covered resolution, speed, repeatability, and last time we started our discussion of hysteresis.

To ReviewHysteresis can be dened as a loss of control of

movement when the direction of movement is reversed in an axis. Its caused from looseness in the mechanics, or ex in the structure, of a machine. We showed the effect of hysteresis on engravings last time by showing the at spots that occur in a perfect circle engraved with a machine that has looseness in both axes.

We left off after introducing the differences in lead screw/nut designs between the ACME standard and the recirculating ball screw. To recap, the ACME lead screw assembly can be thought of as somewhat similar to a sleeve bearing, where metal in motion rides against stationary metal, or some other material, presumably on a lm of lubricant.

The recirculating ball screw assembly is similar to a ball bearing, where the stationary nut is separated from the lead-screw by hardened balls that roll as the screw turns.

Ill pick up the discussion at this point.

Problems with the ACME designIn an ACME design, threads of the nut ride directly

on the threads of the lead screw. This design is identical to a nut-and-bolt combination youd see in a hardware store, except that the grooves of the lead screw and the top of the nuts threads are at (see picture 1).

The bearing surfaces are the thread sides. This is where all movement resistance is concentrated. In the-ory, these surfaces ride on a lm of lubricant. In practice, there is metal to metal contact, or metal to plastic (nut) contact, and these surfaces will wear. As wear occurs hysteresis will increase. Most milling machines use an

ACME lead screw design, and its not uncommon for them to have .006 to .012 in hysteresis.

The ACME preload designMany machine manufacturers that use an ACME

design incorporate what is known as a preload. A pre-load uses two nuts separated by a spring or ground spacer. These designs reduce hysteresis because the spring tension or spacer forces each of the nuts against opposing lead screw thread surfaces.

In the spring tension design, the force of the spring will signicantly increase wear. In the ground spacer design, although wear is not increased signicantly, still as the components wear, spacers will need to be added. The ground spacer design is common in large milling machines. The spring tension design is sometimes used in engraving equipment.

Other problems with the spring tension design are that the spring can compress or expand as cutting load changes, causing a chattering cut, and the additional surface pressure between the lead screw and nut will increase breakaway torque.

Breakaway torque is the amount of force necessary to apply to start motion from a dead stop. If spring ten-sion is high, wear will be high and breakaway torque may cause small movements to be lost or over shot. To illustrate the point you can think of it in terms of moving a heavy piece of furniture. It takes more force to start it moving than to keep it moving once its started. So its difcult to move it a small distance.

On the other hand, if spring tension is low, break-away torque will be low, but the spring will compress and expand easily as the cutting load or direction changes. As a result, using spring tension to reduce hysteresis, out of necessity, imposes restrictions on movement. Movement must be slow and deliberate. Sudden changes in cutting load or direction will cause errors.

Finally, with time, spring tension characteristics will change. The dual nut design requires a very delicate balance between spring tension and anticipated cut-ting load.

Advantages of Re-circulating Ball DesignThe re-circulating ball bearing design operates with

a train of ball bearings riding between the lead screw and nut in a re-circulating track (See Picture 2). Ball screws are highly efcient. They have very low fric-tion. Therefore, wear is extremely low and service life is long. Ball screws can be manufactured with virtually zero hysteresis, and can be expected to maintain that tolerance for an extended period of time.

In addition, since there is no spring to contend with, the ball screw design has little or no breakaway torque. This design does not restrict movement. Movement may be optimized for the material/cutter combination. Direction and cutting load changes can be as fast as the other machine components will allow.

For these reasons, the ball screw design is superior to the standard and spring-loaded ACME designs.

Picture 1: In an ACME design, the grooves of the lead screw and the top of the

nuts threads are at.


INSIDE ENGRAVING Outline & Overview

The Nuts and Bolts of Machine AccuracyMachine accuracy, or capability, can be dened as a result of six features: 1. Resolution the smallest incremental movement/positioning of a speci-ed axis 2. Speed the ability to complete a task in a reasonable amount of time without sacricing accuracy or creating damage to the machine or product. 3. Repeatability the ability to duplicate a previous position without error. 4. Hysteresis the slop or play in motion control components. 5. Structural Integrity stiffness or strength the ability to cut materials without error or damage. This is especially important for mechanical engrav-ers. 6. Structural Tolerances the sum accuracy of a machines mechanical components.

Machine ComponentsWell examine nine factors that determine a machines accuracy. They include: 1. Motors including DC Stepper, DC Brushless, DC Servo, and AC Servo. a. Spindles motors that rotate the cutting bit. b. Axis Drive motors that position the material to the cutting bit. c. Horsepower ratings real versus advertised. 2. The Motion Control Drive Unit including Geared Belt and Lead Screws. a. Lead Screws including Acme, Re-circulating Ball, Standard and Precision. b. Mounting including Simple, Fixed, and Thrust bearing types. c. Protection Open or Closed. 3. Guide Rails Types include, V Bearing Rail, Bushing Shaft, Dove Tail, and Re-circulating Ball Bearing. 4. Encoders Types include Rotary and Linear. Methodologies include incremental or absolute. 5. Tachometers used for speed stability, acceleration, and breaking control for closed loop servo systems. 6. Bearings including Sleeve, Ball, and Linear Re-circulating Ball. a. Applications including Radial, Thrust, and Linear. b. Quality Standard thru Ultra Precision. 7. Spindles including top/bottom loading, Collets and Sleeves. 8. Material Hold Down including mechanical clamps and vacuum sys-tems. 9. Electronic Interface Computer control methods.

Well also examine Reliability, what makes it? And, Serviceability, is it x-able?

On the down side, the ball screw is more complex and therefore more expensive to manufacture. It has more parts, and the t-up tolerances are more critical.

Moreover, although the ball screw design is superior, the method of manufacturing is important. Ball screws are manufactured in several grades. There are 3 basic catego-ries, listed from least to most precise they are: rolled screws, rolled and ground screws, and precision ground screws.

Then each category is further broken down into various grades. So buying a machine thats equipped with ball screws doesnt automatically mean it wont have some hyster-esis.

Thrust BearingsThe second element contribut-

ing to hysteresis is looseness in the thrust bearings. Any axial movement (movement in the direction of the lead screw) will add to the error (see picture 3). Its the job of the thrust bearings to hold the lead screw in place while at the same time allowing it to rotate. The type and quality of thrust bearing used can remove the possibility of hysteresis error from these compo-nents. (Bearing types and quality will be discussed in future articles.)

Structural IntegrityFinally, frame looseness, or lack of structural stiffness, can also cause errors. The

structural integrity of the frame and its components must be designed to handle the stresses imposed on them during the intended tasks. A frame that exes under load will add to hysteresis.

Next time well go into greater depth on structural integrity and tolerances.

John McDaniel can be reached via email at [email protected]. See full bio on Writers page.

Picture 2: The re-circulating ball bearing design operates with a train of ball bearings

riding between the lead screw and nut in a re-circulating track.

Picture 3: If there is looseness in the thrust bearings, any axial movement

(movement in the direction of the lead screw) will add to the error.


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LASER TIPBy Kathryn Arnold Applications

Text on a PathFigure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Being able to design your own creations from scratch will further enable you to provide offerings for your customers that are truly unique. The ability to enter text in non-tradi-tional straight lines will allow even the novice a way to form designs that look like they were done by a professional graphic designer.

In this lesson we will take a look at how to put text in a curved path. See the example of text on a curved path (Figure 1).

1) In CorelDRAW select any shape. You can use the ellipse, rectangle, star, etcanything! I will use the ellipse for the steps shown and then display examples of other shapes at the end of this lesson.

2) Draw in a circle or oval (See Figure 2).

3) Select the Text tool. After the text tool is selected (See Figure 3), move the cursor to hover over the edge of your circle (or oval, etc.). As the cursor hovers over the outline it will change from a typical arrow to a curved line with an A on it. At this point you can click and type in your text.

4) After typing the text it will look like Figure 4.

5) Select the Pick tool. When you do so, a small red box will appear at the beginning of your text (See Figure 5).

6) Click and drag the box to position the text anywhere on the curve (See Figure 6).

7) Move the text into position. If the font needs to be adjusted, select the text tool again and then select the text. You can change the font and font size.


LASER TIP

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12

Submitted by Kathryn Arnold, Senior Developer at LaserUniversity, spon-sored by LaserBits Inc. of Phoenix, AZ. She can be reached at 1-800-733-7705 or [email protected]. Or visit www.laseru.com.

8) The last thing is to remove the red circle. This will be interpreted by the laser as a vector cut line so we need remove it. In the Object Manager, the text and ellipse are linked together (See Figure 7).

9) Select the ellipse and the two objects become selected (See Figure 8).

10) Go to Arrange>Break Text Apart. (See Figure 9) Keep in mind that once you break them apart the text can only be modied via font or size. It will no longer be moveable along a curved path so do not break apart until you are certain about its placement. You will need to break apart and complete steps 10 12 before laser engraving.

11) Now the ellipse and text are two separate objects (See Figure 10).

12) Select the ellipse and delete it. You have now cre-ated text on a curved path! (See Figure 11.)

Here other examples of text on other path types. (See Figure 12.)


GETTING AHEADBy Deborah Sexton Opportunity

Your Web site is what you make it. It can be a pow-erful marketing and selling tool, or it can be completely ineffective. Successful Web sites have several things in common: They all have strong content, including words and pictures; and theyre all doing things behind the scenes to draw customers to their site. Here, youll learn what types of images and videos attract visitors, and how to get help developing all types of content.

Video Killed the Radio StarDigital cameras that take pictures at super-high reso-

lution are amazingly affordable, so theres absolutely no reason not to have high-quality images of your products online. You also may want to post pictures of your shop and key employees.

Also, use a low-cost digital recorder to create short, engaging videos that promote your products, teach

customers how to use them, reveal how your product solved a problem for a customer, and so on. Post these informational videos on your own site, or on video sites such as YouTube.

As Internet download speeds get faster (think broadband and ber connections), customers increas-ingly expect to see videos on Web sites. Thats a good thing, too, as many issues related to decorating are much easier to show than to describe. On an e-com-merce site, pictures are worth thousands of words. And with a video, you can zoom in and move the camera to point out exactly what youre talking about, says Jason Sherrill, president, InetSolution, Utica, Mich.

Turn Your Web Site Into A Powerful Sales & Marketing Tool

Want to generate more sales through your Web site? Bring it to life with images and videos that tell the

story of your business.

Even if you are a small shop that does business only with customers in your immediate area, you should still have a Web site, says Jason Sherrill, president, Inet Solutions, Utica, Mich. With so many people turning to the Internet now instead of the phone book, you might nd yourself losing business to your competitors who have a Web site. Web capture courtesy of Minds Eye Graphics, Decatur, Ind.

A digital video camera is a solid investment that will pay off in allowing you to create better content that will attract more trafc. You can produce short, engaging videos that promote your products, teach customers how to use them, reveal how your product solved a problem for a customer, and so on. Post these informational videos on your own site, or on video sites such as YouTube.


GETTING AHEAD

If you own a Mac or PC, you already have the soft-ware necessary to convert that raw footage into a digital video, as its a free part of the operating system. Its an insanely easy way to create a 30-second instruc-tional video, Sherrill says. And the beauty of sites like YouTube is that theyve lowered the bar. It doesnt have to be Hollywood produced for people to nd it engaging and informational.

You may not feel comfortable initially in front of the

camera, but dont let that stop you. Youre probably an excellent presenter when face-to-face with your custom-ers and employees, so youll be just as good in front of a camera, Sherrill says. The fact that it makes most people uncomfortable is exactly why they should be doing it, since the odds are that their competitors wont do it. Just forget that the camera is there, and talk to the customer.

Getting HelpIf handling the tasks of content develop-

ment all by yourself seems a bit daunting, consider turning to professional help. Your Web site dream team would consist of a skilled Web designer, copywriter, and search engine optimization (SEO) expert.

A skilled designer understands Web usability and information architecture. He can easily make your company look profes-sional, capable, and credible; all of which are essential ingredients to convert visitors into customers, Sherrill says. A talented copywriter is essential since the best design in the world cannot compensate for atrocious content. And if the Web site depends on search engine trafc to generate ROI, then an experienced SEO will pay for himself many times over.

Of course, nding these individuals might be a little more difcult than just wanting them on your dream team. Spending 15 minutes browsing the Internet will tell you that there are far more bad designers out there than good ones. You really have to ask around, Sherrill says. When you see something you like, nd out who did it.

Look for designers who specialize speci-cally in working on Web sites, not just general designers. Copywriting is the same way. Theres a tremendous difference in the way people read content online vs. in a magazine

Do It YourselfBusiness owners and managers are often better

off focusing on their business and hiring professionals to improve the marketing value of their sites, Sherrill says. However, if youd rather go it alone, here are several books he recommends reading to help get you started:

Dont Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition, by Steve Krug

Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, by Seth Godin

Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, by Avinash Kaushik

Blogs at www.mattcutts.com/blog/ and www.copyblogger.com.

Dos and DontsHeres a quick list of things you should and

shouldnt do with your site, according to Sherrill. Dont bother with link exchange programs.

Theyre a waste of time, and they can sometimes hurt your search rankings more than they help, he says.

Do participate in online forums where your customers hang out.

Do contribute articles to online magazines and blogs. Assuming you write well and you research your topics, youll generate trafc and build your credibility, he says.

Do create your own blog and post new top-ics on a regular basis.

Dont bother with a blog if you cant commit to posting at least once every ve to 10 days.

Do offer coupon codes if you operate an e-commerce site.

Do use pay-per-click advertising on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN to drive trafc to your site.

Heres an example of a video on the Web site of R Jennings Mfg. at www.rjennings.com. It is one of eight educational videos presented by company owner Roger Jennings. Videos are a great way to attract trafc to your Web site.


or a newspaper. You want to nd somebody who has that skill or at least has knowledge of the differences, Sherrill says.

Besides hiring help, you also can use a host of free tools available on the Internet, including Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics), to learn how visitors are nding and using your site. Other tools include:

A heat map tracking application to perform test page layouts, such as landing page performance. An excellent choice for beginners is www.crazyegg.com, Sherrill says.

A variant testing tool to determine which headlines, calls to action, content, and other page elements yield the best conversion rates. Googles Website Optimizer (www.google.com/websiteoptimizer) is a good choice to get started, Sherrill adds.

A monitoring service to make sure that your site is up 24/7 and to alert you any time its unavailable. There are thousands of solutions, but a low-cost solution that I like is the Professional Account option from www.site24x7.com, Sherrill says.

GETTING AHEAD

Why Do I Need a Site?Believe it or not, some businesses still think its accept-

able not to have a Web site in todays high-tech world. I only serve local customers, and I dont want to sell on the Internet, so I dont need a site, they argue.

That argument holds little water, given that it costs very little to put up a basic, single-page site listing your name, contact info, and a brief description of your services. Think about it: For less than $100, you can at least have a simple site, so that when customers ask for your URL, you dont have to say Uhm, I dont have one a response thats likely to make them think extremely unfavorably about your company.

For the true mom and pops that just dont have the money, there are so many free resources, Sherrill says. For $10, you can go out to Google and register a domain name. Do a very simple page creator with templates, and they host it for free. How many sales do you need to earn back that $10?

Who Is Jason Sherrill? Jason Sherrill is president of InetSolution,

a company that offers Web site software and development, Web site hosting, consulting, and products to make Web sites easier to use, less expensive, and more secure. He has 14 years experience in e-commerce business operations and 10 years in Internet development. For assistance in creating or ne-tuning your Web site, contact him at http://www.inetsolution.com.

Besides hiring help, you also can use a host of free tools available on the Internet, including Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics), to learn how visitors are nding and using your site.

Remember, the cost of developing strong content and design for your site will pay off in spades. Theres no substitute for engaging content and good design, Sherrill says. Getting people to your site is easy. Getting them beyond the rst page is where the challenge is and where the reward is.


MARKETING SECRETSBy Donna M. Gray, CRM Opportunities

Be Thankful for the Good Times!November is the month to be thankful. Sometimes

its good to actually sit down and list all the things we have to be thankful forwhich always should includea good way to make a living.

You may have heard the old joke Im expanding on here, When your friends companies are out of work, its a recession. When your company is out of work, its a depression. If were sitting around worrying about the economy, inflation, deflation, or whateverwere not doing what we should be doing to make our busi-ness work.

Im not saying we shouldnt be aware that our com-petition is growing by leaps and bounds due to the online explosion of buyers. But this fact should make us aware that business success doesnt come from, or depend on other people, world events, or even luck.

Our businesses grow and succeed by having the right idea, doing the right thing at the right time, having the right attitude, valuing our customers, (that could be number one), and being thankful for the good times!

A prosperous attitudeEvery company has challenges at one

time or another. One might think that we have no prob-lems or challenges at our place because I always write, speak and give seminars in a positive way, but like I said, every company has challenges. I practice The Power of Positive Thinking in Business, so I prefer to concentrate on all the good things I can, and will do, rather than sit in a pity party and let a challenge overwhelm me. ButI could tell you storiesand listen to yours.

Ive found through the years that a prosperous atti-tude always wins. Just look around at leaders in every eld -- sports, theater, and business -- and youll nd

winners that have overcome some kind of circumstance that was a roadblock to their success. They got beyond the challenge with perseverance and a can-do attitude, and sometimes by calling on others, like friends, rela-tives, vendor partners, even a competitor, to help. Be thankful when you can do that. Just like Academy Award winners, give thanks for the gifts from your helpers. Give credit to them in every way you can.

We all have challengesWe have called on others for help many timeswe

have also been there for others many times. What goes around comes around. When a lady drove a car through

our front showroom windows three years ago, we were challenged with keeping our doors open while the clean up and repairs took place. A competitor, seeing this in the news, called immediately and offered their place of business for us to use if we needed it. She also offered to help in other ways. Well never forget that. In fact, we send customers to her for her specialty whenever we can. Thats something to be thankful for!

Im thankful (as are others around me) that Im not a power whiner. NowI do whine occasionally, but I try not to get into a competition with other whiners. Usually

if someone asks how I am, I say, Excellent! or some-thing like that. Im not prone to giving a laundry list of all the things I have to complain about; frankly because we all have that laundry listwe just might have differ-ent complaints.

Im thankful for the challenges we haveand that we dont have some challenges others I know are deal-ing with. Im thankful we always have the hope and motivation to work through challenge.

Take action and never quitWe all get stuck occasionally. We try to move

beyond a roadblock and cant. A realtor friend of mine recently told me how difcult it is to get on the phone and prospect for new clients right now, especially while the country is in a lagging real estate market. Experts would tell her to just start calling again. When the voice on the other end begins to respond, things will begin to happen. There are always people who need a new home. The same goes for our industry. If theres a dry spell, take action! Get on the phones, get out a yer, get in the car, get on a plane and go see custom-ers. Do the very thing thats hardest to

dotake action! Have a ve minute pity party and then just do it!

And, be grateful for the good times that will come from your actions. My son Davids motto was Never Quit! I have lived both my personal and business life by that motto since he died. Since I made some promises to him before he died, and as I continue to strive to meet those commitments, I nd this has opened up a whole new kind of life full of new horizons. I am forever thank-ful for that good thing he taught me.

When your friends companies are out of work, its a recession. When your company is out of

work, its a depression.


MARKETING SECRETS

Lists can helpJust like most human beings, Ive had times when Ive had

to call on all my reserves to get past the moment. Sometimes I have to make a list of all the people I love, people that have helped me, specic occasions that meant a lot, things that moti-vate me, things I love to do, things that interest me, etc.

I sometimes think about times when I felt a tremendous enthusiasm in our business and was extremely energized by my job. Thats when the list includes reminders of what was the focus then, what were the key things that made that experience so good. When I make that list I get excited all over again and ready to go get em.

At this time of year, I usually take time to reect on all the good things I can be thankful for. Im thankful for so many good things including:

Enthusiasm and positive energy, passion an personal motivation The opportunity to make things happen The gift of being able to wake up excited about the day ahead at our business The chance to help others Being able to communicate my ideas Having the chance to work on my own dreams, inter- ests, and passions The opportunity to work on projects I enjoy The courage to take business risks even when the outcome is uncertain The condence to jump in and do what I have to do The ability to not let mistakes stop us from going forward The belief that our company has the knowledge, intu- ition, abilities and know-how to work towards suc-cess The determination to challenge challenge

Persistence winsDetermination is dened as the tireless pursuit of a goal,

purpose or a cause. We demonstrate determination each time we nd ways to get around barriers, prepare a plan to accom-plish our business objectives, stay committed to nishing what we began, refuse to admit defeat, rely on our own efforts, are self motivated, and Never Quit!

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge said, Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men (people) with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Persistence, determination, motivation, optimism, and enthusiasm can make a big difference in the way we feel about daily life and work experiences. I hope we can all be determined to persevere, move forward, be thankful for the good times, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Donna Gray is the president of Total Awards, Promotions, & Gift (aka AwardsMall.com) in Madison, Wis. She and her husband Dave have run their full service awards and per-sonalization business since1977. She can be reached by email at [email protected]. See her full bio on the Writers Page.

Donna Grays 2nd book, Its All Relative! Surviving & Thriving in a Family Business, was published in September 2007.

It describes her quest to identify the keys to suc-cess for small business, and family businesses in particular. She interviewed top businesses nationwide and discovered ve common qualities implemented by successful business owners. Check it out at the Corel-DRAWPro Bookstore, www.coreldrawpro.com/AllBook-store.htm


Gifts Made with Transfers

PRODUCT FOCUSOpportunity

INFO REQUEST

For more information on the products in this Product Focus section, click on the Info Request button at the bottom of the page, and select by company name or product.

Performance T-Shirts. These high-demand, microber shirts are part of the WIKZ KamoLatte line that wicks away moisture. Denali Co., Red Bank, NJ.

Kitchen Accessories. Sublimatable aprons, towels, and hot pads are perfect gifts for the holidays or any time. Laser Reproductions Inc., Skokie, IL, www.laserreproductions.com.

Pet Shirts. Dress up your dog in a fashionable Paramount Poly Tee. Paramount Services Inc., Hollywood, FL, www.dye-sublimation-products.com.

Unique Outerwear. Vapor Apparel offers unique outerwear for sublimation including a new Youth Hoodie. Vapor Apparel, Charleston, SC.

Photo Bags. A variety of different shaped purses and bags have a blank side or ap for imprinting. Conde Systems, Mobile, AL, www.conde.com.

WoW transfer paper. This newly released product has many advantages for printing more detailed designs with color laser transfer printers no weeding or proling, soft hand, more durability, most fabrics. TheMagicTouch USA, Niles, IL, www.themagictouchusa.com.


Here is a brief description of each of the print-ing technologies available for future reference. The more you know, the less the salesman can bafe you.

Inkjet printers. Inkjets use droplets of ink to form the printing images on your output paper. Some printers have one cartridge that holds the cyan, magenta, and yellow inks (not at all economical), and a second cartridge for the black ink.

Others have an individual cartridge for each color (I nd this more economical as you only have to replace a single color cartridge when it is emptied as opposed to the entire cartridge of all three colors when only one has run out). For photos, many inkjets also have

additional cartridges for more realistic gradients of color and skin tones. Most inkjet printers output black-and-white text at speeds of 1 to 12 pages per minute (ppm) but are much slower for color pho-tos. Various models take 2 to 11 minutes to print a single 8x10, depending on the complexity of the image. The cost of printing a black-and-white text page with an inkjet

varies considerably from model to model, from 2 to 12 cents. The cost of printing a color 8x10 photo can range from 85

cents to $1.60. Printer price: $60 to $700. You can also get them with scanning, copying, and sometimes fax capability. These all-in-one models typically cost

more than stand-alone inkjets. Price: $80 and up.

Laser printers. These work much like plain-paper copiers, forming images by transferring toner to paper while passing over an electrically charged drum. The process yields sharp black-and-white text and images. Laser printers usually outrun inkjets, cranking out black-and-white text at a rate of 9 to 24 ppm.

Black-and-white laser printers generally cost about as much as mid-priced ink-

ELECTRONIC FRONTIERBy Louie Alvarez Opportunity

Photo Printers

Last issue I focused on Digital Cameras and what to look for in features and specically how a cameras megapixels translate into real world applications, in this case, printing.

As I mentioned, you should seriously consider a 7 megapixel or higher camera if you intend to do any signicant amount of printing, as this is the minimum required to produce a good photo quality image output at 8x10.

Of course, the bulk of the affordable photo printers I came across had a maxi-mum paper size of only 4x6 with some able to handle the larger 5x7. These sizes are ideal if youre printing for a photo album, which most of us tend to do. If this is the case, then a 3 megapixel camera is more than adequate for printing at 300 DPI, the typical DPI a photo lab utilizes.

Now that you have your 3+ megapixel digital camera what should you look for and what should you expect when searching for a Photo Printer? With such a vast pool of models to choose from in todays printer market, it can be quite confus-ing when deciding which one to get. The printer market is essentially dominated by a handful of well-established and well-known brands, with Hewlett-Packard leading the market followed by Brother, Canon, Epson, Kodak, Olympus, Samsung and Sony.

Add on top of the name brand choices, the different printing technology available, and now it can be downright overwhelm-ing.

Printing technology? Yeah well, there are inkjet and laser printers available as well, which come in black and white or full color, not to mention the all-in-one printers that can print, copy, scan, fax and make coffee for you (OK, technology hasnt advanced quite that far yet but Im sure its being worked on).

Finally, there are photo printers which we will focus in this article, but you should be aware of the alternative choices available. If you want to add an inexpensive inkjet to print superb color and/or a laser printer for very low cost, high speed black and white output, then there is noth-ing wrong with adding additional types of printing technology to your home/ofce. Or simply go with one of the all-in-one inkjet or laser models to replace 4 devices in a single unit (printer, copier, scanner and fax machine). I personally have added the three individual devices to my home/ofce arsenal.


ELECTRONIC FRONTIER

jets, but theyre much cheaper to operate. Laser cartridges, about $50 to $100, can print thousands of black-and-white pages for a per-page cost of 2 to 3 cents. Price: $100 and up. All-in-one laser printers add scanning, copying, and sometimes fax capability. Price: $200 and up.

Photo printers. For print-ing photos at home, a speedy photo printer can be more convenient than a full-sized inkjet model. Most are limited to 4x6 inch photos, but a few models can also print up to 5x7 inch. These models use

either inkjet or dye-sublima-tion technology.

Like most full-sized inkjet print-ers, most of these models can hook up

directly via cable to a digital camera through

the PictBridge connection, so you can print without using a computer. Many also have built-in card read-ers so you dont even need the camera to output your photos. This is the simplest and quickest way to print at home, provided you dont want to edit the photos. Price: $90 to $240.

Dye-sublimation printing A dye-sublimation printer uses a special ribbon, paper, and print head. Sublimation is the process of turning a solid directly into a gas without passing through a liquid phase. Because dye-sub printers deposit the color as a gas rather than as a liquid, the result is very much like the continuous tone of a photograph.

Photo ink cartridge Most inkjet printers use a four-color printing system with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks.

Photo inks often add additional shades of cyan and magenta to provide a greater tonal range to prints and more photo-like output.

Removable media Most digital cam-eras use special memory cards to store images. The most popular of these are SD,

SmartMedia, Memory Stick and CompactFlash cards. Some photo printers have built-in read-

ers that let you print images directly from these remov-able media cards without using a computer or plugging in your computer.

What to Look For:

Speed. Print speed varies depending on what youre printing and at what quality, but the speeds you see in ads are generally higher than youre likely to achieve in regular, daily use. If you can, take your photo on a standard SD card to test print on a few models displayed at a storefront such as Ofce Depot, OfceMax, Frys Electronics, CompUSA, etc. Then you can better gauge what speeds to truly expect.

Resolution. A print-ers stated resolution is another potential source of confusion. All things being equal, the more ink dots a printer puts on the paper, the more detailed the image. But dot size, shape, and placement also affect quality, so dont base your choice solely on reso-lution.

I n k C a r t r i d g e s . Consider supply costs as well as a printers price. High ink-cartridge costs can make a bargain-priced


ELECTRONIC FRONTIER

printer a terrible deal in the overall budgeting picture. Shop around for the best cartridge prices, but be wary of off-brands. Brand-name cartridges have better print quality and fade-resis-tance, and per-page costs are often comparable.

Paper. Glossy photo paper costs about 25 to 75 cents a sheet, so use plain paper for works in progress and save the good stuff for the nal results. You should get the best results using the recommended brand of paper. You might be tempted to buy a cheaper brand, but lower-grade paper can reduce photo quality and might not be as fade resistant.

Connection. Decide if you want to print photos without using your computer. Printing without a computer saves you an extra step and a

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