I am VERY new to this. Im am so stoked to start my own business. The thing is, i have no expirience at all. I have been doing a lot of research, and that only helps to certain degrees. I want to be able to get some hands on education. Do any of you guys know where i could do that? I want to be able to learn how to screen print, i want to know some tricks. Hands on expirience is good for me, because i have a photographic memory. any advice/input would be valuable.
Wait to start a business doing screen printing. Do it as a hobby first, see if you really like it, keep trying more advanced stuff, practice practice practice. There are a lot of resources online, including this great forum.
First I am goin to recomend you to buy the book "How to print t-shirts for fun and profit" by Scott Fressner, this is the bible of screen printing and if you want, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF4FORpACCg and you will find a great help.
there are a couple t-shirt printers, but i would most likely have to work there to get any type of hands on expirience.
So work there for a week. You'll learn more in that week (or 2 days or whatever) than you will trying to figure everything out on your own. When I started I was only shown the very very basics and I figured things out slowly on my own, and I don't think that's ideal. Get the book that King recommended, and read it twice. Read a ton on this forum. Posts and terms may not make sense at first, but if you read that book, you'll know the terms and then concepts discussed around those terms will make sense.
And what do you mean by buy a screen printer? Do you mean a screen printing table or press? In that case, yes, you should at least have a simple one color one station contraption. If you get one of those for fairly cheap and like doing 1 color prints, take on some easy 1 color jobs, save up, and plop down the money for a 4 color 4 station press if you really like it, think you'll like it working 50 hours and want to progress in it. You'll need other equipment too (exposure unit, flash cure unit, something to cure with) and it's definitely an investment. But you never know, you might end up doing it for a living and loving it. I certainly do.
Get any job at any screen printing shop. 2 days at a running shop is worth 2 months teaching yourself.
Go visit your uncle in Virgina. Sleep on his couch and take a job there for a while. No one in your town will know what you were doing.
Printing is easy, art is hard. What are your top ten designs?
Harder than art is paying customers.
Focus on selling. Qualified trained screen printers are everywhere. Get the sales and you can get lots of people to print your work with no labor involved. You could be the best printer in the world and if you don't have sales, you will die in a rainy alley, broke, clutching your award winning t-shirt plaque.
Sell the job, get the deposit - now you have money to make people do what you want.
After art, learn how to buy shirts and do contract printing.
When your printer starts to slip on delivery dates with lame excuses like he was tired, of he printed jobs more important than yours and says he hasn't got a good press/drier/flash, buy yourself what he wants (you have money) and have it delivered to yourself, c/o the printer. and tell him your job is next.
IF he fails you a few times, take your ball and go home. You and your cousin go over to the shop i his pickup and pick up your press and take it to your new favorite printer leaving the other printer crying in the parking lot.
If you must print yourself, go ahead, but it is very labor intensive and I don't want you to neglect your sales.
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How are you measuring? retired Ulano Technical Support Screen printing since 1979 - SGIA Academy Member
Last edited by RichardGreaves; October 27th, 2007 at 10:51 PM.
Hey bud I am based out of Dighton, Ma maybe 20 minutes from you and I am on the same stage as you are i Just purchased my press maybe we can go thru these newb times together
Adam,
That sounds good.. I must warn you tho. I am VERY new to this. Im only in the research stage. Let me know maybe we can get together and work on it.
Focus on selling. Qualified trained screen printers are everywhere. Get the sales and you can get lots of people to print your work with no labor involved. You could be the best printer in the world and if you don't have sales, you will die in a rainy alley, broke, clutching your award winning t-shirt plaque.
I vote this paragraph of the year...lol
__________________ Insanity is when you keep on doing the same things, hoping for different results.
Where can i learn to screen print? 
