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Looking for easy step-by-step instructions to sublimate like a pro, color fill laser engraving, laser a stamp, or something else entirely? Look no further – these articles provide you with how-to information on products and processes!

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With gift giving, nothing beats an item that’s been custom-made specifically for you. In that personalized gift market, there are endless items of varying shapes, sizes and functions. While there is something for everyone, different items and materials require specific methods to add the best personalized touch. Machines such as laser engravers or direct printers are ideal pieces of equipment that can be used to decorate a plethora of gifts, but these machines can be quite costly.

According to the Color Science Lab at North Carolina State University, “Colors are personal psychological experiences that can be generated from various kinds of stimuli, most commonly lights of a specific spectral composition. They are taken to represent a continuum, transitioning within it in various ways. Similar to all perceptual experiences, they are subjective and depend strongly on illumination, [surroundings] and a number of other perceptual phenomena.”

You might be thinking, “How is an article about the latest version of CorelDraw relevant if it was released in the spring of 2023?” Well, if you’re like me, the best time to purchase new software is when it’s on sale. And if you’re patient, it eventually gets cheaper, whether you’ve been designing with it for years or a first-time user.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of UV direct-to-substrate printing, the advent of UV direct-to-film (DTF) technology has turned heads across the industry. This cutting-edge technique presents a multitude of benefits, making it a great advancement in UV printing—particularly when integrated with existing UV direct-to-substrate printers. While UV DTF and UV direct-to-substrate are distinct printing methodologies, each comes with its own merits. When used together, they provide a comprehensive printing solution that caters to an extensive array of substrates and materials. This synergistic pairing holds particular value for businesses that need diverse printing applications.

My wife Lura and I had just finished having dinner with some friends when one of them, Jeff, showed me a feature he had recently discovered on his iPhone.

Corporate gifting has long been recognized as a powerful tool for building and nurturing professional relationships. However, in an era brimming with mass-produced, impersonal and forgettable mementos, the significance of a thoughtfully curated gift cannot be overstated. For businesses seeking to express gratitude, strengthen relationships or leave a lasting impression, sandcarving offers a level of elegance and sophistication.

The contrasting appearance of color fill against the backdrop of a sandcarved product adds a stunning element. Products that are dark in color, such as red wine bottles, black granite, ceramics and dark glass, are prime materials that benefit from a color application—and in some cases require it. Stone and wood surfaces also require color fill.

(Originally printed in the January/February 2023 issue of Insights.)

Personalization shops have been adding in-house rubber stamp making for many years. Shop owners have realized that producing stamps is an easy way to add a new profit center and expand the store’s existing customer base without a large equipment expense. This article will look at why a shop should start selling custom-made stamps and the most common methods for production.

I’m always on the lookout for more resources to help me do my job—design and production for promotional products. I’m especially excited when those resources are free. But, most often, it is not enough to explore YouTube or use a quick Google search. Instead, I rely on a list of online resources that I have compiled over the last few decades. In the May/June 2022 Insights issue, I wrote about free resources for finding fonts, images, tutorials and more. This is the sequel to that article.

In 1982, Fred Schwartz left his job as a mechanical engineer at General Electric, deciding it would be fun to start a company focused on creating personalized products.

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