If You’ve Only Got a Moustache

update January 1, 2016: I’ve revised this technique here: Mustaches, version 2.0

I’ve been exploring more of Flick ’em Up! from Pretzel Games recently and wanted to add a little flair to those great little cowboy minis.  According to Stephen Foster (or Seth MacFarlane), what these fine gents need is a mustache.  This seemed pretty simple so I sketched out some concepts to see if it would work out.

With that done, I went into Illustrator and drew versions up and tested the sizes.

this was actually quite tricky to photograph- even with an extra set of hands.

After some final size tweaks and additional color options, I printed out the set on a 4″x6″ mailing label.

I then used an X-acto knife to cut out some tests (always go slow and light to make sure you don’t injure yourself).  The blonds really didn’t work on the natural wood but will likely do well on the black stained meeples.  The old-man grey worked well for the black ones in my first test.

And my favorite mustache (I’ve been calling “the Russell”) worked great on the natural meeples.

One issue that came up was the tearing of the label paper even with a sharp blade. This seems inevitable which results in the white under layer coming through around the edges.  I think there are a couple ways around this that I might try out in the future but I am happy with the results so far.

Since these label stickers are pretty non-permanent (even the labels that say “permanent”), I will likely have to explore some other options.  I think the best permanent way to go (without resorting to risky freehand work) is to print on custom modelling decals and affix them to the meeples that way.  The print would come out sharp and there would be none of the “whiting” that happens around the edge.