My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

I thought I would create a topic talking about my personal experience with getting custom chip labels for my Nexgen chips. I know that I’ve searched every poker forum I could think of for this type of info before I got started and think this thread will be helpful to some.

The Chips: I knew I wanted to do custom labels for Nexgen chips (based on the positive opinions about these chips, and the edge spots, and the recessed center which is ready made for 1” label). I just bought 500 Nexgen’s (bought Friday and received Tuesday) and I initially did not like the feel of them but I’m really starting to like these chips the more I "play" with them. They’re starting to feel better and better and they definitely look good sliding across the felt (sidebar: When I bet/call, I like to throw my chips out a variety of ways to give the appearance that I’ve played a lot of live poker).

The Labels: After stumbling upon the whole custom label market, my first thought was to do it myself. I saw plenty of people had done their on labels but the more I researched it the more of found little issues (what type of printer to use, what type of paper to use, what to set the margins at, what program to use for the design) that my be think I should let a pro do it. So I got in contact with 2 main custom label makers that the masses seem to use, Jason ([email protected] goes by cin0s3 on Ebay) and Brent of Lynbark ([email protected] goes by lynbark on Ebay). Let me say that both guys were extremely responsive and their customer service was great. I selected them because they allowed me to come up with idea and then they designed a label based on my specific requests. They would e-mail me a visual sample (the quick turnaround was amazing from both, but especially from Jason) and if I wanted alterations, they made the changes quickly and e-mailed the amended custom label. I decided to use both guys at the end because I did not know which design would look best in person. I dealt with both guys directly (not using Ebay) and the cost from each guy was about $36 (including shipping) for 1000 labels. If you select one of their existing designs, the price is cheaper (I believe). After all the changes to the label designs, I ordered from Jason this past Friday morning and from Brent this past Saturday morning and received their labels on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. I liked both labels but the label from Lynbark looked better to my eyes. I asked them both for the same basic design, butt I did ask for specific things for one that I didn’t ask for another (AK of spades on the labels from Jason didn’t look like it really belonged – but that’s my fault). The text on Lynbark’s labels were also more consistent, but I would not hesitate to use Jason again as I believe he could design just as good a label as Lynbark.

The Application: I searched every craft store I could find in search of that Krylon preserve it stuff to apply on the labels, but NO ONE seemed to have it. I’m too excited to put off applying the labels until I can hunt this down (and I only seem to find it online) so I sit down and prepare myself to apply the Lynbark labels. I already had my poker table up in the basement so I plunk down at about 9pm and begin to start labeling. I have 6 different colored Nexgen chips and six different label colors that correspond. I ended up getting about 100 chips done (2 different colors) in about 1.5 hours. The application is simple enough but I am being very careful about applying the labels, as I want them to look professionally done. I remember a thread where someone said it took them 2 hours to apply labels on 500 chips and this person either is great at applying labels or was not concerned with the small details (I have the label on both sides in the same position and the top of label on every chip is aligned below an edge spot).

The Conclusion: I’m extremely happy with how my chips look and the investment was well worth it. I’ll post pics when I’m done and my apologies for the long thread.

FYI, this is being posted in other poker forums also

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

I'm most concerned with durability of the labels. I suppose the spray-stuff helps, but does that change the feel of the chips?

Anyway, please do post pictures. I'm anxious to see what your chips look like. The nexgens look great for their price, but always seemed a little blank. I'd like simple hotstamping, but haven't found very nice options. (I don't want letters or numbers, just decoration.)
-Sam

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Yeah and a custom stamp at 5star is about $120 so that starts adding up unless you're buying 2k chips for a tourney or something...

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

do either of them have websites where i can look at their premade designs?

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

bump

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Lynbark's website is http://www.ciretech.com/lynbark/ and they both have a nice amount of samples on their ebay auction pages

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm most concerned with durability of the labels. I suppose the spray-stuff helps, but does that change the feel of the chips?

[/ QUOTE ]

I will be posting pictures of my chips soon, but I can tell you about the spray. I got labels made by Lynbark and the experience was great. I found the Krylon Preserve-It spray (matte) at JoAnn's Fabrics, but I had to go to one of their larger stores.

I set up a spray area in a bathroom I'm remodeling, so I didn't care about the walls or floors too much. I'm in Chicago and the temps are too cold to use the garage. Anyway, I taped up a big piece of craft paper on the wall - you can't spray them flat on a table. The fumes were spectacular - I had a window cracked and the exhaust fan going and it was still strong. I sprayed four sheets at a time and then spread them on a table to dry.

It takes a little practice to do it well, but as long as you overspray off the sheets and keep a consistant motion, it goes ok.

As for the feel, the labels do have a bit more rough texture than before, but it feels to me a lot like what it should. Hard to explain, but it seems like what some casino chip "centers' feel like. Not an issue for me at all, I prefer the feel over the plain label.

I'm about a quarter of the way through applying the labels. Here is an image of the label, actual pictures in a few days:

http://www.alittlepoker.com/images/M.../label_rim.gif

Note that the grey "rim" on the outside isn't on the label, I added that to reuse the image for something else. The club logo design is mine and Lynbark did the rest. If you are wondering about "A Little Poker", my name is Andy Little and I own alittlepoker.com (nothing there yet - stay tuned), so...

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Nice job Andy! I like the play on words with your name and using a club in your logo I obviously like that! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Look forward to seeing the labeled chips.

Your site looks interesting... never heard of wiki but it sounds cool.

- Fins

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

360 chips down and 140 chips to go...tonight I'll finish and they're looking pretty good(I have all the completed ones stacked on the table)

Andy, do you think you can spray the Krylon on the labels if they're already on the chips? I wonder if that would damage the chip at all. I'll ask Lynbark the same question. I looked/called a Joann Fabrics in the Chicago area but it was a smaller stores so I'll keep searching IF I can apply the Krylon while it's on the chip.

Thanks for the info

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

[ QUOTE ]
Your site looks interesting... never heard of wiki but it sounds cool.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, the cat's almost out of the bag on the wiki. I just about have the registration and login stuff working and then I can set everyone loose on it. Probably be ready in a couple of days. This could be my smartest or stupidest idea ever - time will tell.

PS - the default login system required >5 character usernames, so I changed it to 4 just for you Fins! Of course, I wanted to be Andy...

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

[ QUOTE ]
Andy, do you think you can spray the Krylon on the labels if they're already on the chips? I wonder whet if that would damage the chip at all. I'll ask Lynbark the same question. I looked/called a Joann Fabrics in the Chicago area but it was a smaller stores so I'll keep searching IF I can apply the Krylon while it's on the chip.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm in the Chicago area also - I got the Krylon stuff at the Joann's in Naperville across from the Fox Valley Mall.

No sure if it would be a good idea to spray the chips. You could make some sort of crazy mask to spray only the insert, but that would probably be amazingly time consuming.

edit - sorry I didn't notice earlier the Chicago location

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

[ QUOTE ]
No sure if it would be a good idea to spray the chips. You could make some sort of crazy mask to spray only the insert, but that would probably be amazingly time consuming.

[/ QUOTE ]

I may just do that because it can't posibbly take as long as it's taking me to apply the labels

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Andy,

Did you get the gloss or matte finish Krylon?

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

ky & Andy,
How permanent are the labels on the chips? If you decide 6 months from now you want a different theme could you easily replace the labels? That is if you wanted to spend the hours labeling again [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]. Someone mentioned that they were pleased with how well they stayed on but yet didn't think it would be that hard to remove/replace. Just curious on your thoughts.

- Fins

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Ky - I used the matte finish and like it a lot.

As for how permanent, I think they are on there for good. Maybe you could pry the label off and try to clean the adhesive and residue with goo-gone, but I don't know.

They stick pretty darned good. Even when I just get a bit of an edge stuck during application and need to reposition, it takes a bit of "pull" to get it back off. And that's before I apply pressure to get it stuck.

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Fins, I think that u would be able to get them off without too much trouble. I say this because there have been dozens of chips that I placed labels all the way on and then as I looked at it was not happy with how it was aligned so I just dug up a corner with my finger nail and pulled that label off.

I'm curios to see myself how long the labels will hold up....I hope I can get a good year out of em.

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

I'm finally finished....here are my pics...Although you can't tell on every pic, the text on the labels match the edge spots.
http://img62.exs.cx/img62/7927/chips135da.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/396/chips126nh.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/3698/chips117ez.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/5856/chips97ri.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/802/chips86uw.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/2398/chips72ov.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/7881/chips65ck.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/4677/chips56nc.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/3408/chips45hx.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/9889/chips33gs.jpg http://img62.exs.cx/img62/3808/chips15cb.jpg

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Damn those look unbelievable. How do they feel? My only concern with the nexgens is the weight. 12g's seems too high. I've heard a lot of good things about the nexgens. Lookin at those pics has convinced me to buy the nexgens and do the custom labels. What was your final overall cost for the set?

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Also I'm torn on which design I like better, the on you used for the chips, or the one that you have when you post (With the AK on the bottom). Both are real nice. Can't figure out which I like better.

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

The feel took some getting use to (read my original post for more details) but I like them now. Cost was $36 bucks to my door for labels (1000) for 500 chips from both guys (read first post for details).

It took me a total of apprx 7 - 8 hours, over 3 nights, to apply the stickers but I was real particular about the placement of the labels. I probably averaged 1 minute a chip (when u factor in removing badly placed labels) and that's pretty slow

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Great job!

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

[ QUOTE ]
The feel took some getting use to (read my original post for more details) but I like them now. Cost was $36 bucks to my door for labels (1000) for 500 chips from both guys (read first post for details).

It took me a total of apprx 7 - 8 hours, over 3 nights, to apply the stickers but I was real particular about the placement of the labels. I probably averaged 1 minute a chip (when u factor in removing badly placed labels) and that's pretty slow

[/ QUOTE ]

Those look great. I'm about 1/2 way through labeling mine. I noticed that you lined up the label with the edge spot. I'm doing that too - I'm getting cross-eyed!

As for the feel of the chips, my wife works in the casino cage at Harrah's Joliet handling chips all night long, and she thought they felt good. I love watching her count and stack the chips, since she can do a lot of counting by feel. She also commented that they aren't as dirty as she's used to. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Thanks Andy....I asked Brent of Lynbark about spraying the labels while they were on the chips and he thought it would be okay so I did it....I layed all 500 chips on my poker table (newspaper and towels underneath) and sprayed away. I'm happy to report that there was no evidence that the chips were ever sprayed.

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

As promised, here is a picture of my Nexgen chips with my labels. The colors aren't perfect in the photo, but decent enough I guess. The background behind the club is deeper and darker in person. I thought about using a different background color for the different chips, but couldn't decide on a scheme and I'm happy with the way they turned out.
http://www.alittlepoker.com/images/M...chipsSmall.jpg

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

I think they look good with one color. Good job and thanks for posting them.

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Those look great Andy! I like the straight forward design

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

how much did the labels cost you? and how long?

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Wow! Those look great. Who's photo has the most accurate color? Your's look much more vibrant. If that's the true color I gotta get som of those.
Russ

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Russ, based on the clarity of Andy's pics, I would say that Andy has a better digital camera than myself.

Moose, see the first post for details...I did all that typing to try an answer most questions so please read my long winded post so my typing won't be in vein (lol).

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

In case anybody wants links to their ebay stuff, here's Jason's auctions and here's Lynbark's site. Finding somebody that sells the Krylon spray wasn't hard.

Thanks for the great posts, guys. Now I just need to decide on a theme. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Any more testimonials are certainly welcome. It sounds like spraying AFTER applying is the way to go, according to ky70.
-Sam

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

[ QUOTE ]
Wow! Those look great. Who's photo has the most accurate color? Your's look much more vibrant. If that's the true color I gotta get som of those.
Russ

[/ QUOTE ]

I would say that my pictures aren't totally accurate in the chip colors. I tried to tweak it to match better, but this was as close as I could get. The yellow is definitely duller and the red isn't so bright. I think the real life colors are somwhere between ky70's pics and mine. I think the red and green look closer in his.

As for the sharpness of my photo, I used natural light (no flash), a tripod with the head turned upside down hanging between the legs (camera ended up about 12" above the chips), macro mode on the camera, and the timer so it didn't shake with the long exposure. I played withe the color balance to try to get the colors right, but I think my Sony always punches up the color no matter what.

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

I've been sort of lurking on this thread b/c I'm thinking about buying labels for my current crappy chips. I only use them a couple of times a month and it really isn't worth the expense of buying good ones for the benefit at this point. Maybe someday if our game grows.

Anyway, I'm curious why you (SamIAm) stated, "It sounds like spraying AFTER applying is the way to go, according to ky70." My reading of his posts is that he did it b/c he had already applied most of his labels before spraying, and that it worked OK. (If I misread the thread, my apologies.)

But, if one has the choice, I would like to ask if anyone has any opinion as to whether it is preferable to spray before or after. I can think of reasons for going either way, but don't have any experience to judge which might be the better course to follow.

Thanks. Kellon

ky70\'s Nexgen pics
 

Cool chips... I bet these get alot of people going. The labels turned out nice & crisp. The edge/text colors are a nice touch. I bet they were a hit!

Is that the same background image used on the other labels? Looks like a different shot. I like it better also... maybe just the design but from memory it looked like a different photo.

Thanks for posting!

- Fins

alittle\'s chip pics
 

Nice job Andy - they look great. A nice simple design with "a little" family aspect thrown in. I think the bkg color looks good all the same and kind of brings the set together. It would have been interesting to use the chip color as the club bkg color but probably would have been hard to get exact - might have looked funny if it wasn't close.

Let us know how they hold up.

Thanks for posting,
Fins

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Kellon, you are correct. I only sprayed labels while they were on the chips because I had only already applied them before I had any spray...it's better (quicker too) to spray the labels before you attach them.

Thanks Fins, the first design that I showed was the mock design from Jason (with the color background) but the finished product is the Lynbark label (nighttime background). Funny thing is from time to time I spot a label that is more off center than I prefer, so I just remove the uneven looking label and replace it with the extra labels that Lynbark includes (Jason includes extras also).

I also noticed that shuffling the chips does not damage the labels (not yet) because if the label is applied correctly it will be out of harms way. I had one label that was not inside the reccessed center completely and that label showed damaged from me shuffling with it over and over. I just ripped that puppy off and replaced it

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

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I had one label that was not inside the reccessed center completely and that label showed damaged from me shuffling with it over and over. I just ripped that puppy off and replaced it

[/ QUOTE ]

This is one of the interesting parts (to me), considering that you sprayed them after you applied the labels. I was thinking that one of the possible benefits of spraying the chips after applying the labels would be that the edges of the labels would be better protected from wear, as there would be a continuous coating over the whole chip. When you changed a label, did you notice any rough edge from the spray, or is the layer of spray too thin to be of any notice?

This is all a great help, btw. Thanks!

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

Ordered my 800 chips today. Also ordered the (matte) spray. I also sent ideas and images to both labelers this morning and BOTH responded within 10 minutes. (!!) Lynbark doesn't need me to pay upfront. Lynbark's (shipped) will be $54. Jason's are only $44.

I'll keep this thread updated as the order progresses.
-Sam

P.S. I got Nexgen EdgeSpots (as pictured in all the above posts) for $0.18 each. PM me if you're interested.

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

[ QUOTE ]
PM me if you're interested.

[/ QUOTE ]Boy was THAT ever a bad idea. Stop PMing me. Even if you're interested. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

They guy I talked to is [email protected]. He had ebay auctions, but he promised me a slightly cheaper rate. It's $0.18/chip, plus shipping. (I hope he's ready for some business. I got 10 PMs in 5 hours.)

The thing is, because I was buying a case and cards from 5Star, it ended up being cheaper to get chips with them, just for shipping. It's a shame, too. I was really proud of my back-alley ebay dealings. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

-Sam

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

dude, that's shady... he's going to sell them to you for 0.18 each but then charge you more shipping than you can get them total from 5star 25% off? supashady. I say stick with 5star, you know where to find them.

Re: My Process: custom labels for Nexgen chips
 

smoore, I did stick with 5Star. Order should arrive on Friday.

To get the thread back on track, here are the mock-ups for my labels.
http://www.math.gatech.edu/~samiam/P.../smallBlue.jpg http://www.math.gatech.edu/~samiam/P...s/smallRed.jpg http://www.math.gatech.edu/~samiam/P...smallGreen.jpg http://www.math.gatech.edu/~samiam/P...smallBlack.jpg

At this point, these are definitely MY labels. Neither of the printers were willing to put ANY work into the images. They didn't want to use my suggested image, and they told me nobody would be able to change the color of the hat to match the chip, because of shading. (Please see above. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )

They basically just want to dump some text into MacPaint and do a couple color replacements. However, after I made the faces, they were willing to put them on labels for me. The above images are my doing, but I'll have Jason use his backgrounds. I chose him partly because he gave me a nice swatch to match colors (see below), and partly because he's $10 cheaper. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

http://www.math.gatech.edu/~samiam/P...gen_swatch.jpg

More as it develops.
-Sam

P.S. These images are actually LOWER res than Jason wanted. I just felt bad filling your browser with each of my chips. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]