You guys decide. (2 Viewers)

[Mick]

Alternate thread title: Relabeling Milanos on the cheap. Journey of a skinflint.

I've got a pile of Milanos on the way, so I've got some relabeling to do.

Design one is the logo I designed for my pool team, the "Fluffy Unicorns" reworked for poker:

Design 2 is just something I came up with last night, liked the logo I made and thought it might suit the chips:

What say you?

 

[Mick]

Can't edit OP, another image:

 

[Eriks]

I prefer the unicorn, very cool design!

 

[rowlin]

The pool team design is cool, but I like the other for poker.

 

[buffalojim]

The Fluffy Unicorn logo stands out better and has a red denomination, which I like. The other logo is a bit dark, which I'm not crazy about.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

I think you should wait a while before finalizing these labels and make sure you like them. Both seem a little rushed. This isnt mean offensively at all but I want to be honest and make sure you dont slam the BUY button before you're ready.

Love the unicorn theme but the words may be hard to read on 39mm in different colors. I dont like the Fs or the Rs, and the veins seem to be floating in some places because of the outline. The denom being crooked tilts me like crazy.

Other one just seems very simple and dark, Id expect this from a generic set off a chain store. Font is too tiny and tons of empty space.

Love you, I know theyll be perfect when they're done.

 

[Mick]

My wife doesn't like either one.
For option 3 she remembered a design I did for a pool hall I was trying to buy that fell through:

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

My wife doesn't like either one.
For option 3 she remembered a design I did for a pool hall I was trying to buy that fell through:

I like that one better buts its a thin margin; font on the denom is bad and the words are very small and tough to read. I like the simple monocle logo and even the green box, but the rest is not approachable.

 

[Mick]

Pic is updated, I'm liking this one, going to try to work with it. Maybe "Gentlemanly Pursuits" works better than "Gentlemanly Games".

 

[allforcharity]

Unicorn provides much better contrast.

 

[4SUMERZ]

As mentioned, whatever you decide upon, print out an exact size test label on your printer to make sure you can read the smaller print.
I made a mistake if ordering labels without doing this, and I was disappointed by how small and unreadable the print was.

 

[Beakertwang]

I really like the Unicorn idea. I think the text might be a little hard to read (but not nearly as bad as the other two designs).

You could do a different design on each side of the chip—one side with the unicorn and denom, the other side with a larger text and denom.

 

[Mick]

The wife approved design is finalized, and I'll be printing a test of it the next time she's at work. The good printer is in her office. My plan is to print them on 8.5x11 sheets, laminate them, and punch them out with this:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000OMYCXK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That should make perfect 1" circles.

Maybe I'll still rework the unicorn design a bit too, I'm a bit partial to that one, still on the fence a bit.

 

[Mick]

You could do a different design on each side of the chip—one side with the unicorn and denom, the other side with a larger text and denom.

I like this idea. Maybe I'll try it for both unicorn and banker. She won't be back in the office til week after next, so I have time to play around yet.

 

[Mick]

Did I get there?

 

[Mick]

This one was fun, but the details are way too small. Maybe for a ceramic or something. Think I'm settled on the unicorn.

 

[ekricket]

My plan is to print them on 8.5x11 sheets, laminate them, and punch them out with this:

When you print them and laminate you can take two sheets of the labels and feed them into the laminator back to back - so that the two label backs are facing each other and the printed sides out.
Then after laminating you can separate the two sheets and the printed side will be laminated but not the backside. Then punch them out.
If you laminate both sides it makes it damn near impossible to peel them after punching.

 

[4SUMERZ]

This one was fun, but the details are way too small. Maybe for a ceramic or something. Think I'm settled on the unicorn.

That would be nice on a no mold Tina chip.

 

[Mick]

When you print them and laminate you can take two sheets of the labels and feed them into the laminator back to back - so that the two label backs are facing each other and the printed sides out.
Then after laminating you can separate the two sheets and the printed side will be laminated but not the backside. Then punch them out.
If you laminate both sides it makes it damn near impossible to peel them after punching.

I'm just using some 3m adhesive transparent vinyl over the printed sheets. I didn't realize people used anything else.

This stuff:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09HL5GC1R?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[4SUMERZ]

Do they make matte transparent vinyl?

 

[merkong]

Design 1

 

[Mick]

Think I'm done tweaking. Final final:

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Okay. Neon is pretty but doesnt match the chip very well, makes the actual chip look faded instead of complementing it. Just my opinion.

 

[Mick]

So far, so... so-so.
Got my labels laser printed and they turned out great, and the laminate I chose worked out really well, not too thick. The punch on the other hand was a waste of money. It only punched about 20 labels cleanly before it got dull and a nightmare to use. It was Fiskars so I thought it would be quality. Nope, junk. I grabbed a cheapo one from Michael's crafts hoping it might be better. Nope, same results. The punches are less than ideal for Milano labels even if they worked perfectly though, as they punch a 1" disc, and the milanos won't easily accept anything over 24mm.

I've got about 200 chips done so far, but I need to find or make a punch solution before I carry on with the last 800, as the finish is less than stellar. Here's how they look so far:

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[merkong]

Good luck with the punch. Let us know if you come up with something. Self-producing would be every chippers dream.

If you go another route in the future, Sticker Mule is by far the most reasonable.

Good luck.

 

[Mick]

Made a half-assed solution that will work if I can't come up with a decent punch, but it is time consuming. I sanded a couple of washers to the size I want the labels to be, and welded them to some junk vice grips. I clamp the label between the washers, and use a scalpel to trim the excess off. Turns out much better than the ones from the oversized Fiskars punch, but still not as good as I want. Going to try to go material shopping tomorrow to try to make a proper punch.

So far in this DIY label experiment I'm in for about $100 Canadian. $30 for the laser printable vinyl, $23 for the roll of vinyl laminate, $30 for the Fiskars punch, and $15 for the no-name Michael's punch to make 2000 labels. If I can get decent results in the end, I think the journey will have been worth it. I could be satisfied with the results I'm getting now, but want to see if I can get it better, so I'll spend a bit more.

 

[allforcharity]

It has been previously suggested that you can 'sharpen' a punch by using it repeated on aluminum foil. Never done this, myself.

 

[Mick]

I'd try that, but they are too big anyway.

 

[Mick]

Success! I found a piece of thick walled 1" tubing in my garage, and formed it into a punch. The way I had to grind the bevels on it works out to punch the perfect blank. It takes me about 15 minutes per sheet , including one touchup re-sharpen of the punch, so I have a lot of punching ahead of me, but the results are worth it. 4 sheets x 65 labels/sheet=260labels, I get 130 chips punched per hour. I am ridiculously cheap, and have way more time than money, so I'm pretty pleased with this outcome.

Edit: Added pic of how I ground punch for anyone curious.

 

[Mick]

Got my cash game chips all labelled and oiled in time for my home game Friday, and they are a pretty unified set as-is. Since there's no need to keep the higher denomination tournament set in the same theme, and I haven't labelled them yet, I figured I might go a different way with them: