Designing your pedals

[Psyre]

Just curious how you guys go about decorating your pedals. How do you go about getting screen printed decals etc?

[Gone Fission]

I need to get beyond label maker and Rustoleum on the next batch, though I may never stop loving hammertone. I'm gonna tag along with my wife for her next craft store visit to get some premade rubber stamp stuff and maybe see if they have stuff for making my own stamps. (I remember doing that in art class in grade school.)

I gather that many people in music also do visual arts and graphic design. If any of them are here, please, please, design for me a Klone graphic for a waterslide decal that is Krusty the Klown as a centaur. Bonus points for doing Simpsons-realistic font for the controls: "Hey, Hey!" (volume), "Shmaltz" (tone), and "Krust" (gain/dist).

[mysteriousj]

This is always the worst part of a build for me sometimes. When you want to make something that looks cool, but you have no ideas... I've ended up with so many unfinished projects ha. Screen printing can be a bit time consuming, so at the moment I've been using glossy sticky paper, I usually just draw pictures on it, or paint with watercolours. But you can use a printer. Then just a few coats of clear and it seems work for me. I did try waterslide decals but I struggled to do that without bubbling among other issues + it's more expensive.

[greeny23]

there is no designing in swirls!

[kaboom]

this topic needs more discussion. all i've used so far is a label maker and cut up stickers from my local coffee shop. i'm interested in stamping, but i kind of just want to try more collaging.

[D-Rainger]

I get vinyl stickers made - about £140 for a couple of square meters - and you can get a lot on there when you get organised. They stick permanently, have intense colours, gloss laminate... Do it in photoshop...

[kaboom]

i hand etched this one. never again.

[D-Rainger]

How did ya do that?!

I hate working with metal.

[Teej212]

i just tried a new method that worked pretty well. I printed out an image on regular paper. placed it on the box and sprayed it with a mist of water, than just sprayed a dozen or so clear coats on it, and it turned out better than i hoped!

[kevinhifi]

I've gone through several different approaches with my pedals, which don't have anything fancy - just the name of the pedal and some other text.

For the first batch, I just used clear laser label paper, cut around the logo as neatly as possible, applied it, and sprayed with 2 coats of shellac. That worked really well, but it was pretty time consuming for making more than just one or two. It's perfect for DIYers.

Eventually, I had Pedal Parts Plus make a screen for me, and they do the painting, screening, and drilling. The screen cost $150, so it's not a DIYer's option, but if you are good at making your own screens, it'd probably be fun.

For other pedals, I used water-slide decals for a while, but those are a bit of a PITA. Now I'm using vinyl stickers and couldn't be happier. They are cheap and easy. If you're interested, I had them made by http://customstickermakers.com/

[kaboom]

How did ya do that?!

I hate working with metal.

started out by drawing the circles with pencil, just to see how they looked. i was going to paint, but got the idea to do it this way instead. i traced over the circles with a ballpoint pen first, it lightly etched the surface but was too subtle. i used a mechanical pencil like this one to make the deeper scratches. it kinda sucked to do, took forever.

[kevinhifi]

How did ya do that?!

I hate working with metal.

started out by drawing the circles with pencil, just to see how they looked. i was going to paint, but got the idea to do it this way instead. i traced over the circles with a ballpoint pen first, it lightly etched the surface but was too subtle. i used a mechanical pencil like this one to make the deeper scratches. it kinda sucked to do, took forever.

Wow, your hand must have been sore after that! Looks cool.

[night-butterfly]

For finishing pedals :
- I first always use white primer paint can on an quickly wet sanded and dried enclosure.
- I add one or two woats of spray paint. I mostly use hammertone paint. I let the paint cool in the fridge and apply one thick heavy coat to get a well pronounced finish (use it with hammertone only).
- Let it dry and cure for one day on a plane surface.
- Drill your holes with a step drill bit, using a template.
- I apply a waterslide decal designed in inkscape (awesome free vectorial software), or label with acrylinc paint, or rub-on letters.
- Last I spray several really really thin coats of clear on it. Usually 5 coats, and I lightly sand with steel wool after the 3rd and 4th coat. Let it dry and cure for one day and buff!
Voilà!

[tony grazioso]

usually whatever catches my eye or attention

[Jero]

usually whatever catches my eye or attention