I remember telling Susan I'd love to volunteer to help make the red staff armbands for 07.

3 different sizes and ink marks later, it ended up being pretty theraputic.

I had no idea how much to buy, so I just grabbed the bolt of cherry red and picked a number in my head. On my way home, and throughout the entire ordeal, I wondered if I had bought enough.

Nevertheless, I went to work and made up a prototype. It ended up being horribly small, so I didn't use it, but it would be subjected to our stamp and ink fun later. The next 10 were a bit bigger, and the remaining ones were almost the uniform size. (Which I think that our fellow staffer Norm used the best - he used it as a fashionable scarf ala Speed Racer.)

I put a lot of effort into making them. I actually took the time to hem and press each one, because one of my cosplay critiques/mottos that I share with my sister is, "Would you be seen with me in this?" With that thought in mind, I put a lot of effort into it, and the constant, "ba-dum ba-dum" of the machine ended up being a uniform beat that kept me sewing. I churned out about 40 in one afternoon.

Of course, my idea of stamping on "AP STAFF 07" failed brilliantly, and all of the stencil ideas failed just as well. So Sharpie marker FTW!

In the end (and over Susan's sewing machine), I was oddly proud to pin badges on staffers, and see my hard work being used. Looking forward to next year.. where maybe I can get that stamp idea to work!

They were great, and handy, and a really easy way to tell who was staffing at a glance. And fun. Mine migrated from like, my arm, to the strap of my camera case, to being tied around my staff, to forming a headband to block the crazy irritation on my forehead that my wig gave me.

Multipurpose and awesome! (and now it's hanging off of my shelves XD)

Win!

I kept mine around my arm all the time.

Massive thanks to the other girls who helped out on sewing Thursday night in con-ops, you guys kicked ass!

And of course, thanks to SUSAN~~~! Who is just so awesome with armband making it's not even funny.

The sleeves on my one cosplay were just not made for it being around the arm, alas. XD

I was one of the few girls who wore it as a headband the whole time. ^^ The fluffy-odango hairstyle I was sporting all weekend definitely works well with a headband.

Houndour is still wearing that armband.

I'm not the most experianced, but I've never managed to get stamps to work with fabric. It runs, or soaks up--maybe knit fabric though? Good luck.

Fabric Paint would probably be good, also. :3

Yeaahhhh, you were damn cute, Alex. But I say that like.. everyday. XD

Yuffie, I'm pretty sure if I used a knit of some sort, it'd just bleed. Also, they're kinda expensive yardage wise. XD For the moment (and how they're abused/loved anyway), just writing on them works with that poly/cotton blend broadcloth. ^_^

Just gotta be sure to like.. make sure there is something underneath the band when one writes on it. >.>;;;

I'm keeping my arm band as a souvenir.

I wouldn't know that well, so I guess you're probably right. Don't really know about prices, I get everything off discount racks, and it all costs the same.

Though I just remembered, muslim cloth should take the ink, that stuff is amazing. Nothing seems to smear on it.

I feel like such a stupid person, pondering what fabric ink would work on. The different qualities of material is a potential part of our semester exams in needle works though, so I'm kinda suppose to know. ^^; Eh, I still fail. If it's works, sticking with it is a good idea.

I'm also keeping mine as a Souvenir
the armbands were realy with telling who's was staff
altho they were hard to see in the video rooms :choco:

This year's AP STAFF 07 is right above my AP STAFF 06 armband along with every badge to a con on my wall. [I LOVE my wall near my computer. it's pure things... I should get a picture.

I have all my badges but my first Ikasucon 04. :<

I thought the badges were fine, I'm just sorry you had to mass produce them. :<

hey I loved the bands, I used one on my arm and one as a tie and one as a <.< >.> nevermind

((i realize the last post was MONTHS ago but meh))

i would suggest embroidery for AP '08, but that'd be even more time consuming. unless you did the stencil and just outlined over the stencil for something simple, but that'd still take more time than what they take now.

as for seeing them in the video rooms, we could always have little glow sticks to shove under the arm bands. just enough light to let people know where we are, but not enough to interfere with the projection.

Just a random note on seeing this: if the bands were embroidered, you could reuse them every year, so the time consumed making them for '08 would be well invested. Just a thought.

<.<

I still have my one from last year XD

Yeah, I thought about that after I posted. "Well why can't they reuse the ones they have?"

I just mean for the long-term, eventually you might want to wash them, or they might fade, while an embroidered band would last a much longer time. And would also be pretty sweet, fashionably speaking. XD

How would the armbands being embroidered be reusable? Embroidery is pretty.. permanent, yo. Cause even then you'd have to find some way to get the '08' on there, and that's gonna be permanent too. XD

Honestly, embroidery is a waste of time and thread (omg how much thread would be used hurts my heart) for how abused those armbands are and how many of them are needed. :(

Unless I can play with stencils and find something thats as quick and easy as the permanent marker deal, I like sticking with the cheaper and easier options.

LOL, wash them?

I have mine from 06, and 07... Considering these are only for a weekend, I say leave them the way they are, just be choosy about who receives them.

Good points, I guess I never really thought about it.

Keeping it cheap and simple is the way to go. Forget I said anything XD I'm always full of bad ideas.

Eh Miccy if it was so easy ^^;;

If there were like maybe < 15 staffers, I'd look into fancier and prettier options. But seeing as how abused they are, I'm sort of not concerned so much with pretty, but making them more.. durable. XD Which is why I want to hem the more and make sure they don't fray and the like.

This year the logo will be professionally printed by Aardvark Tees, one of our dealers.

All the arm bands will have a perminant "AP08" on it, with a unique logo that won't be able to be duplicated (unlike the previous years, where we just used marker or stamps), so no assholes can make their own and act like jackasses this year.

So like printed professionally made ones?

Amen.

Printable T-shirt Transfers

No, not printable tee-shirt transfers. These will actually be professionally done, and won't rub off or fade like the dickens.

Are they going to be stiff at all? I think my biggest problem with the armbands last year (and why I ended up wearing it around my head more often than not,) was that because they were so limp, they simply wouldn't stay on the arm properly even when pinned.

Remember that this is the staff blog section, not the staff only section! I'm not sure the entire world needs to know about our arm bands!!

They will be exactly 3' by 6", red with black trim and lettering, and have a small seal of authenticity in the corner. Look stylish in your very own authentic bootleg staffers' armband! Order one now!

XD Fine, fine, fine. I get it, I need to not post when there's only a few hours of sleep in me.

(No! You bootleggers, they'll secretly be neon pink and covered with image transfers of the characters of Lucky Star!

Of course. How could we forget about the Lucky Star transfers?

What's the fun in reusing something like this though?

Also, the year wouldn't be on it, and they wouldn't/couldn't be used as spiffy souvenirs. How many new staff will there be every year, anyhow?

Quite a lot in the last so years.

I was one of those random ones, and look where I am now. >.>;;;
Obsession much?

I'd like to thank Cori, Lothlin and everyone that's been working on the armbands, though! Good jobs, guys!

Aww thank you Miccy ;o; We're trying really hard to get these things going!

Yeah Michael and I just bought 5 more yards of fabric to make more ;_;

Cut, fold, pin
All night long.
Cut, fold, pin
As I sing this song.

Once I pinned, folded, and cut.

There were no survivors.

I kept mine as a souvenir. It reminds me of all of the fun and responsibility i
had being on staff.

Speaking of, would it be possible to make separate and easily distinguishable armbands for gophers? They could be of different color or have a different logo, the important thing here is that they make gophers understand that while they officially on staff and have a hand in running the con, they are not quite on the same level as main staffers (especially if they are new to the whole con goffering thing).

It would be really helpful in preventing confrontations and will hopefully prevent people from taking on too many "responsibilities".

All staffers will have red armbands. The higher staffers will also have AP shirts like what are being sold but with extra images.