I got the change to play on the cafepress.com website the other day and I just got a couple mousepads that I designed using their site. I must say, they came out much better than I thought.
Tis an easy site to use if you are familar with graphic tools and can make the images the proper sizes to get the best “look” out of their products. Prices are a bit high, but it is all custom and you can only order a couple if that is all you want.
I setup a page, not that I really plan on going into business selling logo stuff, but I wanted to see what their site could do for FREE… http://www.cafepress.com/tnet_services
Not only is it important to have a high resolution image, but if you are doing something like a mouse pad, you need to make sure the image is proportioned properly.
The image I used for a mouse pad was 950x800. I also found that using PNG instead of JPG will result in a better image…
I’d be more than happy to help you with the images if you need help.
Mousepad Example using Weather Display Logo’s (The attached is the representation from Cafepress of a mouse pad, using an image that is 950x800 PNG format with dark blue background and white logo). I think Mouse pads hold up better when they have a darker background… Light backgrounds show dirt easier and look worn out faster.
Where size is important, there is aolso resolution to deal with.
There are two factors to an image that makes a real difference on their site. Size of the image is one, but perhaps more important is the resolution of the image.
For web graphics, typically you will use 72 - 92 dpi for images and they look great on webpages and screens and they keep the size of the image down. This would be the default of many graphics generating programs that are geared towards web graphics.
However for silkscreen, or printing, you normally need a higher resolution of 250 or 300dpi. This way, when they get expanded, they don’t look so wispy and out of focus.
If you have the ability, an image that is in PNG format of way 1000x260 300dpi would make a decent picture for a shirt pocket and across the back. The image will be larger than most.
Attached is a white background, blue color one like that.
Opps… can’t attach an image that large… so try the link below instead.
This image is 1000x842 300dpi and is also very large. ~190k
[color=Green]Note that the sample mouse pad image up a couple posting is from the Cafepress site and is their “preview” of the pad when the same image is applied. Their preview does not do the image justice as it is itself a much less resolution than the actual image used.
I was not sure how well these would come out until I got a couple samples back of my own logo on a mouse pad and I can tell you the quality of the image was very very good on the actual product. I’ve had to beat back the entire family and a couple people at work for those mouse pads. Think Xmas Presents…
BTW, I use a wireless optical only mouse on all my systems, but still use a mouse pad to keep the mouse clean rather than using plain on a table.[/color]
excellent!!!
I have updated the items on the weather display cafepress shop now (and including updating the mouse pad )
wow!
now, can you conjure up an image for the back of the t shirts too pretty please!
wow!
(well, Brian has) 
