This makes a great gift, t-shirt, mug, etc. for any computer or math geek, friend, child or baby! Write you name or message in up to 100,000 of the infinitely non-repeating digits of pi. Originally published: Mar 21, 2006.
Introduction
This makes a great gift, t-shirt, mug, etc. for any computer or math geek, friend, child or baby! Write you name or message in up to 100,000 of the infinitely non-repeating digits of pi. PiShop is a free online application that allows you to generate customized image to use as a t-shirt transfer, banner, or whatever else you want to use it for. It’s free for personal use, but if you like it, I encourage you to make a little donation for my kids’ college funds! =)
What You’ll Need
For t-shirts, onesies, bibs, and other garments:
- Printable iron-on transfers
- A onesie, hat, bodysuit, or other garment to receive the transfer
- A printer to print the transfer (suggestion below)
- The image to print (create it below)
Writing with Pi
Simply fill out the short form below and put a check mark in the box by “Mirror Image” if you want the image to be reversed for transfer paper. (Many printers do this automatically when you indicate that you’re printing on transfer paper.)
Type in your name or message; select a font, size and color.
Next click “Make Image.” The page will refresh, and the image will appear (sized to fit) below the Make Transfer button. You can save the full size version of the image by simply right-clicking on the thumbnail, then selecting “Save Picture As…” or “Save Image As…”A note about privacyI don’t keep (or even see) any of this information. It’s sent directly to a computer program that generates a transfer image and then immediately discards the data once the image is sent to you.
Making the Shirt
Depending upon the size of the shirt, onesie, hat, bib, sweater or other garment you want to make, you may need to resize the image using a word processing or photo editing program before you print it to the transfer paper. Once you get the size about right, print out a test page to make sure it will fit the garment.
Need a good printer? I use a Canon Pixma iP6600D photo printer shown below, and I’m continually astounded by the superb prints I get — all the way up to 8×10, which cost a fortune if you buy them online or at the photo store. Plus it’s quite fast and it prints of both sides of the paper, so it basically use it to print everything. (Use the “Pro” paper for photos you won’t regret it!)After you’ve printed your test page on cheap paper, load in the expensive stuff (the iron-on transfer paper) and stqart printing. Once it’s printed, I typically like to cut around the image and cut out large sections of unprinted transfer. This tends to make the final product look a little cleaner and more professional.
The transfer paper should come with instructions on how best to transfer the image from the paper to the garment.
Licensing & Registration
This application is Copyright (c) 2006-2008 by Alex Franke, and it offered as what I like to call CollegeFundware. This means you’re free to try it out for a reasonable period of time, but if you like it and want to keep using it, you need to contribute to my kids’ college funds =).
Visit the Software Registration page on this site for details on how to legally use this software after a reasonable evaluation period. Important: By downloading and/or running this software, you agree to the terms and conditions set forth on the the Software Registration page page. (It’s not that bad, really =)
When you register the product by contributing, any limitations the software may have will be removed, including registration reminder pop-ups windows. Registration may also “unlock” special features not available to unregistered users.
It’s always difficult to suggest a donation amount for registration. I recommend considering the value of the time you save by using the tool, and contribute an amount you feel is reasonable and appropriate. Below is a general guideline that may also help you decide.
- $15-20 for private, personal use (e.g. hobbyist)
- $20-50 for individual professional use (e.g. contractor)
- $50+ if your company is writing the check