Everything begins somewhere...

[dpiDaisy]

A warm and humbling "Hello, very nice to meet you" to everybody here at signs101

Its amusing when you write introductions.. so much to say yet you manage to stare at a screen blankly not knowing where to begin for an eternity

To be forthcoming, I guess I will start with what I'm not.

Ive never been involved with really any type of organised or professional signmaking. (crappy 'garage sale' signs not included)

Im not a graphic artist or possess any known incredible talents digitally or with a paintbrush.

But what I am.. is very fastidious and driven.

Im a very technical and precise person by nature. I am relentless at improving whatever I choose to do to do the very best I can when my mind locks onto something... not for praise or glory above others, but for inner accomplishment and satisfaction for myself.

What brings me here is that I have become blindly passionate about something for the first time in a long time, I have found something that excites and fascinates me yet I know next to nothing about it in comparison to knowledge.

Ive fallen head over heels in love with 'wallpaper printing' ... to be more specific, 'self adhesive wallpaper images'

The way a room can be transformed into such an immersive environment... almost a 'Narnia' if you will has fascinated me since I first lay eyes on it.

Im hooked... I know it... and I cant walk away

My intention is to research, learn, take advice, take critique and humbly start this journey here with any and all generous mentoring from the incredible people found here. Some paths we simply have to walk blindly ourselves, others can be faster and more fruitful to walk if you listen to the wisdom of those who have walked the path before.

Im starting from scratch.

I wish to purchase a printer.
I wish to purchase the best adhesive paper. I wish to learn how to do this the very best I can and find where this can take me.

Any guidance from anybody is humbly welcomed as this is a brand new world for me.

Im not asking to be carried or piggybacked, just hopefully guided along the right path☺

I thank all of you and look forward to sharing my journey

dpiDaisy

 

[Andy D]

Welcome & good luck with your new found passion.
I have worked at a business that printed a lot of wall paper and provided
interior dimensional wall lettering and art. I can tell you that there is much more to
it than it seems. I would strongly advise you to try and find a business that provides this service and
learn on their dime, rather than jumping into it on your own... but either way, good luck.

 

[dpiDaisy]

Nice to meet Andy ☺

Thankyou for taking the time and offering advice.

I am in my mid 30's now and unlikely desirable to work under the wing of a company that specializes in wallpaper as an apprentice or similar.

My thoughts are...

Financially and past experience would sooner see me buy an established printing business or simply create one and hire professionals to learn from them.

For me I find it unlikely to find an established printing business for sale and even less likely to find a specific business that specializes in my interest available even if could purchase one.

Due to the competitive nature of business I also doubt that any domestic businesses that specialize in this area would be willing to share due to the inevitable nature of creating another competitor.

So i figure the only way Im going to learn how to print adhesive wallpaper images is to buy a printer and simply begin ☺

Im hoping with the experience and light mentoring from forums members like yourself I may hopefully make less learning mistakes $$$ ie. Spending thousands of dollars on the wrong printer and ink and 100's of meters of wasted paper through trial and error.

When we become specialists in our fields of life it is generally due to trial and error. We meet others who are beginning down the path we started long ago. If worthy, we offer a wisdom of "If i started again knowing what i know now I would do this" and save you a long line of errors and mistakes.

I will have to make many mistakes and learn many things as I take this journey, but the right printer, some good advice and pointers and some good wisdom will hopefully make this more enjoyable ☺

dpiDaisy.

 

[ikarasu]

It all depends... Whats your goal? Are you going to be selling these wallpapers to suppliers, locally, is it going to be a hobby, or something you do full time?

you can buy a cheap, $7000 latex printer, and some cheap SAV wallpaper and produce professional results. It'd be good if you're doing it as a hobby, or just starting out. If you want your wallpaper to be nation wide or something, you'll need bigger, better machines.

Having a passion is one thing... but you also need a plan. Start with where you want this business to take you, and work your way backwards.

You say your not a graphic artist... Thats going to be 80% of your work load. If your doing custom designs for people, you need to get measurements... Design within them measurements, and learn to install properly. It can be a 1 man show, but it'll be rough, especially to begin with.

I suggest going latex if you plan on starting out small. Look up the HP Latex 110... It's cheap, and should be quick enough for you. It's small enough to fit in a garage / basement, and you wont need a shop to start out.

 

[dpiDaisy]

Thankyou for taking the time to reply ikarasu☺

I think my goal like many things is initially born out of passion, not financial motivation in this instance.

My initial goal is to print many walls for myself and friends/relatives as "guinea pigs" to begin with to learn and become better.

Ive never been one to begin something and settle for "hobbyist" results no matter what it is. If I cannot achieve a professional level result it will be to be to the greatest level I possibly can, though I feel I have never fallen short of this in any endeavours I have undertaken yet.

I would predict with my own personal confidence that eventually I will reach a level of satisfaction in my work that I would consider making a living doing this, but my mindest for now is focused on "listening and learning"... crawl before you walk if you will☺

I dont beleive that wall printing is simply a case of "print out a high res image with a big expensive printer onto some adhesive wallpaper and 'bada bing'.. easy peasy"

I come here with an "empty glass" and open ears, so I thank you for your advice and I will look into these printers☺

dpiDaisy.

 

[S'N'S]

Hi Daisy, welcome, where in Aussie are you, there may be someone on here close by that could give you info.
(Just remember when most of these members quote prices that its American, their printers are about half the price of ours)

 

[dpiDaisy]

Thankyou S'N'S ☺

Im located on the Gold Coast.

In no disrespect to anyone, Ive even considered paying for advisal from a professional if needed.

But of course with any "newbie"... how do you decipher who knows what they are talking about when you know nothing *shrugs*

It only leaves you open to complete exploitation unfortunately ☺

 

[ikarasu]

I'd recommend a latex 110, then. Latex prints have no smell, so they're good for stuff like wallpaper.

HP Latex 110 Printer | HP® Canada

The 110 is their "Home business" model. The prints are exactly the same as their high end model, it's just slower, and uses smaller ink carts. The 110 would be the perfect printer for doing stuff for you and your friends.

HP has their own wallpaper brand... but I've never used it. I used some cheap stuff I bought on sale.

I'm like you... I enjoy printing. I started it as a job at work...A few months later, I purchased my own printer/cutter/laminator. I don't really sell things... Just to friends, and their friends, etc. The business side stays at work... And the "Hobby", if you call it that side, gets done at home.

You should keep in mind this is an expensive trade to get into. I purchased a printer for $11,000 Canadian. the rolls of vinyl are a couple hundred bucks, roughly $.75 per SQFt... then ink costs / wear and tear, etc, you're looking at $1.per SQFT cost just on materials.

Lets say an average wall is 18 FT in length and 8 FT in height. That's 144 SQFt, or around $150 to do 1 wall in a room. Obviously not cheap. If you're ok with them costs... Watch some videos on latex printers. Read a bunch on these forums... You want to print on Self adhesive wallpaper... so pretty much any "which printer should I buy" post will list benefits / downfalls... and theres probably 100+ of them topics on here.

Not being a graphics designer might hurt though. I'm in the same boat - I just moved, and I didn't want to paint the stair wall leading down to my "man cave / printer" area. All I could think of doing was make it "Geeky", I grabbed a ton of high res comic images, printed them on wallpaper material...and put them up. It looks great, and worked good... but if I knew how to do real design work, I could have made something more awesome than just grabbing some covers and throwing it up. (Something you'd never be able to sell due to copyrights!)

I suggest doing what I'm doing - Take a few online designing classes. At least so you learn how to use photoshop / illustator, It'll go a long way to help you, and you might find you're passionate about that also.

[Edit] And I just realized I was quoting in Canadian again.. ;p Materials might be way more expensive in AU, same with the printers. I don't even know who your looking supplier would be -

I'd suggest finding out who the big players are. Over here we have Grimco, They have their own specialists... Who are more than happy to go over your needs, and list some options for you. Find out who your supplier is, and reach out. Thats what they're there for, to provide advice / knowledge.

 

[dpiDaisy]

Thankyou ikarasu ☺

This is the perfect kind of guidance I was seeking here.

It takes time and effort to write this kind of thing for complete strangers and in forums is unfortunately taken for granted too often.

I greatly appreciate your time given ☺

I will continue with your advice and continue my research.

Thankyou

dpiDaisy

 

[visual800]

if your going to start out for friends as a hobby there is no need to run out and buy a machine that would need to be maintained. Find a printer that outsources these and go from there. Printing is cheap these days without YOU having all the costs. Might give you time to find out just how the market is accepting you

 

[Johnny Best]

Good luck with your dreams. Watercolor wallpaper is the new rage. Google it.

 

[Gino]

Hi dpi...........

Am I correct after reading your profile, you have absolutely no knowledge, experience or anything else in the sign industry, let alone the small niche of wallpaper applique ??

Just wondering how you found this passion for something you probably saw at a local big box hardware store ??

 

[Signs 'n' Stuff]

Hi Daisy
Welcome.
We are outside of Sydney so not trying to say buy from me.
I purchased a very troublesome inkjet printer 22 years ago and struggled with it for quite some time. we eventually packed that machine away after 5 years and stayed out of digital side of the market for the next 10 tears. To get back into digital print we outsourced from various print companies whilst we built up the volume to warrant a printer. Its not just the purchase price of the printer to be considered. you need space for the printer, cutting and drying space, a controlled environment temperature humidity and dust are all considerations. the printer needs to be running at least weekly and maintained. There are many printers out there you can take up your initial work load, during this period do a mountain of research on the available printers.
Good Luck
Brett

 

[The Big Squeegee]

to from OK
Good luck!

 

[JR's]

Welcome to signs101. and good luck.

JR

 

[ColoPrinthead]

Howdy, from Colorado, US
Good luck getting started, you have a great attitude.

 

[dpiDaisy]

Greetings again signs101 crew

Please forgive my absence, one of those "eventful" weeks that we just love from time to time

I must confess Im almost overwhelmingly impressed with the guidance and advice (and friendly welcoming) of everybody on my introduction here.

Despite my absence of reply, I read and reread the many viewpoints and experiences offered by all of you to give me much to consider in what I wanted to acheive from this and many things that new people like myself would blindly walk into.

Im fairly gracious of another persons time and effort by nature, so I tend to try and research and find answer before asking another question as opposed to expecting being "spoon fed" without any personal effort like many are these days... so please never take my absence as disinterest, it just means I am researching/thinking about my next question

Im currently looking/making my way through 'Latex Printers' and 'Outsourcing' aspects to give myself as much knowledge and understanding before making any moves.

I cant thank you all enough for your guidance

Exciting stuff!

dpiDaisy.

 

[Suz]

...............

But what I am.. is very fastidious and driven.


I thank all of you and look forward to sharing my journey

dpiDaisy[/QUOTE]
------------------------------------------------------

Hello Ms. Daisy!
That's great that you are so driven and so passionate! Hang on to that!
Now, look up William Morris if you haven't done so already! There are some beautiful patterns that he created, quite an industrious person and very driven and passionate as well!
Good luck and please do share your journey! Can't wait to see what you will do!