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Getting Started at home

K

Kcinnick

New Member
I am looking to start printing at home to be able to make enough income for my wife to quit her part time job. I am only looking to supplement 20k a year or so, but I would like to be able to grow into the future to eventually transition to a full time family business.

I make a good income, so the first equipment will be purchased cash, and then additional pieces will be fueled by demand and margin from sales. I have seen where one job can purchase your next piece of equipment.

I am really leaning towards the first piece of equipment to be a screen printing press. I would like to be able to do signs and t shirts and get jigs to do just about anything I can.

Would I need two different types presses to do shirts and signs? It seems anything under 6 colors is worthless for what the market demands these days.

I know there is demand in the area for quality, locally produced product... I have been on the purchasing end for t shirts and it has been difficult to get quality shirts with a reasonable turn around time.

I am most concerned about producing a quality product over anything else, and I don't need to make money off the back.

Currently I don't plan on getting a full set up for around 6 months or so, but I would like something I could start to learn on, any suggestions out there for a "learn the process" press, is there such a thing as table press where I can use as many colors as I want maybe at a single station. I have seen youtube videos of guys using single stations with a bunch of colors, but it looks like the equipment is home made, I make enough stuff for hobbies, I really don't want to get into fabbing presses.

I know this is kind of a rambling post, but I have been reading for a while and thought I would start brainstorming out loud.
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
Welcome from Denver! From my experience in screen printing.. it's too much work not enough money. The only time screen printing can be worth your while is if you get a ton of bulk orders. Why not just get a ~48 inch digital solvent printer, and pop out banners and decals, and then source out the screen printing, mark it up, and make pure profit. A lot of people think this is a easy industry to get into... but i would strongly suggest maybe working for a sign shop for at least a year so you can wrap your head around what its all about. Good luck on your venture.
 
petesign

petesign

New Member
Coloradosigns said:
Welcome from Denver! From my experience in screen printing.. it's too much work not enough money. The only time screen printing can be worth your while is if you get a ton of bulk orders. Why not just get a ~48 inch digital solvent printer, and pop out banners and decals, and then source out the screen printing, mark it up, and make pure profit. A lot of people think this is a easy industry to get into... but i would strongly suggest maybe working for a sign shop for at least a year so you can wrap your head around what its all about. Good luck on your venture.
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Where's that darn like button?
 
L

Locals Find!

New Member
Get a Job pulling a squeegee in a screenprinting shop. You can watch all the videos and read books all you want, till you have pulled ink. You won't ever learn anything.

Not that I am trying to discourage you, but if you wanna produce quality you gotta put in the hours.
 
GoodPeopleFlags

GoodPeopleFlags

New Member
There's a heck of alot more to it than equipment. How about experience in running a business? In design? In making signs? Materials? Pricing? What if someone calls you for a sign? What are you going to ask them? What material will you recommend? How much will you quote them? Then let's say you get the job. Then what??? What software program are you going to use to design it? To cut it? Then, how are you going to *make* it???

Just giving you some things to think about. Maybe your wife should get a different part time job in a sign shop before you go starting up a business in something you have no idea how to do. That's not being rude - just honest.

:banghead:
 
rushworks graphics

rushworks graphics

New Member
BlueFishDesigns said:
There's a heck of alot more to it than equipment. How about experience in running a business? In design? In making signs? Materials? Pricing? What if someone calls you for a sign? What are you going to ask them? What material will you recommend? How much will you quote them? Then let's say you get the job. Then what??? What software program are you going to use to design it? To cut it? Then, how are you going to *make* it???

Just giving you some things to think about. Maybe your wife should get a different part time job in a sign shop before you go starting up a business in something you have no idea how to do. That's not being rude - just honest.

:banghead:
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this
 
SignManiac

SignManiac

New Member
If difficulty in obtaining t-shirts is what has motivated you to enter the sign/garment industry, then you should realize you are about to embark on one of the most complicated industries you could have chosen.

Running any aspect of this profession is going to require a large amount of knowledge and even more important than the knowledge alone, is the actual hands on experience. Unless you apprentice and learn from a person who actually knows what he/she is doing, you are going to learn the hard way and the hard way is generally expensive.

Not meant to discourage you but, do far more research into this venture of yours before you spend one penny on equipment or else you could be selling it on Craigs List before you know it. You are entering our industry at a time where more shops, even home based, have given up and shut down. At this time in history, pricing for our work is at an all time low and I know shops who are losing money on jobs just to keep the doors open.

Not a day goes by that I don't have to learn something new in this industry and I've been doing it full time for the last thirty seven years. What I'm saying is that this isn't an easy field if you are to be successful. It take superior business skills and artistic ability if you want to keep ahead of the competition.

Things to ponder!

Good luck either way.
 
Rick

Rick

Certified Enneadecagon Designer
BlueFishDesigns said:
There's a heck of alot more to it than equipment. How about experience in running a business? In design? In making signs? Materials? Pricing? What if someone calls you for a sign? What are you going to ask them? What material will you recommend? How much will you quote them? Then let's say you get the job. Then what??? What software program are you going to use to design it? To cut it? Then, how are you going to *make* it???

Just giving you some things to think about. Maybe your wife should get a different part time job in a sign shop before you go starting up a business in something you have no idea how to do. That's not being rude - just honest.

:banghead:
Click to expand...

:goodpost:
 
K

Kcinnick

New Member
I run a business now, just not my own...

I really can't drop and go work for someone else, but I do have the money to buy something and learn to use it at home. I don't mind spending money and practicing at home.

The intention was not for my wife to do the work, it would be to replace her income. Sure she could help with sales, orders whatever, but I planned on doing whatever printing would be involved.

I have photoshop on my PC, but that I am not certain that is what program I would use.

I really don't plan to jump all in, just want to start doing something and it seemed like t-shirts is a good starting point.

I really don't want to start with things that I would potentially have to install, so that is one reason I leaned towards screen printing. You can still do the smaller signs and also do t shirts, caps, koozies, whatever as long as you have the jig and ink. I also thought about etching/engraving as a start also.

I don't need to make money from this right away, but it seems to be a rewarding way to make money. To be honest, any profits, well all sales would be used to buy new equipment and supplies.

This is a great forum and I hope to learn from others here. Like I said I don't plan on ordering a "pro" machine until next year, probably Jan-Feb, but If there is something out there I could buy to learn on, and that would still serve a purpose in the future I would love to try it out. I am also open to suggestions of other equipment to start with.

I understand business is hard, our business is down this year, I will probably make 20k less next year than this year due to down sales this year. (I got last years bonus money this year, next year I will get bonus money earned this year).

I don't just want to just make T-shirts, I want to start a business. I would love to do full custom graphics from everything to car wraps to video game cabinets. I know I will never learn the full business overnight, I am just picking one thing to learn how to do.

I might not jump into the sign business, and it may be true that it will be more profitable to take orders and have someone else make the stuff, I might do that as part of my business plan but I always would want the option to produce a high quality item myself.

I have researched many businesses, and many seem to just be "jobs" you pay to have. This business you get to create something people proudly display.

As far as design, I have Logo and T - Design lined up. I have photo shop (well I have the entire suite) from my photography hobby, and I know how to use a lot of but I will have to learn some more. I am prepared to assemble a dedicated computer for this venture and get a new printer. It is going to be hard for me to purchase a wide format photo printer and then go put all blacks in it, but I can do that.

Right now if I could get a press that I could do one station, 6 or 8 colors just to produce shirts for myself, I would be happy learning the process even if I never go into business.
 
L

Locals Find!

New Member
I was dead serious when I said go get a job pulling a squeegee work as an unpaid intern for someone on nights and weekends and just spend time learning. I know its hard for you to grasp but, you cant just buy equipment like that and learn how to use it by trail and error.

It just doesn't work that way. There are techniques that you have to learn from someone teaching you. Like angle of a squeegee, what duron hardness of your squeegee to use. What screen count to use on which garments, alignment, different inks, flash times, dry times, then you gotta learn textiles themselves.

Its really something you don't learn overnight. It goes way beyond just buying equipment.
 
K

Kcinnick

New Member
I can purchase new software... Just saying what I had, I have the entire suite. I thought I could use illustrator and acrobat to get the needed separate layers, if not what should I get?

I don't have it all figured out, that is why I am here. It seems like the best advice given here was to figure out how to do one thing, do it well, then add other products to your line up. That is all I am trying to do.

I still have a lot of research to do and some hands on learning to do, that whats great about this forum, asking those that have been there, and done that.

Thanks for those that have helped, looking forward to learning more.
 
WildWestDesigns

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
You can't have this

Kcinnick said:
The intention was not for my wife to do the work, it would be to replace her income.
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With this type of mentality:

Kcinnick said:
I don't need to make money from this right away, but it seems to be a rewarding way to make money.
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Even if you just plan to have the majority of the money to go back into growing the business, you have to be making money otherwise there isn't anything to fuel the growth.


I can honestly say the best place to start learning is from someone that already is making a living at it. I did embroidery from hand. I was fortunate enough that my mom was very good at what she did and I learned a lot about embroidery, sewing, quilting. Whole bunch of stuff that goes into it. Stuff that is going to take longer then starting now until Jan-Feb before you get all the equipment:

Kcinnick said:
Like I said I don't plan on ordering a "pro" machine until next year, probably Jan-Feb
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.

Now I mentioned embroidery and your mainly talking about screenprinting. You have to deal with screens, figuring out how to do color seperations. How to setup designs for the screen print process. Which color palettes to use that match up with the brand of inks that you are going to use. Not to mention if you want to start mixing inks yourself. And the application process. All that takes time and a lot of practice. Something that is hard to come by with a small hobby business.

In order to really get good, you have to do a lot of it through practice and then it has to be practicing good techniques. Hopefully, that is what you would get by working with someone.

I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but there is a lot more to this then some people think. My mainstay is garments and if you were going to try to learn embroidery in 6 months to prep you for a "pro" machine setup, you won't be able to fully utilize it. Either that or I was a real slooooooooowwwwwwwww learner (which is possible).
 
K

Kcinnick

New Member
vid said:
Yes you can.


...and seriously, you must get rid of this attitude:



= FAIL







.
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I guess this is coming across different than what I wanted.

The only thing I meant by that is I have a source of income to support myself and I am not looking to replace my income right now. I am just researching things and I want to learn first.

There are a few things I want to learn, I just picked one in screen printing to ask about. It looked like one of the things I could do at home, practice at home and have a product I could use when I was done, even if it was screwed up. I can only think of so many things to wrap with vinyl or so many uses I had for a banner, but I can use a t shirt.

I also looked into the heat transfer vinyl, but it doesn't seem to have the same look or durability of screen printing.
 
K

klemgraphics

New Member
Good luck, we do screen printing as well as signs. I'll sell you my screen printing equipment if you want to do it that bad. Don't get me wrong we have done well with it but for the space it takes up/mess and the type of customers you normally have to deal with it is by far the least profitable equipment I own. But I guess since you don't need to make money go for it, might as well over saturate the screen printing market a little more.
 
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