Weddingbee Blog

Months ago (February to be exact) I received my belated b-day present, the YUDU.

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Of course I was super excited to finally have it in my possession (I had been wanting it since I read about it last fall on Weddingbee).

I had spent months dreaming up the DIY possibilities and how I would use it for our numerous wedding projects (e.g. our invitations, programs, and even a bride t-shirt or two).

Unfortunately, this bride’s busy schedule left my YUDU unattended for days, weeks and eventually months.

It had gotten to the point where my fiance was calling it the “YUDon’t”. He would joke about my lack of using the pricey gadget and began to wonder why he had even purchased it.

On the first weekend of May I finally put his concerns to rest, and after numerous hours spent studying YUDU forums I got to work.

I had heard of the many possible complications and knew that this project could mean a lot of trial and error. I did my best to make sure I was prepared, but this didn’t stop me from making some silly mistakes.

Armed with my 220 mesh screen (“ideal for paper crafting”) I tempted my fate and braved my way through the YUDU experience.

In my first run I was proud to have adhered the emulsion layer with ease (I had followed the advice of another user) because I had heard this could be a tricky task. My confidence grew even more after I had burned my image into the screen. All the lines looked great and all the detail was there. The only trouble…

… I wasn’t paying attention when I placed my screen in to burn and ended up burning the image on the wrong side. No biggy, right? I figured I could just flip the screen over and pass the ink through that way.

WRONG!

Because the opposite side doesn’t lay flat, the ink isn’t transferred through properly and the results are less-than-stellar.

EXHIBIT A: You can see where the image didn’t transfer properly.

Determined to get it right I burned a new screen (on the correct side) and was pleased with the result.

Exhibit B: A properly burned screen.

I proceeded on to my second run and was met with varying levels of success.

Exhibit C: The “good” prints

I say varying levels of success and refer to my prints as “good” because they were good, but not great and nowhere near perfect. Overall I was pleased, but the perfectionist and anal retentive side of me wouldn’t accept them as “good” enough.

Exhibit D: A close-up of a “good” print.

Up close you can see that even though the text is perfectly legible there are parts that could be better.

Because of the style of font I had used in my design some of the letters weren’t as clear as they could be once they had printed (particularly the “s”s, ”a”s, and “e”s).

I wasn’t too bummed because I was expecting this to happen and in all honesty I had expected it to be a lot worse. I had read the numerous horror stories of how the YUDU could not print detailed text (even with the fine screen) and how hard it would be to use it for printing wedding invitations.

Overall, I would say my first trials with the YUDU were a win!

I had gone in expecting to fail (because of the font I had selected), but came out with a mini-victory (since they weren’t horrid).

Exhibit D: A “good” print with a purple backing.

In the end I learned a few things and found that I will need to make a few adjustments to the design to get the clear print I want. I am confident that with these minor adjustments (namely, a different font) I will achieve the desired results.

What do you think? Big fat YUDU fail? Or have I met minor success?