I actually own the identical vintage moped related iron-on used on this shirt on eBay. Do you think it will still transfer on a new t-shirt after 40 years? If not, do you think it would be worth it to have this artwork recreated using new screen printing technology? I just love the artwork on this transfer.
I'm sure it would still work.
That said, if there were a high quality scan, it would be easy to reproduce using print on demand services and wouldn't get destroyed when you wash it. Those old iron ons can get pretty shitty, pretty fast.
That’s the problem, how would you get a high quality scan of the artwork if it can only be obtained by first actually ironing the transfer on a shirt? As far as I know, there is no existing scan of the artwork given the age of this transfer.
I'm not so hot with that end of things and I don't have a big enough scanner or I would offer. Likely, if you transfer it to a shirt it would be scannable but a harder surface would be better, so long as the plastic from the transfer bonds to it
I just called a local screen printing shop that does this kind of work and the lady told me that the rule of thumb is 3-5 years for an iron-on transfer. She said it might still work but the only way to find out is to try having them press it on a shirt. I think I might just give it a shot. The transfer isn’t doing anything for me by just sitting in my desk drawer.
I would buy one or two
It would be easy enough to reproduce in photoshop... or even better illustrator.. and then make a new modern copy. the colours would last better too
Well, I brought the iron-on over to the print shop and the iron-on would not transfer. The glue is just too old. The print shop manager suggested that I try looking for an image file of the artwork on Bing or Google, but I just tried and no luck. The photo I supplied of the t-shirt with the artwork might work, but they prefer an original clear scan and not a scan of the photo of the artwork. They can do it, but she said the colors and quality of the artwork would not be fully captured. Any other suggestions? TIA... (edited)
Redraw it, i recreate decals kits from old pics and measurements.. if im lucky i get to scan in old ones ive pulled from bikes. Im a graphic designer. so doing that wouldn't be a big issue. so get your crayons out! :D
I can barely draw stick figures let alone artwork. That side of my brain just does not function artistically. (edited)
Maybe a scan of a photo of the transfer would be just right . I think the 'fade' and color deprivation with a lack of edge definition would help define it as old and not something that was recently done .
I'd actually prefer that^ effect to a crisp new looking piece , unless I rode a brand new moped .
Why not pull it up in something like Photoshop Express and enhance it?
I would sell it to treats
here i boosted the colour a little and enlarged it.. if it was a higher res photo it be better for reproducing. be better as well iff you had laid out the print flatter, or ironed the back before photographing. so i could see the line-work cleaner
I think you are misunderstanding the facts. That shirt is not mine. It is a shirt that is for sale on eBay. I did not take that photo. I own the same vintage iron-on transfer, which is essentially worthless since it cannot be transferred to any item. (edited)
Do you have a picture of the iron on Lar? I imagine it just looks like a muted reverse of the image. If so, should be very easy to just do a high-resolution scan of the image (scanners I have access too at my place of work) and then bring it into photo shop and mess with it to make it more vibrant and true to the original. If it were scanned at high enough resolution perhaps it would be possible in Illustrator to do an image-trace of it, which is just a built in function of Illustrator... I don't do graphic design, rather, I work as an architect, but I have experience with these softwares since having used them all the time in schooling and now as a professional when setting up presentation drawings and visuals.
Hmmm......
Ah right, get a decent scan of it at 300-600 dpi, and send it to me. i shall redraw it in illustrator. then it can be resized to any size you like and printed onto modern iron on decal sheet. and the trace function sucks in illustrator, its faster to just do it by hand, and it produces a far cleaner finished piece, the thing with trace and vectorise is that it produces a file so large and made up of so many nodes that unless your running a damn fast computer it will run dog slow. or crash.. im using a 64gb ram dual zeon workstation and it can even struggle with really large vectorised files... and i do use illustrator daily, its my go to app, above even photoshop.
OK, here's what I did....I took the iron-on transfer and taped it to my sliding glass door to get the most light behind it. I think I captured the artwork as best as I can. The colors are somewhat muted, but I'm sure it can be brightened up now. What do you think?
its ok, but be better if you got it into a proper scanner, the colours arent an issue, its the lines.. the colours can be replicated off the one on that t-shirt pic.. Leave it with me, i shall have a bash at it tonight after I've eaten etc.. (its 7pm here)
If you can improve upon the quality of this image, I would be happy to get t-shirts made up with this design. (edited)
I just did an image trace. See image attached. Image on the left is the original, image on the right is the image trace... My computer here at the office did the image trace in about 30 seconds.
> Moped Lar (OFMC) Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> OK, here's what I did....I took the iron-on transfer and taped it to my
> sliding glass door to get the most light behind it. I think I captured
> the artwork as best as I can. The colors are somewhat muted, but I'm
> sure it can be brightened up now. What do you think?
> >
That looks pretty darn good given the age and all...
Get me a scan if you can, if not i shall endeavour to do what i can with it.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to a scanner. I'd have to go to Staples and have them do it.
Added a drive link for those with Illustrator who are curious to see the image trace.
heres the jpeg with colour boosted and lines enhanced in photoshop.. but id still prefer to had draw it. as if you look the typeface in "rules the street" is not straight so a simple trace wont cut it. thats why a scan would be a great help as it holds the image dead flat.
And the traced illustrator version..
(edited)
Yes, I understand that the image needs to be scanned to get it truly flat; thats pretty easy to get. I am simply showing that image trace does indeed work for something like this and is based on the resolution of the photo for how well it turns out. I have typically never had issues with image trace. The image when traced was only 3mb which is very manageable and you can scale it as large as you want.
Wow, that looks awesome! Thanks for your efforts!
I understand what you're saying regarding the straightness of the text. I just emailed the print shop that I went to this morning to see if they can scan the iron-on and possibly improve upon the image as you have done. If that doesn't work out, I will get a scan made of my iron-on and forward it to you. Thanks again!
No worries, am glad to help. :D
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