Education Tracks
 
Get Decorating! – Co-sponsored by Stahls', asi/88984
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 • EDUCATION DAY

       
9 a.m.-
11:55 a.m.		   Decorate More to Sell More: Any Quantity, Any Colors, Any Fabric
ALL LEVELS – 3 Credits
 A company’s logo is its brand – and good logo decoration has a powerful effect on how the logo and the company are perceived. New decorating technology, materials and equipment have made it possible to create and apply logos in full color, with special effects and on virtually any material. Is your client’s loud and bold, or sleek and fast, or warm and fuzzy? In this hands-on session, you’ll explore decorating techniques that allow you to produce any type of logo to truly represent a brand or company. Plus, you’ll discover ways to provide your customers with decorated promotional samples that feature their logo. 
About Carleen Gray
       
12:30 p.m.-
1:25 p.m.		  

The Elements of Good Embroidery
ALL LEVELS – 1 Credit
 Craig Mertens invented the process of creating a rhinestone heat transfer with a vinyl cutter in 2007. Since then, Craig What makes one left-chest, cap or jacket-back embroidery design stand out from the rest? In this session, new embroiderers and distributors who sell decorate apparel will learn the difference between average and above-average embroidery designs. In this interactive course, you’ll discover:

  • The elements of excellent embroidery designs and how to achieve them
  • How to handle requests for complex embroidery designs
  • How to answer the most common questions clients ask about embroidery
  • How to choose the right design tools, supplies and equipment to achieve optimal embroidered designs and avoid downtime.
About Colleen Hartigan
       
1:30 p.m.-
2:25 p.m.		   Hands-On Workshop: Rhinestone Multi-decoration Using a Vinyl Cutter
ALL LEVELS – 1 Credit
 Craig Mertens invented the process of creating a rhinestone heat transfer with a vinyl cutter in 2007. Since then, Craig and his company, Digital Art Solutions, have helped thousands of companies succeed in the business of rhinestone multi-decoration. Rhinestone multi-decoration is the process of combining rhinestone heat transfer with a variety of production processes, including vinyl-cut heat transfers, screen printing, embroidery, applique, direct-to-garment printing and sublimation. This class will provide a broad overview of the process of designing, creating and outputting rhinestone heat transfers and vinyl-cut graphics.

Topics will include:

  • What you need in order to get started in rhinestone multi-decoration
  • An overview of the processing of designing a multi-decoration rhinestone pattern
  • An overview of the physical process of creating a rhinestone heat transfer and heat-press vinyl graphic with a cutter
  • The markets and opportunities for selling rhinestone multi-decoration
  • The opportunity to create your own rhinestone heat transfer.
About Craig Mertens
       
2:30 p.m.-
5:30 p.m.		   Increase Profits with Full-Color Digital and Direct-to-Garment Printing
ALL LEVELS – 3 Credits
 Whether you decorate wearables in-house or contract the jobs out, in order to grow your business it’s vital to understand the full-color print methods available. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll show you all the possibilities of digital and direct-to-garment printing; no matter if your job requires one piece or 1,000, there’s no limit with these decorating methods. You’ll discover the recent advancements in both technologies that have made it easy to offer full-color decorations on apparel, hats, bags and much more. You’ll leave knowing how to profit from decorating, and with the confidence to never turn away another job because it has “too many colors” or “too low quantity.”
About Carleen Gray
       
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015 • EXHIBITS DAY TWO
       
12:15 p.m.-
1:15 p.m.		   Manage and Edit Client Logos Like a Pro
INTRODUCTORY – 1 Credit
 The client said "yes" and you got the order… but now what? Often the next major obstacle is the artwork or your client’s logo. This session is designed to help you navigate through typical artwork obstacles and challenges you’ll encounter while selling promotional products and decorated apparel. Using real-world examples, you’ll learn to be a better manager of this graphics process, to avoid the common mistakes and learn how to edit a logo for output for the top five decorating methods: screen printing, embroidery, pad printing, engraving and vinyl cutting. You’ll leave this session knowing:
  • Why you must understand what is and what isn’t production-friendly artwork
  • Strategies to help you quickly secure production-ready artwork from your clients
  • Why your client’s logo may need minor edits in order to be successfully prepared for output.
About Jay Busselle