Very Green Kat Here

[iKate]

Hello Jonathan and all!!

First off I want to thank Jonathan for all the work he has done to help so many faceless names out! I have learned a lot in the last couple weeks via your site, videos and now the forum. That being said, let me also elaborate I AM BRAND NEW. Not to this planet but to this industry. I got a quick introduction to screen printing back in 1985...I was 15 yrs old. I had no idea then what sort of impact it would have on me. 27 yrs later I sell my restaurant and contemplate what I am going to do with my life. As it turns out I had a hot dog cart posted on craigslist and a gentlemen emailed asking if I wanted to trade the hot dog cart for his screen printing equipment. It was at that moment, as I got as excited as a 21 yr old on their birthday that I realized this was of GREAT interest to me. Fast forward: after many discussions with the man and a ton of information later, we made the swap. His reason for getting rid of it? He bought it for his wife who had no artistic background and quickly realized her "networking" skills were slim. In talking to one of my friends and hearing "oh my gosh this would be perfect for you, your the ultimate Softball Mom and who DON'T you know?" I realized this truly was what I had been "craving" and why I had sold my restaurant in an effort to feed that craving. I wanted to create something.
So, the last couple weeks have been spent researching and going over my equipment. I have a 1 station 4 color Ryonet. Its in GREAT condition (hubby is a tug boat engineer and my go to guy for mechanical/electrical stuff). I have tons of screens which I am in the process of reclaiming. That has been a huge gratification to watch it actually work (that's another THANKS Jonathan, it was your videos that taught me how). I have tons of squeegees, the things you put the emulsion in to spread on the screen (sorry still getting lingo down) flash dryer, hand drying gun and t-shirts galore.
But what I did not get was a printer. Never fear, Jonathan was there. I quickly went and found a Epson Stylus Photo 1400 on craigslist that a guy used once to print a photo from a family reunion....that bad boy set me back 80.00. Yeah I grin about it...it works fantastic!
So what it comes down to is I have 3 simple jobs scheduled for October. I am giving myself the month of September to get the skill set going. The road block I am running into is Positives. Can I get opinions on what works best for my printer (Epson Stylus Photo 1400) and a good source to get them? I have found so many sources and options and frankly it is a bit overwhelming. I just want to start making some practice shirts now to really fine tune the process.
If I have not said it enough, thank you thank you thank you!
Kat

[iKate]

ok, so I delved deeper into the Catspit Forums Sea tonight, into the realms of those "experienced" and found the positives I needed and ordered them. I know you said start with 15 but if we are using the same printer and I am using your set up guidelines, I figured 30 was the better financial deal. Basically I know this is the right stuff. So my next question becomes......Paypal did not charge me shipping that I can see. Was that really only 30.00 INCLUDING SHIPPING?

Also, is there a benefit to the small shop to have a Paypal account? Meaning, how often do you accept shirt payments via Paypal or is it here just for the supplies?

Oh and I have questions about inks but I will find the appropriate sub forum for that and come back if it doesn't exist.

Thanks ever so much!
Kat

[Catspit Productions]

Thank you Kat,

You are welcome. It’s my pleasure to be of such assistance to you. Yes, it is $30 for 30 8.5x11 sheets for USA pricing. So you must have seen the directions there where it explains the “color rich” black and the link for the Epson 1400 tweaking blog post, yes?

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/in ... tives.html

You can achieve a color rich black by adjusting the CMYK levels to 100% for each.

http://howtoscreenprintshirts.com/2011/ ... -software/

I only use PayPal for inkjet film and small dollar amount transactions. Otherwise you can be at the mercy of PayPal as judge and jury for disputes.

Plastisol ink topics go here:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/fo ... um.php?f=9

Water based ink topics go here:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/fo ... m.php?f=10

Thanks for posting on the forum and helping contribute to the Catspit community

[ApeShirt]

Hi Kat,
Welcome! I enjoyed reading your story. Like you, I waited a while to get into this business. I'm 42 and just started myself. Sounds like a great deal you got although I know nothing about the value of hot dog stands . If you are wanting to get into get deep into this business I recommend a rip software, such as AccuRIP. That will allow you to print halftones and use all black ink cartridges in your printer. It's not cheap but worth it.
Good luck in your endeavors and please stick around here.
Greg (ApeShirt Apparel Printing)

[Leadfoot]

Welcome Kat!

I am only into my 2nd year screen printing but only a year or so seriously into it. Nice find on that Epson 1400, you cannot go wrong with it and that was a STEAL pf a price. You will also find the film from Jonathan is more than adequate for you starting out. That is what I was using before switching to a dry stencil system. You can read and see examples of that in the RhinoTech forum and there are videos Jonathan did about it too, which is where I learned about it. I too have pretty much learned how to screen print from Jonathan's videos and a few others but mostly his. Feel free to ask any questions, we are all here to help and learn from each other!

[ppdlao]

Hello Jonathan and all!!

First off I want to thank Jonathan for all the work he has done to help so many faceless names out! I have learned a lot in the last couple weeks via your site, videos and now the forum. That being said, let me also elaborate I AM BRAND NEW. Not to this planet but to this industry. I got a quick introduction to screen printing back in 1985...I was 15 yrs old. I had no idea then what sort of impact it would have on me. 27 yrs later I sell my restaurant and contemplate what I am going to do with my life. As it turns out I had a hot dog cart posted on craigslist and a gentlemen emailed asking if I wanted to trade the hot dog cart for his screen printing equipment. It was at that moment, as I got as excited as a 21 yr old on their birthday that I realized this was of GREAT interest to me. Fast forward: after many discussions with the man and a ton of information later, we made the swap. His reason for getting rid of it? He bought it for his wife who had no artistic background and quickly realized her "networking" skills were slim. In talking to one of my friends and hearing "oh my gosh this would be perfect for you, your the ultimate Softball Mom and who DON'T you know?" I realized this truly was what I had been "craving" and why I had sold my restaurant in an effort to feed that craving. I wanted to create something.
So, the last couple weeks have been spent researching and going over my equipment. I have a 1 station 4 color Ryonet. Its in GREAT condition (hubby is a tug boat engineer and my go to guy for mechanical/electrical stuff). I have tons of screens which I am in the process of reclaiming. That has been a huge gratification to watch it actually work (that's another THANKS Jonathan, it was your videos that taught me how). I have tons of squeegees, the things you put the emulsion in to spread on the screen (sorry still getting lingo down) flash dryer, hand drying gun and t-shirts galore.
But what I did not get was a printer. Never fear, Jonathan was there. I quickly went and found a Epson Stylus Photo 1400 on craigslist that a guy used once to print a photo from a family reunion....that bad boy set me back 80.00. Yeah I grin about it...it works fantastic!
So what it comes down to is I have 3 simple jobs scheduled for October. I am giving myself the month of September to get the skill set going. The road block I am running into is Positives. Can I get opinions on what works best for my printer (Epson Stylus Photo 1400) and a good source to get them? I have found so many sources and options and frankly it is a bit overwhelming. I just want to start making some practice shirts now to really fine tune the process.
If I have not said it enough, thank you thank you thank you!
Kat

It's been a while since you posted here, but is not too late to welcome you to this forum, as the guys I really got interested in your history about getting into this fantastic world of screen printing!, I identify with you fully, I also sold out everything and closed a hardware store business on May 2010, and then I started selling burgers and hotdogs and stuff, and less than a year later on Feb 11 I got into this but never had nothing to do with it until that date, and it got me, you know! the thing you're talking, creating things!! is amazing, and Jon has taught me so far, and is for his videos that I'm here making t shirts at home and earning a life!, this next March I'm going to be 36 years old, and think I'm from this (not so young) team, that is finding a way through the screen printing! yeah!

see you Kat, I would love know how are you doing with business so far!