[WIP] Making Embroidered bracelet / sticker sheets

The Secret Shop is scheduled to open sometime after the middle of this month. I am preparing embroidered bracelets as a new item! I am also making some stickers...

Related post

The story about the factory : Pikaole’s sticker making behind story

The production process : Sticker making behind story 2

WIP : Sticker making behind story 3   / Sticker making behind story 4

Related link : Instagram reels / Reels 2

Sticker making behind story 5 - 1 / Sticker making behind story 5 - 2

Behind of product creation 1 / Behind of product creation 2

[tips]Things I consider before printing

First design drafts

At first, I planned to make three types of embroidered bracelets: sea slug, shrimp, and isopod.

However, since this is my first time making embroidered products, I thought it might be better to make just one first and then decide whether to make more in the future. So, the design I decided on is the shrimp for my first embroidered product. The reason is...

This just came to mind. This is a shrimp coaster I made by sewing around 2008 😂

[ Old drawings and story ] <- so some of you might remember this post!

If it were a product related to thread, I wanted to do shrimp first.

Here is the detail production process!

First, I sent the design to the manufacturer for a consultation.

I heard about the points to pay attention to when making embroidered products. if too many colors are used, the stitching becomes stiff. So, they recommended producing it using only about seven colors.

I wanted to include the blue velvet shrimp, which would have resulted in eight colors, so the blue shrimp was ultimately omitted.

The initial draft had five shrimp, but I thought smaller ones would look cuter, so I also tried making them in a smaller size. If I make them very small, there are eight shrimp as shown in the picture below.

I created four versions of the shrimp design for each size—5, 6, 7, and 8 shrimps—and showed them to the factory. They told me that working on 8 shrimps would likely be impossible, and that up to 7 would be possible.

Print test

I sought advice from artist friends who had already tried embroidery work. They suggested that it is best to test this by printing it out in actual size, so I tested it out at a friend's studio.

I don't have a color printer, but a friend recently moved her studio close to my house, so I got some help. Btw that cute dog statue is her art 😚

The smallest one has 7 shrimp, and the largest has 5.

The largest one is about 2.5 cm wide. Since a typical smartwatch strap is about 2 cm, that is quite large... When wrapped around the arm, it looks like about 3 shrimp will be visible.

I decided to go with 7, the smallest size I can make! freshwater shrimp are quite small, you know.

Sample

The manufacturer sent me sample photos! I received the sample photos really quickly; I think I received them in almost a day.

I thought it would be nice if the mouth were a bit thinner!

Also, I thought it would be better if the stripes were a bit bluer, so I requested a color change.

I also adjusted the positions of the legs and antennae.

Here is the second sample photo and my revision request memo.

The changes look better in every aspect! I asked them to change the line color to a lighter shade.

I will share additional information and photos once the final product arrives.

Stickers...

Meanwhile, I am also making new sticker sheets. I plan to try using a coating that I haven't tried before.

In Korea, it is called 'sugar coating,' but overseas, it seems to be called 'sand glitter.'

I got some sample film and tried sticking it on my sticekr.

It suits my drawing well, too. Compared to other sticker coatings, this coating is little thick, sturdy, and has a textured feel. I liked the matte texture, even though it is shiny.

I also tested it on a snake sticker I made before.

Foil, hologram, and glitter will all go well with it snake.. 🐍💜

This is the Corn Snake sticker sheet I am currently working on. So I plan to use a glitter coating for this sticker. The darkened area in the center is where it will be cut.

The image on the left is what will be printed, and the outline of the sticker that will appear once the backing paper is removed is on the right.

Oh, by the way, this sticker sheets won't be featured in this summer's Secret Shop; it will likely appear in the next Secret Shop (this winter or next summer).

Instead the Ball Python sticker will be featured in the Secret Shop! I will take a picture and reveal it next week.