time for an upgrade

so i've been working with my heat press now for what, a couple of years maybe?  and it wasn't very long before i realized that i'd definitely picked up a starter machine because a lot of the things i was working on were bigger than the heat plate on that little press.  and when the owner of the xtend studio i frequent hit me up to do some shirts to put in her retail section, i decided it was finally time to upgrade.

i checked out all sorts of different sites, comparing models and prices and features until i realized that maybe i should just stick to the same brand i was already using.  and so i picked out the one i wanted, hit "order now" and waited for it to arrive.

it made quite an entrance into my world:

that box was HUGE.  and it took me a solid week before i finally decided to suck it up and get the thing set up.  it was super heavy and i struggled just moving it a few feet into the nook where i had decided to put it until we could find a better spot for it.  but look how awesome:

and then i realized that there was no way i was going to be able to lift this thing up out of the box and put it on the table by myself.  it was big and awkward and heavy as hell.  i sent out an SOS to the hub, who chuckled over text and then came home to help me out.

in the meantime, i got started on cutting out the vinyl and figuring out which shirts i was going to work with first.  i'd gotten a huge box of blank tank tops from xtend to work on, and it was fun going through the different colors and deciding which ones would get which design.

and then it was finally time to fire up that bad boy and see what the difference was between him and my little mini press.

you guys, it's AMAZING.  it has a slide-out drawer, which makes it so much easier to lay the item down and get the design placed just right.  the top comes down with the right amount of pressure, with a magnet to hold it in place until the timer goes off and it pops up automatically.  this means i don't have to babysit it while i scurry around getting the next item ready to go.  it's fantastic.

here's the first few shirts i did for the studio:

i think i have about four or five more colors of shirts and about that many designs that i've already laid out, so i'll be a busy bee this week.

and now i just want to heat press ALL THE THINGS.

heat press action

for the longest time after i got my heat press, i was convinced that i'd received a defective machine.  because for some reason, it would come up to the right temperature but none of my transfers would stick to the shirt unless i left it pressed down for a couple of minutes.  i knew this wasn't right, because everything i'd seen and read online said that it should only take maybe 20 seconds for the transfer to adhere properly.

one day, when my co-leader came over to drop something off, i decided to ask her if she could take a look at my machine and see if she could help me figure out what was wrong with it.  hers was working perfectly fine and we'd both bought them from the same place, so i figured she'd probably know right away from looking at it.  and sure enough...she looked at it for about five seconds and realized that it wasn't clamping down hard enough.  we fiddled with it for a few minutes and then voila - it was fixed!

ever since that day, i've pretty much wanted to heat press ALL THE THINGS.  and i kinda have...starting with about 25 shirts that i modeled after the bean's birthday party invitation.  we had shirts for all of the kids in attendance, plus a few of us adults too.  they looked like this:

i think i've shared this one before, but you get to look at it again.  i swiped the quote from a post that my xtend barre studio had recently instagrammed.  pink glitter makes everything look fancy, yes?

remember our trip to the price is right taping?  yup, made that shirt too.

the old lady's BFF rock-ell is getting married.  let that sink in for a bit.  we good now?  yeah, it took awhile for me to grasp that one too.  anyway, she's ballin' on a budget and we've been trying to help her cut as many corners as possible.  i helped her get her save-the-date cards done and used my favorite vendor to print them at a super awesome price, and then when she mentioned wanting to do shirts for her bridal party - well, you know i was all over it.  she bought some plain tees at target, i ordered some shiny silver heat transfer foil, and here's what we came up with:

she came over another time and we did shirts for her, plus her mom and the groom's mom, and she promised to send me pictures when everyone has them on.  they'll look way better with proper lighting, i think.

and with some leftover foil, i threw this together for me:

guys...i think i should do custom shirts.  i mean, cookies are fine and all, but these shirts are super fun to make too.  i even have access to a supplier that i can get everything from basic tees and tanks to hoodies and pullovers and stuff.

hmmmmmmm.