Hi there! Do you have any experience creating prints? I’m looking to make a circle skirt that has a repeating pattern around the lower half. I have no experience creating prints, and I don’t know where to begin! Everything I find online is tutorials for making circle skirts with pre-printed material :c Thanks so much!
By creating prints, do you mean producing a repeating design graphic that will be commercially printed onto the skirt (using Spoonflower, dye sub, etc.), or doing the actual, physical printing itself? I’ve done both, but I’m not sure which answer you want. :)
For the graphic, you may be able to find what you need (or something you can modify) online. Lots of stock photo/clip art/graphic design resource sites have libraries of images that are designed to tile or repeat. Some are free; others cost only a few dollars to download a vector that is editable, resizable, and will give you a clean print graphic. Also, fabric printing sites such as Spoonflower feature huge catalogs of ready-to-print designs, so there’s a chance someone might have already made what you want!
If you can’t find the exact design you need, you can create it yourself using image editing software. A vector graphic is best (you’ll need a program like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape), as vectors create the cleanest lines and can be resized infinitely. If you’re working in a program like Photoshop or GIMP, or using a raster image (from a JPEG, photo, scanned drawing, etc.), make sure you’re working in print resolution (300+ dpi). Otherwise, when you print the design, you could end up with fuzzy edges or artifacts (pixel fragmentation). Important: If you’re creating a graphic to be commercially printed, be sure to use the design specifications/templates provided by the print service!
The trickiest part of creating a repeating pattern is getting the image to line up perfectly when it repeats. For bilaterally symmetrical designs, I create one half and then mirror the image. To make sure it will repeat cleanly, I slice the complete image through the middle and swap right and left halves so the “ends” of my graphic are actually the center of the design. That way, it’s instantly apparent if something isn’t lining up, and I can make adjustments more easily. You can also use an online image tiling program such as Repeater to check how it will look when printed.
There are a number of generators and tutorials for creating repeating graphics online. Or, if you just aren’t comfortable doing design work yourself, you can always buy lunch for an artist and ask them to help you out! (Note: If it’s a complicated design or requires more than a few minutes of work, do more than buy them lunch. Always pay artists fairly for their time!)
Now, if you’re talking about doing the actual printing, then you have a couple of options. Block-printing on fabric is imperfect and time-consuming, but it produces a unique garment and gives you a lot of control over the color/design. The principle is basically like using a rubber stamp, only you’re using concentrated fabric dye instead of ink. (I recommend using a batik fabric primer to keep the dye from bleeding or spreading.)
If you have a digital graphic you want to use, you can also print on paper-backed fabric rolls (available at some fabric/craft stores) using an InkJet printer, and then applique the design onto your garment. The printable fabric is usually a medium-weight twill, so it’s not suitable for all garments, but it’s great if you just need graphics on one area and don’t want to pay for a whole custom printing/dye sub package.
With ANY garment that has a repeating pattern, be sure to plan carefully if you need the image to line up over seam lines, as seam allowance will eat up a little bit of the design. You may need to buy a little extra fabric so you can be flexible in how you lay out your patterns for cutting.
Ok I think I'm going crazy, I've seen art of what looks like an extra scene or something where Yurio has a sort of punk outfit, tank top and long black pants, usually with red lighting. And I can't find what it's from!! Is it just super good and popular fan art or what? Please Andiewon, you're my only hope!
that’s from welcome to the madness, an extra the yoi staff added to the dvds which is yurio’s exhibition! you can watch the video here <3
Hey, mind if I ask what being a florist is like? It’s one of the most romanticized jobs I can imagine and I always dream about having a small flower shop with my girlfriends but I’m guessing it’s realistically just as grinding as any service industry job, yeah?
Oh boy being a florist can be hard.
So you wanna be a florist? Cool, I personally don’t like my job but I’ve been doing floral work on and off for around 20 years. I learned how to arrange flowers and blow balloons at around 3 or 4 and I remember helping my mom take flowers to weddings as young as 10. It’s not that I hate it cuz it sucks, cuz this job really does some days, it’s just because I’ve been doing it for so long and I’m really fed up with where I work right now, retail work sucks. Also with how my health is working in a supermarket where I need to work other departments isn’t the best for me, I work as a baker and a cashier sometimes. But even though I kinda hate what I do for a living, I can definitely see why some people would want to learn how to become a florist and I can the appeal of wanting to work in a small flower shop.
Flowers are great and being a florist is a fun and an artistic job that I feel like is under appreciated. You have flowers for so many big parts of your life like weddings, graduations, birthdays, when someone has a baby, holidays, and funerals and someone is going to have to make them look all pretty for you. Being a florist isn’t easy but I tell people as long as you have a basic understanding on flowers (ie. what has to be refrigerated, what’s long lasting, what comes in what colors), you’re ok with getting your hands dirty, you vaguely understand color theory, and you have no fear of dismemberment you’ll do fine.
Here’s why the ‘no fear of dismemberment’ is important and why most new people start with pruners. Here’s what that vase looked like when I was done, its the second vase.
Here’s a cut cuz I’m gona go on a tangent. Also it took me a long ass time to type this up and my hands hurt.
I don’t know too much about the business/financial part since I’ve never done it myself also I’ve only worked in super markets. From what I’ve heard and seen, my gig and what they do at the floral shop aren’t too different, I do get live outdoor plants and I got the whole food store thing though. From what I heard working in a small flower shop has been a better job for my old manager, who works there part time. I haven’t seen her recently, she’s a family friend, but the only complains I’ve ever heard from her were:
-running out of flowers because no one thought to order more during the on season, they’re located in a beach town
-run of the mill crazy customers
-new girl doesn’t know anything after she claimed to know things
-babies breath
-doing funeral flowers, it can be depressing that’s all
Normally food store florist don’t do ‘big event’ flowers, like weddings or funerals, but I’ve seen wedding flowers made up and it can be very hectic but fun. Also I think October and May are the ‘big wedding months’ but I might be wrong since I don’t do them.
For my job as a supermarket florist there are two times of the year that aren’t crazy and that’s October and January. There’s no ‘flower holidays’ during those months and I might sell one $35 vase a week if I’m lucky during this time. Mid spring, summer, and early fall there’s outdoor plants to take care of and they can be a ton of work but the vase/bouquet part isn’t all that bad. The locally owned shore flower shop my old manager works at is in a richer neighborhood and they get a ton of bennys looking for flowers for a weekend party. Valentines day, Mothers day, and Christmas are BIG flower holidays and will make you hate everyone you meet. Thanksgiving is not as bad but the rest of the store is basically on fire and prom sucks but it’s mainly because people are rude. I’m gona break down each holiday starting with the least worst and going to the worst just to give you an idea on what to expect.
Thanksgiving is a little hard since you need to make a ton of center pieces, lucky for me I get a ton pre made for me by a company that are in the $15-$45 price range. I have to make a ton that need to be over $40 wich is fun and easy since there’s a ton of fall color flowers that time of year. Some flowers you get are mums, daisies, statice, hyparicum, poms, roses, lilies, green ball dianthus, carnations, alstroemeria, aster, and tulips. All of these flowers come in a wide range of yellows, reds, oranges, and other fall colors and are just a ton of fun to work with. Also I get fun pumpkin vases and copper color vase and pretty ribbon to make bows. Most customers you get during this time don’t really want anything special made up and if they do they normally place an order well in advance. The rest of the supermarket on the other hand is a war zone, which makes me feel bad for my cashiers.
I hate prom so much, back when I was in high school I remember how crazy the girls were going on about their flowers and I feared for the day that I may being dealing with this crap. Prom mostly sucks because the customers suck. They call or come in last minute and want something made up right as we’re leaving for the day, they have weird color/flower requests, and I’ve had people get angry at me when the corsage is ‘too big’ when they come to pick it up. I had lady one time bring in a swatch of fabric from her daughter’s dress to make sure the roses would match, this lady was very nice and I feel like her daughter was the one who told her to bring in the fabric, and I also had a very rude lady want us to paint the tips of white tea roses gold for her corsages and boutonnieres. I have tons of stories of rude, jackass customers from this time of year asking for the last minute stuff and getting mad when we can’t do it. We all just wonder why they didn’t think to order it in advance, like it doesn’t cost extra. Also I refuse to learn how to make a corsage because of prom, I know how to make floral headpieces and hawaiian leis but I will never learn how to make a corsage. Good news is corsages and boutonnieres are a dying trend and mostly only prom people and little old ladies order them.
So if you know me in real life you would know that I really don’t like Christmas. I have nothing against the family coming together part or if you celebrate a religious holiday during this time. What I can’t stand is the crazy commercialism around it, the shopping, and everyone going crazy with pre decorating, I understand putting up lights before the snow and the ground freezes but keep them off. So since everyone has to get ready for Christmas early that means that you get poinsettias and outside Christmas trees in early, like half way through October early. I hate watering plants in almost freezing weather and I want to cry the whole time cuz my hand hurt so bad from the cold. Also poinsettias as a flower I do not hate, but they do get damaged easily and you sell a ton of them so you need to unpack a ton of them and take care of them too. Cool thing about poinsettias though is that there’s a ton of cool colors and varieties, my favorite colors are the paint splatter looking ones and copper/peach colored and my favorite variety are rose poinsettias. Now onto the vases, normally you use colors for the holiday problem Christmas colors are kinda limited in the flower world, find more then four green flowers. As a ‘solution’ the people who sell cut flowers put glitter on white flowers to make them ‘silver’, ‘gold’, ‘red’, and ‘green’. It kinda works cuz now you you have more colors but the glitter gets everywhere. Also you gotta put glitter on poinsettias too and you will get glitter stuck to your arm and it will take multiple washes to get off. I get glitter stuck in my eyes five times a day during Christmas time and it takes a few washes for it to come out of your work clothes.
Now the last two holidays that suck the hardest are Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day. Both suck for almost the same reason of you need to make a shit ton of vases in like four days and you have to stick to a color palette that you’re going to hate really fast. I feel like Valentine’s Day is less bad just cuz not everyone has a significant other, also we jack the prices on everything so don’t but flowers during that week. Mother’s Day is a bit crappier cuz most people have more than one mom like person in their lives and you get A LOT MORE of the dumb people. I don’t expect everyone to know their mom’s or S.O.’s favorite flower, I know my mom’s favorite flower cuz I work with her, but some of these people don’t even know their favorite color. I’ll be standing there like, ‘This woman raised you/you are MARRIED TO HER and you don’t know her favorite color?!’ I know florists who go out drinking after these holidays cuz they suck so hard. The fun parts of these two holidays is you get to make big vases and work with super nice and expensive flowers that you normally wouldn’t get to work with. Also all of my favorite dumb/pain in the ass customer stories normally happen around this time of year, so you’ll make some memories.
Over all cool job and I’m happy that I know how to do it. I skipped all of the outdoor work and landscaping knowledge since that more for if you wanted to work at a garden shop which is different from a florist. I can go on and on in more detail about my job and things about it that I kinda like and that I really hate, like baby’s breath.
If you got anymore questions send them over to my art blog @evilweasel-cosplay and if you want to see my arrangements go through the ‘my flowers’ tag.
Hey! My boo is obsessed with inverts, and says Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm is AWESOME and has nightcrawlers. They have a live guarantee too! Hope you’re doing ok 💓
Good to know, thank you! I’m thinking I may wait a bit & see how the current insects do in the set up. I have to see if I can manage to keep them alive at all or not. I’m not great at that part!
