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The holiday crafting season is upon us! I know a lot of folks are anxiously counting down the days and frantically getting their holiday gifts made and goodies ready to bake. So I wanted to let you all know about the Epson LabelWorks LW-300 Label Maker
Here’s what they have to say about it on the Epson website:
Print personalized satin ribbons for crafts, scrapbooks, decorations, gifts and more — all with the fun and easy-to-use LabelWorks Printable Ribbon Kit from Epson. Delight your kids with birthday party favors that have their very own name on them. Give the bride and groom something extra special for their wedding with customized bookmarks, wine glass name markers and creative centerpieces. Gifts for any occasion are cherished even more when wrapped with personalized ribbon. You can even get creative and brighten up your own homemade crafts. Customize your ribbons using a wide variety of fonts, symbols and frames. Then instantly print and cut them at just the right size using Epson’s LW-300 printer. You get beautiful ribbons that will charm friends and family alike. And up to 30 of your favorite ribbon designs can be stored and used again.
I was game, so I jumped in. I loaded in the batteries and popped in a cartridge.
So, yeah, that’s the first thing. You can’t print on your own ribbon. Now, Epson seems to have a number of different ribbon colors- including a pearlized ribbon, glow-in-the-dark , iron-on, strong adhesive and standard colors- but they are all 1/2 inch. And there are different ink colors too- but again, you have to go with what they offer. So while you can get gold ink on black ribbon, you cannot get gold ink on purple.
Here’s a chart showing you the different types of colors and ribbon combinations that they have.
I’ve ordered some Iron-On ribbons, so if you are at all interested just let me know and I’ll do another review on those regarding durability with washing, etc.
So I jumped right in and started printing ribbons. The instructions were very clear (but make sure you keep them with the machine- don’t lose them) and even though the icons on the Epson Printworks Lablemaker weren’t completely obvious, in a few minutes I was up and running.
You can see I experimented with different colors and fonts, sizes and symbols.
I was a little disappointed in some of the symbol images. You can certainly tell that this machine was initially marketed to office workers.. because seriously, how many of these kind of symbols does a crafter need?
Yeah, like none.
However, there are some good ones for sports, kids, and even kitchen. And if you wanted to use the iron-on ribbons for clothing or quilts you’ve got a few options. But only a few.
I’d love to see some sewing icons in this line- I’d rather sew or iron a printable ribbon on my craft than write it ::shudder:: and this machine has such lovely results. But let’s move on.
Comparison of font sizes.
Here you can see I used the same symbol and font, but just changed the sizes. I like this flexibility!
And there are options for vertical printing AND a “2 Lines” of text mode. I had to practice a bit to get my spacing correct, but this is great for making ribbon tails for cards or buttons!
Oh, and here’s a great feature- you can SAVE your favorite ribbon designs and use them over and over. Again, this is perfect for those of us who make labels for garments, kid’s clothes, or “made by” tags. It’s a great feature!
I didn’t run the ribbons through the wash, but I did drop it into a sink full of water. (Let’s pretend I did it on purpose.) There was no smearing or fading of the gold ink on the blue ribbon. Pretty cool.
So I used the Epson LabelWorks Printable Ribbons in my recent “Surprise” Acorn Ornaments– they are perfect for either tucking a message inside the ornament (with a little candy, of course) or tying on to the hanging ribbon.
Lastly, I am actually writing this on Veteran’s Day and I made a card for my father, who is a Vietnam War veteran. I thought a little printed ribbon would really finish it off nicely.
I like this product, and I think I’ll use it for my regular officy-type labeling as well as some crafting. What do you think?
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Interesting product – thanks for the great review (as always!). I would purchase this if you could use your own ribbon and import your own images, as the images available are pretty limited for a crafter. Maybe the next version will have these options.
I want one! This would be great for personalizing ornaments, etc. The other day when you posted the acorn project, I said that I would make a bunch to use as a kind of advent calendar. I would use this machine to make ribbons with numbers for each acorn. I’m going to check it out! Thanks yet again for a great tutorial!
This machine is awesome, I love it! I have an small Brother one and I use it quite a bit for marking, but this one goes beyond that and allows to star making fancy ribbons and things, I would love it, never seen it in Spain though!