5.11 Roadshow BBQ

A long week, ended with a day of fun at Seaglass Logowear which wound down around 10:30 Friday night. Our 5.11 Roadshow BBQ went off without a hitch! The prep was done throughout the week, with Thursday being a late night. Christina and Mike (our 5.11 rep) came in to assist with weeding the promotional Hook & Ladder tees. Mike had never weeded before and found the process a bit tedious (and doesn't feel the word "weed" represents the process... although the best he could come up with was "picking" which we all agreed was unrepresentative. Any ideas?) Because the letters had some small pieces that were to remain on the print, he was pleased (as were the rest of us) when he completed the weeding of a single design, without losing a single "little extra piece". He was kind enough to show it off in the picture below. It's amazing how morale and productivity can improve with pizza and beer as a motivator! (Although, as you can see, it didn't work with Charlie!)

Friday began extremely early for Steve and I; we were at the shop by 7 cleaning up from the evening before and moving the tables and chairs around. Fernando, a rep from 5.11 who flew in from California for our event, was our chef for the day. He was dedicated enough to be out grocery shopping unil 10 pm Thursday evening...he began before noon that day! Fernando arrived just behind us and began prepping the food and assisting with the setup of the rest of the place. He was out there hovering over the grill as it was about 30 degrees that early on Friday morning, a little chillier than California!

By 10:30 Christina, Mike and Catie had arrived, banners and balloons were on display by the roadway, announcing our big day, and we had 2 phone calls for directions...a sign of our soon-to-be-success! Even Stone had his balloons in hands, as you can see here posing with Catie.

Soon we had numerous individuals shopping at Seaglass Logowear and reviewing the new Fire and EMS line. I am pretty sure the first glass of beer (Hook & Ladder Golden Ale) from the tap was poured by 10:30! Mike and Christina were showing off the Cams 40" Outbound Bag to a group while Steve was discussing the new 5.11 1/4 zip job shirts with a local fire department. (I love these new job shirts...and if you haven't seen them, stop in and take a look - no fade, no shrink - honest! They are awesome!!)

From what I heard throughout the day, unanimously, the London Broil was delicious! Fernando is welcome back any time to assist as chef for the day! He put on a tasty spread for all to enjoy! Topped with a Hook & Ladder brew, you could not go wrong!

Throughout the day I caught Mike taking a break with his feet on MY desk. I allowed it as he was working diligently throughout the day. After this he did show off his laptop wrap, courtesy of Steve!

Stone was another team player today and sold the boots off his feet (and he has big feet) .... No really....

For those who didn't see it, we had a prototype of the new Light for Life flashlight 5.11 will have available in January 2009. We took several pre-orders on Friday for these as they are set to be unavailable until mid 2009 unless pre-ordered. Here is the link to the blog created by 5.11 for these flashlights. (http://www.511tactical.com/lightforlife.html) With this new technology, this flashlight will be the only one you need!

At the end of the day, we decided the most popular items were the 1/4 zip job shirts, ATAC boots and VTAC bags for tactical operations. I was quite busy throughout the day and unable to take many pictures, so if you didn't make it in the blog I'm sorry. But I hope you enjoyed yourself nonetheless! Thank you to all of those who came to show their support and enjoy the discounts, food, beer and freebies! We could not be who we are without you!

Anatomy of a Jersey

360 degrees, set; 4 second pre-press, set; 6 second press, set; The heat press is set and warming up for the Clifton Park Mite and Mini-Mite Hockey teams jerseys. So what's next?

Each jersey initially received the front Eagles logo. These logos, although not screen-printed in house, were created using a screen printing method. We sent the image to a company who screen prints the logo onto sheets of transfer paper using plastisol inks, partially cures them and ships them to us. We generally refer to these as "tranfers". As these prints were to adhere to polyester mesh jerseys, specialty inks were used. With added opacity and durability, the prints were lightweight and had a very soft feel.

Once the prints arrived, the heat press was set and a logo was pressed onto the front of each jersey. For printing 124 jerseys, I was getting toasty standing over the heat press for 2 hours! The initial step in the mission was complete!

Now that the basics were finished, I was waiting for the names and numbers going on each jersey. The setup was to be a 2.5" tall name and 8" tall number across the back, and a 3" number on each shoulder. Since the coaches weren't going to have a final list until 3 - 4 days prior to needing the jerseys, the same transfer method used for the front logo was not going to work for the rest of the jersey!

Although this meant a bit longer process for finishing off each jersey, I ordered a 50 yard roll of white vinyl material. Each name and number was prepared in the computer using our graphics program and sent to the "cutter", a Roland GX24. As the jersey specifics arrived from the coaches, I began cutting in a somewhat organized fashion (cut a few names, weed a few names, cut a few numbers, weed a few numbers, press a few jerseys; repeat).

Once the vinyl was cut it needed to be weeded. The remaining vinyl (everything except the name or the number) was removed using a pick (a dental pick believe it or not). Once the names and matching numbers were complete, I pressed the jersey. There were 4 pressings per jersey. Each sleeve was done separately, followed by the back name and number.

With each "mini-step", the total time to complete each jersey was around 8-10 minutes. This of course, is not the most time effective way to complete a jersey, but for a coach requiring a short turn around time, this is what works. With a few stragglers joining the team, using this printing method allows us to turn around a jersey within the hour. A superior addition to our customer service!

Did You Take a Picture?

There are two versions to the story you are about to read, the truth, and Steve's extended version.

October 14th, I was working on numerous projects around the shop (as usual). Pet Lodge had placed an order for another round of t-shirts with a full color print. For these we print the logo onto opaque solutions (thin white vinyl) and weed (with a dental pick) around Lodger. (I then place a heat sensitive mask material across it to transfer the print to the t-shirt.) Well, as I was weeding, I needed to grab a box down from the back shelf. Being the multi-tasker that I am, I held the dental pick in my left hand and reached for the box. The box stuck to another and they both started to come down. Using my typical gracelessness, I put my hands out to prevent the boxes from falling and ended up impaling the dental pick into my hand.

(For those with weak stomachs, skip this paragraph.) The pick punctured the skin approximately 3/4" below my left pinky finger. With the pick about an inch and a half deep into the skin, I panicked for a second and decided to try and pull this out! Yeah, didn't work so well. Then the EMT in me kicked in and I reminded myself the rules about impaled objects....don't pull them out! So I called Steve and this is how he describes our conversation;

J - Hkjsa hskldah cdshjkfhwp shfklashgd

S - Are you okay?

J - Hkjsa hskldah cdshjkfhwp shfklashgd

S - What happened?

J - Hkjsa hskldah cdshjkfhwp shfklashgd

S - Do I need to call 911?

J - NO

So once I finally spit out what had happened, I hung up with him and went to CIS. Thankfully John and Teresa were there and John drove me to Urgent Care. Once I was in there, the pick was out within 5 minutes (and numb...boy did I appreciate that!). In my line of work, a dental pick puncturing a hand seems out of the ordinary, so I had to explain what we actually use the picks for; An intriguing concept for most! (I had a few extra faces pop into my room to check out the incident!)

Steve arrived shortly after while I was finishing with my good ol' tetanus shot. Steve had only two questions for me. Thankfully he asked the correct question first, "Are you okay?"; This was followed by the line "did you take a picture?". What a guy! The jokes started flying after this and we all had a good laugh (the doctors, nurses and Steve more than I).

Steve drove me to the pharmacy and back to work shortly after this and was disappointed upon his arrival, noticing there was no blood anywhere in the shop! The extended version he created at this point, consisting of "gushing" and "spurtting", was the big joke around Seaglass Logowear for a few days.

It has been nearly two weeks, my hand is almost back to full function without pain. I was lucky not too do more damage! Don't worry Matt, we have joked about the incident and I don't hold you or Lodger responsible! (Sorry for the delay in the shirts!)

The valuable lesson learned, don't multi task with a dental pick in your hand!

Now every time Steve, Christina, Catie or Loressa sees me walking with one in the shop, they move out of the way and tell me to put it down! Fear!

Seamstress Steven

Seamstress Steven emerged from the dark shadows of Seaglass Logowear! How did that happen, you ask?

The Clifton Park Youth Hockey Association is purchasing jerseys from us for the Mini-Mite and Mite teams, and Thursday came to us about name plates for the travel team jerseys. After a little research, we decided it was something we could do at a competitive price, quickly. We had a completed sample by Friday afternoon, the blank name plates ordered and delivered for overnight standard delivery Tuesday. With the names in hand, the setup process began Wednesday, which left Thursday for the embroidery day. What began around 3 pm Wednesday, wrapped up around 10 pm Thursday.

The lengthy process of name plates began with Steve taking the name and inputting the details/measurements into the digitizing program. Once he had all of the files setup for the cutting and stitching, he sent them along to me. I then took the cut files and uploaded themto the Roland GX24 for cutting the tackle twill (applique material). For each name, there are 4 cut files (2 different sizes per name, per name plate color - black vs. white). All names were run within 1 hour and set aside while I began the initial name plate.

Once the file was inputted to the embroidery machine, stabilizer was hooped and the design was aligned. An outline of the name plate was stitched onto the stabilizer (to which the name plate would be secured using "sticky back") allowing ease of name plate placement, matching with the lettering. Once the name plate was secured to the stabilizer, an outline of the first letter was stitched, the machine was automatically set to stop allowing the initial to be placed onto the plate. With pressure sensitive adhesive on the back of the twill, the initial was secured and then the tack down was stitched (This is the top outline securing the letter to the material.). This process is done for each letter across the bottom layer, then again on the top layer. On average, these name plates took about 35 minutes apiece, making it a long day and night!

Once Steve arrived Thursday afternoon, I continued to babysit the embroidery machine while he moved forward. Myself being a somewhat annnoying perfectionist when it comes to sewing straight lines, Steve offered to complete the hemming! With a short crash course on sewing, he was off! While Steve was on a short break, Charlie made a futile attempt at hemming these name plates; Lack of opposable thumbs was a major problem!