The Pondering Pooch ™

I'M BACK!!

2011-09-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

I am finally back from a much needed break. It was a little longer then expected but it was a nice to have some time from blogging to concentrate on some things that really needed my attention. I stayed away from screen printing because of some back issues so now I am ready to go at it again. Yippie!!!

The first job I am doing is a 4-color chest logo with a 2-color back design. My neice wanted two shirts for a group she is in with another woman. It might seem like a lot of work for just two shirts but it is giving me LOTS of experience. I had to redesign two logos from scratch. I thought it was going to be a real challenge but I was able to do it in a few hours. Not bad considering I am still relatively new to CorelDraw.

I spent yesterday reclaiming screens and then coating them with emulsion. Things went just wonderful. I just finished burning the screens and then are in the rack drying. I won't have time to print today so that is on the schedule for tomorrow.

It feels good to be back.

Jeanette

QUICK UPDATE

2011-07-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update! I am taking a short break from blogging to concentrate on my e-commerce site. It is coming along great. Not only have I had to learn screen printing but web design as well. I have enlisted the help of a professional though. It would take me forever if I tried to do it all my self. But I am picking up lots of knowledge on the way.

I am hoping to launch with 4-5 designs and adding more each month. I have so many design ideas, it's been hard to decide which ones to put out first. I am happy with the choices I've decided to go with first. They will definitely give everyone a feel of what The Pondering Pooch is all about.

A new Facebook Fan Page is on the way as well, so be sure to pass it along to all your dog loving friends.

Thanks again for all your support. I am so excited for The Pondering Pooch to finally go live.

Hang tight! We are on the way!
Jeanette
Ginger, Mandy, Rocky, Maverick (my canine kids)

A FEW CHANGES COMING SOON

2011-07-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of making some changes to The Pondering Pooch blog. Over the last year I've had the opportunity to blog about my experience being a new screen printer. That opportunity was given to me by Ryonet and silkscreeningsupplies.com when I entered their "Pick Me Contest".

Since then the majority of my blog posts have been about screen printing itself. I shared all of my trials and tribulations with you.   It has been a blast! I absolutely LOVE screen printing and will continue to share my screen printing experience with you. When I learn a new process I will share it! When I get frustrated with a process, I will share that too.

But now my blog will be more focused on The Pondering Pooch brand itself and the reason The Pondering Pooch exists...DOGS! My first love is of course my dogs. Without them I would not be here sharing this adventure with you. For many years I searched and searched for a career that would fill the emptiness I felt.    I can't believe it took me so long to realize it was right under my nose the whole time.

My dogs have made me laugh, made me cry and helped me get in shape. They have been by my side during the good times and the bad. They have taught me to not take things so serious because no matter what happens things will get better. They are my friends, my family, my furry children.

Whether you love hikes with your dog, long road trips, sitting on the beach, playing fetch or are a couch potato together.  The Pondering Pooch is dedicated to that special bond we all have with our dogs.   I look forward to sharing it with you.

As always, thanks for reading!
Jeanette
Ginger, Rocky, Mandy and Maverick (my canine kids)

"TIME FLIES WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN"

2011-07-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe a year has passed by so quickly. It sure is true that "time flies when you are having fun".  It seems like it was just yesterday when I made the video to enter Ryonets "PICK ME CONTEST".

Being able to share my screen printing experience with everyone has been incredible and it has definitely shortened the learning curve.   I have met some fantastic people through my blog, YouTube videos and my Facebook fan page. Receiving comments and suggestions from experienced screen printers as well as new screen printers kept me motivated to learn more. It hasn't all been peaches and cream. Starting a business is tough and there are many ups and downs. Sometimes I would do a post expressing my frustrations with something but I was able to keep my chin up because there would always be a positive comment that helped me get through the problem.

My friend and fellow blogger Ethan, owner of MOYA TEES, has been a life saver. I don't know how many times I emailed him with an issue. How do you do this? How do you do that? How come this happens?  He always came through for me. His help was definitely appreciated. You can check out his apparel on Zazzle, CafePress and he has a new website coming soon. Click here to follow his blog!  He is a great guy. Thanks Ethan! You Rock!!

Bob Reigle of EMPOWERED APPAREL has also inspired me to keep going. My challenges seemed to mirror the challenges he went through when starting his apparel line. His positive comments and suggestions were a true blessing. Be sure to check out his Christian apparel line. He also does custom printing. Thanks Bob for all of your support!

My biggest help and knowledge base is of course RYONET. I would not be here if it weren't for them. Having a company believe in you so much they are willing to give you FREE equipment and monthly motivation is something you do not hear of often in the business world. They definitely went above and beyond anything I could have imagined.

I also teamed up with RYONET to make a "SCREEN PRINTING FROM HOME - DVD" to show others how easy and inexpensive it is to start your own screen printing business. The DVD was released in May of this year (2011) This too was something I could NOT have imagined. I am still kind of awestruck by the whole thing.

After a year of hard work, I am getting ready to finally launch my dream business, THE PONDERING POOCH, featuring my apparel line dedicated to our canine companions.  This would not be possible without the dedication and support of RYONET.  Thank you for everything!

Jeanette
Ginger, Rocky, Mandy, Maverick (my canine kids)

Ryonets New ERGO FORCE SQUEEGEE

2011-06-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

I just did a post last week about the Constant Force squeegee by Newman and I was disappointed that silkscreeningsupplies.com did not carry it in stock. It is funny how things work out sometimes. Ryonet just posted a video about their new ERGO FORCE SQUEEGEE! The handle is made of aluminum and has screws that keep the rubber squeegee in place. You can easily change out the rubber if it has defects. Now you can change out the rubber instead of having to sharpen the edges if they get nicked. Having it made of aluminum helps with clean up too. It has so many other cool features I can't even remember what they said on the video.

My favorite feature is the shape of the squeegee. The squeegee is flat on one side and the top which make it easier on your fingers and the palm of your hand. Hopefully no more cramped fingers. The other side is angled so there is less pressure on your thumbs.

At the moment they have one size handle (which is expandable for long length squeegees) but they are planning to make larger handles for those people with big hands and also a small handle for women. What a fantastic idea. Having something specifically made for us women is terrific. Anything that makes printing easier for me is great news.

Here is a couple videos on it!

Jeanette

Screen Printing - PLASTISOL HEAT TRANSFERS

2011-06-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

Why the heck would you want to screen print heat transfers? It takes so much time to get everything ready for printing, why not just screen print the shirt? Why would I want to screen print onto transfer paper and THEN heat press the design onto a shirt. Makes no sense, right? That was my response when I first heard about plastisol heat transfers. It sounded like a lot of extra work until I watched this video from Guru Ink.

After watching this video I definitely see the benefits of having the capability of doing plastisol heat transfers. I think it would be beneficial to print 5 or 10 plastisol heat transfers after printing a run of shirts. You already have the press set up so why not print up a few and have them handy if needed. From the results in the video they turn out great. Most of my products will be sold online but I also want to sell at craft fairs and other events. It would be very easy to bring my heat press to these events and be able to whip up a few shirts if I run low. This would save me the cost of printing shirts that do not sell.

PLASTISOL HEAT TRANSFERS...definitely a product I plan on trying soon!

Jeanette

The Newman "CONSTANT FORCE" Squeegee

2011-06-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

I've had to lay off printing for a while because of a bulging disc in my neck and lower back. I have had crazy symptoms for months but every test kept coming back fine. Even after an MRI showed bulging discs, the back doctor said my back looked fine. I finally found a chiropractor who showed me what is going on and I've been working with him for the past couple weeks. Symptoms are slowly going away and I should be back to printing in a couple weeks. :)

Because screen printing can be a stress on the upper body I have tried to do things that would be less of a strain on that part of my body. I have found that "pushing" a squeegee is easier on my body then pulling a squeegee and it works great. I was watching videos on YouTube today and I came across a video about a "PUSH SQUEEGEE" manufactured by Stretchdevices.com . The name of the squeegee is the Newman "CONSTANT FORCE" squeegee.

Here is the video by ElephantGraphics!

I definitely want to try this squeegee. I did some research and its called the "CONSTANT FORCE" squeegee by Newman. Here is a link to a great article about it and links to suppliers. http://www.stretchdevices.com/squeegees-and-floodbars

My favorite company, silkscreeningsupplies.com does not carry this particular squeegee, although they do can other Newman products. I may call them and see if they can get it. If not, I will check out one of the distributors from the link.

As always, thanks for reading!
Jeanette

NEW PRODUCTS - THE GREEN STUFF

2011-06-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Another new product I am trying is THE GREEN STUFF from Ryonet. When reclaiming screens I've been using the Ryonet EnviroLine degreaser, dehazer and emulsion remover. The EnviroLine products are easy to work with and the results are AWESOME, especially the emulsion remover Enviro Strip. It is my favorite emulsion remover so far.

The reason for trying The Green Stuff is to save a little time and money. The Green Stuff is a degreaser and dehazer all in one. Instead of three steps to reclaim a screen I now have two. The dehazing probably takes the longest in the process. I like to let the dehazer sit on the screen for at least 5 minutes. After dehazing I would need to degrease the screen which could take a few more minutes. Using The Green Stuff eliminates that extra step. Having one product to do two things in one simple step is a big time saver.

I can also save money by switching to a product that does more then one thing. The cost to purchase both a quart of dehazer AND degreaser is $26. The cost to purchase a quart of The Green Stuff is $18. That is a savings of $8. Again, it has received great reviews. I am looking forward to trying it and will let you know how it works.

Thanks,
Jeanette

TRYING NEW PRODUCTS - EMULSION

2011-06-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

No printing this week. I am out of emulsion and some other supplies so I need to place an order on Monday. The break is a good thing because I have been a little under the weather lately. Hopefully I will feel better when my supplies arrive.

My supply order includes a few new products I wanted to try. I am very excited to try the new Ryonet WBP Hybrid Emulsion. Right now I use Dual Cure Diazo emulsion. I don't have any problems with the dual cure emulsion. It works great but I can only print with plastisol ink. If I want to do water based or discharge printing, which I do, I would need to use an emulsion specifically for water based and discharge. The new WBP Hybrid emulsion allows you to print plastisol, water based and discharge without switching emulsions. It definitely saves money because now I don't have to buy two different emulsions. I LOVE saving money.

The WBP Hybrid Emulsion has received some great reviews. Images turn out great and clean up is very easy. A friend of mine loves how easy it is to work with so I thought I would give it a try. I will let you know it works.

Thanks!
Jeanette

STEPS TO FINAL SHIRT/INK COLOR COMBINATIONS

2011-06-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Friday I did test printing of a new design. It turned out FABULOUS! It was a one color design printed with a 156 mesh screen. The screen was coated with a 1 x 1 coat of emulsion. I was so excited with how it turned out I took it with me to a baby shower yesterday. The design itself received wonderful reviews which made me very happy. The color combinations I chose for the shirt and ink also received great reviews. I did get mixed reviews on one shirt/ink color combination. I absolutely agreed with it. I wasn't happy with the ink color myself but its good to print them out and see how they look.

Graphic design programs are great because you can change the color of the design and the shirt color with the click of a button. I can get an idea of the colors I want but nothing is concrete until I print it on a shirt. I am such a visual person and I can't get a solid feel for colors until its actually on a shirt. Here are the steps I go through before I decide if a shirt is ready for production. I am not sure if its the right way to do things but it works for me.

1) First, I finalize the design itself. This is where I add any distressed effects to the design. Once I am happy with a design, I do test printing on ANY color shirt just so I can see if I am happy with the design in print form. I go back and make any adjustments needed including the size of the design.

2) Once I am completely happy with the design I start working with color combinations. I usually put together at least 4 different shirt/ink color combinations. This gives me a very good range of colors. I try to stick with the top 5-10 most popular shirt colors. Most shirt wholesalers have that information.

3) After I have my color combinations, I run to my local thrift store (luckily it is only 10 minutes from my house) and purchase blank shirts in the colors I need. This is a lot cheaper, faster and more convenient then spending money to order blank shirts you think "might" work. I usually have no problem finding the colors I need and it only costs me $4.

4) Now I print up the color combinations to see if they look good in print. I may need to make a few minor adjustments in this area but I usually come up with the combinations I want to put into production.

This process works great for me.

Thanks for reading!
Jeanette

YES, I AM STILL HERE!

2011-06-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

I am quite frustrated with my Volusion account so far. I transferred everything from JustHost to Volusion on May 23rd. I was a little worried about the transfer because my account was about the expire with JustHost and I wanted to beat the deadline. After a few phone calls to Volusion I was assured that the transfer was complete.

Well, now when I type in my web address it comes up with a big screen that says "THIS ACCOUNT HAS BEEN SUSPENDED". I can't even tell you how angry that makes me. If anyone searches for my online store it looks like it is no longer in business. I am losing a lot of potential customers. My site is still under construction and before I transferred to Volusion I had a note scrolling across the screen saying "This site is under construction." That is certainly much better then "THIS ACCOUNT HAS BEEN SUSPENDED."

I have been on the phone with Volusion and JustHost and they keep telling me the problem is with the other guy. I followed all the procedures Volusion told me to follow and it is still not correct. I talked with a tech guy yesterday and he did some type of resetting which takes up to 72 hours to work. Tomorrow is the end of the 72 hours. I certainly hope things are fixed so I don't need to call them back.

Jeanette

LEARNING NEW THINGS EVERY DAY

2011-06-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on printing white ink on dark garments. Mostly I worked on my stroke. Lately I've been pushing the squeegee instead of pulling it which is much easier on my wrists and arms. Today I wanted to work on my pull stroke. I hit youtube and watched quite a few videos on printing white on black. There are so many different opinions on how to do it. I have printed white ink on dark garments before. They turned out fine but I am not consistent with how I do each shirt. I want to get my stroke down so it is the same each and every time.

Because printing white on dark usually takes print, flash, print, I decided I prefer to pull the squeegee when I do white. Today I wanted to see the difference in prints when I changed the off contact. I worked with 1/16th" (thickness of a quarter) off contact as well as 1/8" off contact. They both looked good but I think I got better results with 1/8" off contact. I was printing with a 156 mesh screen coated with a 1 x 1 layer of emulsion. I may have gotten even better results with a 110 mesh and a 2 x 1 coat of emulsion. I will test that theory next time.

After a few hours of printing I went back and watched a few more videos. One video in particular talked about squeegee PRESSURE. How much pressure do you actually need to put on the squeegee? This is what they suggested. Set the off contact for your screen. Then take your finger and press the screen until it touches your platen. How much pressure did that take? Not much at all. That is ALL the pressure you need to put on your squeegee during printing. I went back to my shop and followed their suggestion. Wow! I realized I've been putting way too much pressure on the squeegee. Instead of laying the ink ON the garment, I was driving the ink INTO it. That is probably why I need do so many strokes. I learned a few other tips so I am going to do more test printing tomorrow.

Thanks,
Jeanette

A WEEK OF SPEED BUMPS!

2011-06-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a nasty week it has been. Where do I start? Well, the first speed bump was my printer not wanting to work. Luckily it was my Lexmark and not my Epson 1400 but it has still held up my work. Next, the artist I contacted decided she did not have the time to do my drawings. Hey, life gets busy and I totally understand. Unfortunately that has also slowed down my progress. I have another artist in mind but it will take time to contact them and the cost for each drawing is twice as much. Bummer!!

My computer has had some issues over the last couple months and now it is at the point where I am unable to work on it for very long before it gives me the "blue screen of death"! So I am on the hunt for another computer. A brand new computer is out of the question at the moment but I found a place to get a rebuilt one for under $400 which includes the tower, mouse, keyboard and a NEW 18" monitor. It will certainly be an upgrade from my tiny laptop screen. A new computer is not in my budget but I am dead in the water without it.

I have still managed to make some progress despite all the speed bumps. My website is now hosted with Volusion. I was a little stressed because it was about to expire with my last hosting company but luckily the transfer went smoothly and just in time. I won't be able to work on the website until I get the new computer but at least I know my domain name is safe!

Between my computer crashes I have been doing some final touches on 14 designs. I am very excited about one particular design in the works. I have only printed with plastisol inks and this new design I want to do with discharge ink. Discharge printing is done mainly on dark garments. It is pretty much like bleaching your design into the shirt but you can also bleach color on a dark shirt. The effect is so awesome and it was one of my favorite printing techniques I learned at the Ryonet seminar I went to last August.

It is going to be a challenge to do discharge since I only have a flash dryer. It is recommended to use a forced air flash dryer or forced air conveyor dryer but both of those pieces of equipment are WAY out of my budget. The forced air flash dryer runs well over $1,800. It is possible to do it with a heat gun since the heat is forced out like a hair dryer but it will take SO long to cure a shirt. Discharge cures between 300-320 degrees for 2-3 minutes. Since the heat gun only emits heat from a small source an 8" design would take forever. The design I am working on is a full frontal design. Yikes! It will take me twenty minutes to cure one shirt. I am going to do some more research and see how it will work with my little flash dryer.

Jeanette

MY BIG PROJECT!

2011-05-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

My whole screen printing experience so far has been a true blessing. I would not be where I am today without the help and support of Ryonet and Silkscreeningsupplies.com. I started my screen printing business last August with equipment Ryonet gave me for entering a contest.

In November of last year, Ryonet contacted me and offered me a chance to make a "Screen Printing From Home" DVD for them. I jumped at the chance! I absolutely believe in their company and their products and felt truly honored by the opportunity. I am SO EXCITED to say it is now available for sale on their website.

http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/DVDPONDPOOCH

I have a library full of Ryonet DVDs and I use them often. Most of the DVDs I received for free when I attended one of Ryonets weekend classes. They offer classes in Washington, California, New York and Arkansas. Not only did I get a ton of incredible information, I received hundreds of dollars of DVDs on all the screen printing processes, free squeegees, an opportunity to print a shirt using different processes, lunch each day and so much more. It is well worth the cost.

Check out my DVD, "SCREEN PRINTING AT HOME with Jeanette Foss" as well as other educational DVDs offered by Ryonet. Ryonet is a company determined to help you succeed!

Thanks,
Jeanette

IT CREEPS...IT CRAWLS...IT EATS YOU ALIVE!

2011-05-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

Did you ever see the movie "THE BLOB"? It's about an alien creature that resembles a blob of jelly. It eats everything in its path as it keeps growing and growing. A tag line for the movie reads, "It creeps...It crawls...It eats you alive!" The same tag line can be used when talking about plastisol ink. :)

Plastisol ink is very easy to work with but there is one fact you need to remember. Plastisol ink DOES NOT air dry. It must reach 320 degrees before it is cured. If you are not careful, one little drop of ink can spread through your shop in an instant especially if you move your ink containers around the whole shop. I learned that lesson the hard way. I missed a few drops of spilt ink and next thing I knew it is everywhere. I have also forgotten to check my hands before grabbing a new shirt for printing. If I did not catch it before curing the shirt was ruined.

Because of this, I wanted to share a few things I now do in my shop. The first suggestion is to designate an INK ZONE and NEVER move it out of that are. Do all of your ink mixing and screen loading in that area. It's a good idea to have your press close enough to your INK ZONE so you can rotate a screen over and load the ink into the screen. That way ink never leaves the zone and it limits the chance of it going everywhere.

The next suggestion is to get in the habit of cleaning your hands BEFORE you start a printing job. Get all your supplies ready, screens registered and test printing completed. When you know the job is ready to go, clean your hands with a good cleaner. I use ProChem Hand Pro hand cleaner. It works great and you don't need to use very much. If you make a habit of this it will limit the chance of getting ink on a new shirt and ruining it.

I hope you found these suggestions helpful!
Jeanette

MEETING WITH THE ARTIST

2011-05-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

I had my meeting with an artist today. I gave her a run down of my business and what type of drawing I was looking to have done. I have already seen her work and am very confident she can draw my designs. I had two things I was concerned with before I met her.

The first thing I wanted to know was how much each drawing was going to cost. I am happy to say her price works perfectly with my budget. She charges $20 per illustration but she will lower the price to $15 if I need a lot of designs done, which I do. I am very excited. I contacted a couple artists a few months back and the price ranged from $50-$100 per drawing which isn't bad considering you could make that money back with the sale of a few shirts. But when you are working with a tight budget it is good to do your research to find a better deal. The price is right but I had one more big question!

The second thing I wanted to know was if she would be willing to sign a '"WORK-FOR-HIRE" Agreement! Having an artist sign one of them is extremely important. I don't want to pay a lot of money for artwork, print shirts, make lots of money and then have someone come to me and say I can no long use their artwork, even though I paid for it. By signing a "WORK-FOR-HIRE" agreement, the artist is signing over all legal rights to the artwork including the copyright. Some artists do not want to do that but it is one of my requirements before I pay for artwork. She agreed to sign one which was terrific. My two biggest concerns were out of the way. Now we could proceed with the artwork.

I gave her four designs to start out. Two of them are my drawings which need a little adjustment and the other two she would create from some examples I gave her. I am very excited to see how they turn out.

Here is a link to a great "WORK-FOR-HIRE" agreement if you are interested.

http://www.patentek.com/CM/ResourceLinks/ResourceLinks90.asp

As always, thanks for reading my blog! :)
Jeanette

E-commerce Site

2011-05-20T23:50:00.000-07:00

I had a meeting scheduled today with an artist but it had to be re-scheduled for Sunday at noon! I was really looking forward to the meeting to discuss what I need but the cancellation will give me more time to look over my designs and figure out which ones I want her to work on first.

So instead of meeting with the artist I used my time today to get the ball rolling with my e-commerce site. I have had my domain name registered with a hosting company for 2 years now but with so much time needed to learn the screen-printing process and graphic design I haven't had time to focus much attention on my website.

Today I decided to transfer my site over to Volusion and begin work on my official website. I have checked out some other e-commerce providers and Volusion seems to have what I need. My niece transferred her business over to Volusion last year and has nothing but rave reviews for them so I thought I would give them a try. Now comes the task of actually building the website. I am not really looking forward to the process. I would actually prefer to pay someone to build it for me but that is not in the budget right now. I will work on it when I can but until the site is constructed I will sell on etsy.

I am still having some issues with gaps in my colors. I thought I had the trapping and overprinting figured out but it is causing me problems. Right now I'm working through a computer graphics training disc from AdvancedArtist.com. Their training DVD is awesome. I am about ready to start the advanced training DVD where they go more in depth on trapping and overprinting. I can't wait to get to that part because trapping and overprinting is so important when you have multi-colored designs.

I learned a new and VERY cool way to make registration marks in CorelDraw. I am doing a short video on it because I have noticed others asking questions on registration marks in CorelDraw. I will post the video in the next week.

Thanks!
Jeanette

HIRING AN ARTIST

2011-05-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

In a previous post I did on "Money Saving Tips For Screen Printers", I said it was important to know your strengths and hire someone to fill in your weak spots.   I have come a long way with my computer graphics but "drawing from scratch" is still a weak spot for me. Starting a business requires my energy in so many different areas and I just can't seem to find the quiet time to focus on my drawing skills. It is definitely something I want to become proficient with but it requires time I just don't have right now.

Today was my lucky day! I spent this afternoon with my brother and his family. I brought my designs along to show my nieces and get their opinion. It's GREAT to get their perspective because they know what is in style as well as what colors would look good together.  They are very picky when it comes to their clothes so I definitely respect their opinion.   Since they are part of my target market I know if they like a design I am good to go. I told them they were hired as my fashion consultants! :)   I was talking about finding someone to draw my designs and my niece said she had a friend who was an artist.

We popped over to her Facebook page and WOW she is really good. My niece sent her a message and we are scheduled to meet with her next Friday! I am SO excited!  It will be nice to have someone local I can work with. I will definitely let you know how it works out.

Have a great day!
Jeanette

EMULSION

2011-05-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

I spent this week working on my computer graphic training, finishing up a very cool design and coating screens for test printing. I had a little issue with my emulsion so I wanted to do a post about emulsion and the different types that are available.

I currently use DXP Diazo-Photopolymer Dual Cure Direct Emulsion. This emulsion works great but there are a few things you really need to be aware of when working with it. This emulsion must be mixed with a sensitizer called diazo before you use it. The shelf life of unmixed emulsion is 6-8 months but once it is mixed with diazo the shelf life is only 2-3 months. It is VERY important to DATE your emulsion once it is mixed. I always put two dates on my emulsion, 1) the date it was mixed, 2) the date it will expire. My emulsion usually lasts 3 months but this last batch is going bad after only 2 months. I am not sure why this new batch is going bad faster then the previous batches but it is following its 2-3 month shelf life.

Another important thing is DO NOT mix up a gallon of emulsion if you do not print very often. I have a small shop and don't print every day or even every week so I only buy emulsion in quarts. It wouldn't make sense to mix a gallon of emulsion because it would go bad before I could use it all. I can buy gallons once production increases.

Ryonet has a few new emulsions I wanted to mention. I plan on giving them a try to see if there is a difference.

"Ryonet HiFi Photopolymer Emulsion is a one part, ready-to-use textile emulsion and is recommended for plastisol inks. It offers durability and excellent image quality. Due to the product's high solids it yields a better coating, thicker stencils, sharper edges and excellent resolution. HiFi is pre-sensitized and does NOT require the addition of Diazo."

"Ryonet SVP Photopolymer Emulsion is a blue, one part ready-to-use emulsion for bother graphic and textile applications. This Hybrid Plastisol and Solvent friendly emulsion is great for shops doing all types of printing. It offers durability, excellent image quality and superior coating characteristics. due to its hybrid dual-cure/pre-sensitized formula, SVP produces sharper edges and unsurpassed resolution. This product is pre-sensitized and does not require the addition of Diazo."

"WBP Hybrid Emulsion! WBP is specially formulated to provide all the best characteristics of dual cure plastisol emulsion with important water resistant properties. If you're running a lot of water base and discharge but also doing plastisol prints you can use this emulsion for everything. WBP is easier to use but holds up just as well as other water resistant emulsions. It also reclaims much quicker and easier which is a huge time and frustration saver!"

I want to try the WBP Hybrid Emulsion. It makes sense to use a multi-purpose emulsion. I hope you found this information helpful. As always, thanks for reading!

Jeanette

EXPERIMENTING WITH FOIL

2011-05-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

Today I did a little experiment with FOIL and it turned out fantastic. I am very excited with the results. My previous understanding of foil is that you needed to use a very low mesh count screen, such as a 60 mesh screen. Foil adhesive has granules in it and you need a low mesh count so the granules would be able to pass through the screen. Using such a low mesh screen means you would lose detail in your image. I have seen many detailed designs with foil and had wondered how they kept the detail in the image.

Last night I was on reading a post on Facebook which talked about using 110 mesh screens for foil. That really peeked my interest so today I thought I would try it. I did not have any 110 screens coated with emulsion so I used a 156 mesh screen I already had burned. This particular screen was coated with a 1 x 1 layer of emulsion. The image on the screen had a distressed effect to it which made my experiment even more exciting. :)

A 2 x 1 coating would have been better because it would lay down a thicker coat of adhesive. I did two or three pulls of the squeegee and flashed it for 7 seconds. There was not a very thick layer of adhesive so I did not think it would turn out. I heat pressed the foil for 15 seconds @ 325 degrees with my Hotronix MAXX heat press set to medium pressure. It turned out great! I noticed a few spots on the design that did not turn out but I think if I use a 110 mesh screen more adhesive will pass through the screen and I will be able to pick up all the detail.

Here is a snap shot of part of the design.

It turned out fantastic even though I used a 156 mesh screen with a 1 x 1 coating of emulsion. I even sent it through the washer and dryer and it held up great. I am really excited to work on some foil designs.

Thanks for reading!
Jeanette

WEEKEND AGENDA: COMPUTER TRAINING!

2011-05-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

WEEKEND AGENDA: COMPUTER TRAINING!!

The biggest challenge for me is the graphics part of screen-printing. There is a learning curve with the whole process but t-shirt designing starts with the design itself. Knowing how to put a design together is the most important part, at least I think so.

I have definitely come a long way with my designing but I have quite a bit more to learn. Printing words on a shirt is easy. Knowing how to make them POP off the shirt is the challenge. The designs I've been working on lately are more detailed and have more layers to them. I am having a little difficulty putting these new designs together.

CORELDRAW is the program I use for designing. I love using CORELDRAW! It is a very easy program to learn but there is LOTS to learn. My designs have been pretty simple so far so I hadn't focused a ton of time on the more advanced features of CorelDraw. Now that I am venturing into more difficult designs I need to learn all the tools available to me. I have a TON of designs in my head and on paper but they do me no good if I can't put them together on the computer.

I just did a blog post and video on "Money Saving Tips for Success!", where I talked about knowing your strengths and weaknesses. If you have a weak spot, hire someone to do it for you. I absolutely agree with that or I wouldn't have suggested it. :) But, when the budget is tight you must figure out how to do it yourself. :)

I decided to focus ALL of my attention on learning the many features of CorelDraw before I continue with my designing. Luckily I purchased a CorelDraw Power Training CD from advancedartist.com and it is AWESOME. It takes you from basic tools to more advanced tools. I started it last weekend and I am hoping to finish it in a week. I won't be a pro at it in a week but it will definitely put me on the right path.

Thanks for reading!
Jeanette

Money Saving Tips - THE VIDEO

2011-05-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a video showing all my money saving tips. It better details what I am talking about.

Enjoy!

These tips have been entered in a contest to win a CONVEYOR DRYER. The contest is sponsored by Ryonet and Silkscreeningsupplies.com. If you would like to help me out please visit silkscreeningsupplies.com's FACEBOOK FAN PAGE (the one with the red Next Generation banner on the logo)....find the post talking about me, THE PONDERING POOCH and CLICK "LIKE". Feel free to pass this along to your friends.

CONTEST RUNS MAY 2, 2011 to MAY 6, 2011 (midnight)
Thanks for your support!
Jeanette

Money Saving Tips For Success!

2011-04-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

With the cost of goods rising in all areas of the economy, we as consumers and business owners must rethink our spending priorities and business practices. Business owners need to look at every aspect of their business to find areas needing improvement. Top priority as a business owner is finding ways to save money, cut costs and increase production. Are there products we cut from our budget or lower cost options to products? What are some things we can change in the production process that will enable us to save time and speed up production? What areas are we wasting money?

Getting a business off the ground can be a financial strain so saving money when possible has always been a top priority to me. Over the last few months, I have learned some tricks to save time, money and speed up production. I also found areas in my business where I wasted money as well as areas I should have spent money.

Enjoy!

Trade Shows and Professionals
My biggest mistake so far has been NOT attending a trade show such as ISS or NBM. Trade shows pull together professionals in all aspects of apparel decoration and screen-printing. You can talk to professionals about heat transfers, embroidery, bling, screen-printing and more. Apparel manufacturers are there to display new and top selling styles. The information available at a trade show is invaluable. Take the time to attend a trade show or you will spend unnecessary money and many, many hours searching for products and the answers to your questions.

Know Your Strengths
There are many steps to the screen printing process and you may or may not be proficient in all of them. However, the good thing is there are people out there who can fill in the gaps. If you are not an artist…hire one. If you do not know how to turn art to vector graphics, hire someone who can do it for you. If you do not have a printer for your transparencies, there are companies who will print them for you. So, know what your strengths are and hire someone to fill in the weak spots. It will save you time, money and lots of stress.

Be Organized
It is so important to have thing your shop organized before, during and after printing. Taking 10 minutes to find screen tape means 10 minutes you are NOT printing shirts. Have a list of things needed for printing and make sure you have it BEFORE you start. It is wasted time if you stop printing to find a bottle of screen wash 147. If you are not printing shirts, you are NOT making money. Keeping things organized lessens the chance of mishaps like broken screens, spilt ink or chipped scoop coater.

Clean Up When the Job Is Finished
You just finished an order of 100 shirts. All you have to do now is clean up the mess but you are hot, sweaty and tired so you put it off until tomorrow. Tomorrow rolls around and you get busy with another project so more time passes before you start on the clean up process. Finally, you go to clean the screens but the ink is tough to get out. It takes more time and more chemicals to get the screens clean. After 30 minutes, you still cannot get the ghost image out of one screen. Is this a familiar scenario? I know it has happened to me. Clean up when the job is finished or it will cost you time and money later.

TIPS TO INCREASE PRODUCTION...
Cooling Your Pallet
Waiting for your pallet to cool between flashes can be very time consuming. Buy yourself a small fan ($6 at Wal-mart) and use it to cool your pallet. You can attach it to your flash dryer or somewhere on your press. This will increase production time tremendously.

Use a Timer When Curing
Curing each shirt the same way and for the same amount of time is very important. This really comes into play if you are using a flash dryer instead of a conveyor dryer. Forgetting how long a shirt is under the flash dryer can cause under curing or even burning a shirt, both of which cost you money. Buy yourself a timer ($9 at Wal-mart). When the timer beeps, the shirt is done!! No more losing count because you were jamming out to a song on the radio. :)

SAVING ON EMULSION...
Expose More Then One Image per Screen
You spend a lot of time (and emulsion) getting a screen ready to burn a 2” image. Instead of wasting the space, try burning another image on the other end of the screen. You can use a blend guide or a piece of wood as a stop between images. I have used this method with smaller images and it works great. This can save money on emulsion costs.

Scoop Coater Scoop
It gets difficult to put excess emulsion back into its container. Spatulas, putty knives and goop scoops can only remove so much emulsion. Make yourself a scoop coater scoop! Take the end off an empty scoop coater and trace the inside angle of the scoop coater onto a piece of cardboard. Cut out the shape and you now have a scoop coater scoop. After coating screens, pop the end off your scoop coater and use your new scoop coater scoop to put remaining emulsion back into its container. You will be amazed at how much emulsion you can save! (Wipe off your scoop coater scoop with a wet rage and re-use it.)

Test Prints
Save money by using shirts for test prints. Use your misprinted shirts, pick them up from the thrift store or ask friends for used shirts. Print on every space possible. Turn the shirt inside out and print on the inside of it. You can save a ton of money this way.

Rags For Clean Up
You can use a ton of paper towels in a screen-printing shop. Paper towels are expensive! Cut up your test print shirts and use them for rags instead. Throw them in the wash and use them over and over again. They wash up great! Wow, the money you can save!

Other Money Wasters
Disposable gloves! How many disposable gloves does your shop go through? I know it is easy to just pull them off and throw them in the trash but you are wasting a ton of money. Just because they say, “disposable” does not mean you can’t reuse them. I use mine many times before they go in the trash.

Foil! Do not throw away used or crinkled foil. You can use crinkled foil for a distressed effect. Take your used foil and use it for smaller projects. Foils are not expensive but why not get as many uses out of it as possible.

Thanks for reading!
Jeanette

MAKE YOUR OWN T-SHIRT FOLDING BOARD FOR UNDER $7

2011-04-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

It is important to always put your best foot forward when it comes to customer service. I believe the little things make a big impact. After I printed my first order I ironed each shirt and folded them nice and neat before delivering them to the client. Putting forth a little extra effect gives a good impression of your company and it shows your customers that you appreciate their business.

My biggest order so far was 40 shirts which did not take long to fold. But when I start getting 100 or 200 shirt orders coming in it will take me some time to hand fold them all. That is where a "T-SHIRT FOLDING BOARD" comes in handy. They are nifty little gadgets and will work for any size shirt. You can buy one online for $20 but I always like to find cheaper ways to do things.

I found a plan to make one online but it used foam and I did not think foam would last very long. I guess that is why their cost to make it was $2. I had recently purchased a 2' x 4' piece of pegboard for another project and I thought it would work great for a folding board so I went back to Lowe's and bought another one. (Total cost with tax was $5.85) It only took 20 minutes to make the folding board and it works GREAT!! I may even use it to fold my own clothes. :)

Here is a video on how to build your t-shirt folding board! Enjoy!

If you are not up to building one you can get one on ebay or search the web! :)

As always, thanks for watching my videos and following my blog!
Jeanette

SURVEY SAYS

2011-04-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

Is there such a thing as a "perfect" shirt for printing? No, not really! Everyone has there own style. Some like their shirts loose and some like them form fitting. The idea is to find the right shirt for each of the styles and more importantly find the right shirt that fits "YOUR" shirt designs and will sell to "YOUR" customer base.

Right now I am conducting a survey to find out what customers prefer....form fitting or loose! At the moment "loose" seems to be the preferred fit. I want to try and get the right shirt from the start but I may have to try a few different shirts to find the right one. I purchased two shirt samples a few days ago but again, I am not happy with the cut. I ordered a BELLA 8703 which is a sheer rib scoop neck tee. The shirt feels great but YIKES, the scoop neck is VERY low. I also ordered an ANVIL OR428 which is a ladies 5 oz organic cotton tee. This shirt feels awesome but the medium I ordered fits me like a large and it is not a fitted tee. I have ordered 8 or 9 different women's shirts but have not found one I really like.

I did some more research and found a few more companies I hadn't checked out before.

TSC Apparel has their own brand of shirts called TULTEX (tultex.net). Both the men's and women's shirts look nice and their price isn't bad.

BareApparel.com has some GREAT shirts but they are very expensive ($12 +). They offer shirts similar to what the Affliction brand prints on. Lots of cool washes. If you were selling your shirts for $30-$40 it would be worth it to purchase them.

I looks like epacificsports.com has some nice shirts with great prices. I did not see any women's shirts on their site which was a bummer but I may order a few of the men's shirts to check them out.

Royalapparel.net has some nice shirts but expensive like American Apparel.

While my survey is in progress I will order a few samples from the above companies. Maybe I will be lucky and come close to finding the "perfect" shirt.

Jeanette

THE IMPORTANCE OF FACEBOOK

2011-04-22T23:34:00.000-07:00

Business is picking up at a nice pace. I have three prospective orders in the works and I am talking with another co-worker about an order. I have not even advertised yet. All of the orders have come from friends and co-workers on Facebook. You gotta love FACEBOOK!!! And it is free advertising which makes it even better.

I am not real worried about getting orders. I am planning some monthly specials once my advertising campaign begins. Summer is approaching quickly and summer time means family reunions, church outings, girl scout and boy scout events and summer sports leagues Lots of printing opportunities available.

The first thing on my advertising list is to re-vamp my Facebook page. I made a mistake when I first set up my Facebook fan page. Right now I have it directly linked to my personal Facebook page. The down side of that is when I want to make a comment on another Facebook page it shows my name and my personal picture NOT The Pondering Pooch Logo. Having The Pondering Pooch Logo show up with my comments is an awesome way to get my company name out there. And again, it is FREE advertising. I am always looking up other businesses by way of Facebook comments. I have found some very cool Facebook pages that way.

Re-vamping my Facebook Fan page is my top priority for the next few days. Once it is not linked to my personal Facebook page I can start the advertising campaign. :)

As always....thanks so much for following my blog! If you have any questions or comments please feel free to share.

Jeanette

HELP ME WIN A CONVEYOR DRYER

2011-04-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday re-arranging my shop AGAIN!! I had to make room for my niffty conveyor dryer I built. It is actually just a sliding table. I installed my ventilation system last week. The ventilation box sits right above the flash dryer and sucks up the fumes coming from the cured shirt. Since the system is stationary I need to have my flash dryer stationary as well so I built a table that will slide back and forth.

Here is a picture of the sliding table before I slide it under the flash dryer.

Here is a picture of the table after I side it under the flash dryer.

My space is limited in my shop so I had to build something that would go in a straight line. It would have been easier to build something that rotated in a circle which would have given me more spots for shirts but not enough space. I may have to extend the walls of my shop so I can put in a circular table but this will do for now.

I have a chance to win a CONVEYOR DRYER in this months Ryonet blogger contest. We have to post atleast 10 tips to save time and money in screen-printing. The winner will be decided by online voting. I will have to pull out all stops on this one because I REALLY want the conveyor dryer.

APRIL BLOGGER CONTEST DETAILS

APRIL 30th - My 10 time and money saving tips will be posted (I have some great ideas to save money!)
APRIL 2nd - Voting begins (http://www.ryonetblog.com/)
APRIL 6th - Winner of the conveyor dryer is announced

Mark the dates on your calendar. :) Only four days to cast your vote so please go to http://www.ryonetblog.com/ and vote for THE PONDERING POOCH.

Thanks!
Jeanette

NEW GIG

2011-04-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

I received an interesting email a few days ago. A friend of mine from work emailed me and wanted to know if I gave screen-printing lessons. She is interested in learning so she can print t-shirts for her husbands band as well as print shirts for her daughter-in-laws business. I thought it was a very interesting idea and could possibly turn into something.

Since I mostly want to print for myself I would not be worried about someone taking possible business from me so I wouldn't have a problem giving lessons. I am still very new to the whole screen-printing process and I definitely have lots more to learn but I am very capable and confident I could teach others about the process. I do enjoy teaching and this is definitely a fun subject to teach. Plus it would mean another avenue to generate money. :)

I talked to my friend at work a few days after her email and started to explain the process to her. She didn't realize there were so many components to it but she was definitely interested in learning more. I think most people do not realize all the steps involved in taking an idea and ending up with a finished product. I have co-works asking me if I can make them a shirt without realizing the time involved. Even a one color image takes hours of time to create. I think a video detailing the whole process is in the near future.

It is always good to keep your mind open to new ideas!

Jeanette

NEW ORDER

2011-04-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

I picked up another order today! Yippie!! It is a "future" order but at least it is an order. :) The only bad thing is they want nick-names on the back of each shirt. Yuck! I have screen-printed player names ONCE before and it was not fun. I had to use 7 different screens with 2-3 names on each screen. The whole process was SO time consuming I said I would never do individual names again.

Luckily I have a heat press now so can heat press the names. I will do an Internet search for heat transfer lettering. Eventually I would like to purchase a vinyl plotter. Then I could just whip up the names myself. :) Being able to offer individual names and numbers is definitely a plus for business. I would hate to turn away business but if I did not have my heat press I would either have to bid the job VERY high or send them to someone else.

There are many aspects of screen-printing but the good thing is you can always find someone who can do part of the process you are having a problem with. If you don't want to coat your screens buy them pre-coated. You can find someone to draw your art, vector your art, burn your screens and color separate your images. Whatever you need, I am sure there is someone out there who can do it for you.

Jeanette

The Importance of ISS Shows

2011-04-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

My biggest mistake so far has been NOT attending an ISS Show. It certainly would have saved me lots of money and lots of stress. What is an ISS Show? It is the Imprinted Sportswear Shows. The exhibitors at these conventions include embroidery companies, screen printing companies, companies that make chemicals for screen printing, equipment manufactures and more. Everything you can think of that will help you decorate your apparel. But the most important vendors, in my opinion, are the apparel companies themselves.

Since I am trying to launch my own designs it is VERY important to have the right shirt. I have spent so much money trying to find the "RIGHT" shirt to print on. I read everything I can about a shirt, order it and then it turns out to not be the right look or feel. That is a lot of time, frustration and wasted money I could have avoided if I had attended an ISS Show. There are so many questions I could have asked the vendor. "What does ring spun mean?" "What is a cap sleeve?" "What is a 1 x 1 rib cut?" "What the heck is cotton conversion blend?" "What colors and what styles are popular?"

The next ISS Show is September 8-11 in Atlanta, Georgia. Unfortunately, I can not wait that long. I need to find the right shirt NOW!! My designs are ready for production buy I am stuck because I have not found the right women's shirt to print on. I am also looking for other products to print on and I don't want to waste more money buying samples.

I am considering taking a field trip in the next week or so. Broder Bros. has a show room for all their products. I can go there and get a hands on look at the products that interest me. The nearest one is in San Jose, Ca. It is a 6 1/2 hour drive or 1 1/2 hour flight from Las Vegas. Not only do I need the perfect women's shirt, I am also looking for a different tote bag. This trip was not in my business budget but I know it will save me time and money in the future.

Jeanette

4-Color Press vs 6-Color Press

2011-04-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

The first press I bought was a 1-color, 1-station silver press from Ryonet. After I printed my first shirt I knew I wanted a multi-color press. All of the sudden I had colorful designs popping into my head. I was already looking to buy a 4-color press when Ryonet had their blogger contest. As an entrant into the contest I was lucky enough to receive a 4-color press for free. It is a fantastic piece of equipment and I LOVE it. It has really given me so much versatility.

As great as my 4-color press is, I am looking forward to the day I can purchase a 6-color press. Why the upgrade? More versatility!! I am in the process of designing a 3-4 color print for a very special person. (I will tell you who that is later!) :) Handling a 4-color design with my press is not a problem. Here is the issue....the design is 3-4 colors FRONT and BACK!! So after I print the front of the shirt I will have to remove the screens and go through the whole set-up process for the back of the shirt. If I had a 6-color press I could set the whole job up at once and have it printed in no time.

I can definitely see the advantages of having a 6-color press. There are other printing processes including 4-color process and simulated process. I am not familiar with those but I think one of them requires more then four screens. When I start to venture into those processes I will consider upgrading my press. For now I am enjoying my 4-color press and all that it has allowed me to do.

Jeanette

A Productive Week!

2011-04-02T00:50:00.000-07:00

This has been a very productive week. The shop is looking fantastic. The new exhaust system is in and works good. It sure was a pain in the butt figuring out how to do it. Thank goodness I have seven brothers. I know I can give them a call when I get stuck on something. I am still working on the conveyor dryer project. I called my brother Peder to see if he had any ideas. He is very good at building things so I figured he could help me with my project. He had a few ideas pop in his head while we were talking so hopefully we can come up with something. I just need a temporary conveyor dryer until I can afford to buy a new one.

Now that my shop is set up properly I feel comfortable taking jobs. I have started doing a little networking and already have a few possible prospects. One particular job could turn into some big orders. I will love the business but I still want to keep it low key for a few more months. Once my designs are up and running I can commit more time for custom orders.

Later!
Jeanette

Tsunami dog rescued after 3 weeks at sea!

2011-04-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this amazing rescue. I can't believe he survived the tsunami let alone three weeks at sea. What a happy ending for this little guy. :)

MY NEW SCREEN DRYING RACK

2011-03-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do a post and show my new screen drying rack I built. I am a happy camper! :) I no longer have to worry about shifting the screens around and poking holes in them. Now they are safely tucked away. It is important to have the right tools for the job and to have your shop neatly organized.

I love building things so I had lots of fun doing this project and the price was right. The total cost of the rack was under $25 and I still have wood left over. I need to order more screens so I will have to build another rack. Yippie!

Here is a video on making my rack. ENJOY!

RACK DIMENSIONS
2 sides - 30 3/8" tall x 25" deep (used 3/4" MDF)
1 back - 30 3/8" tall x 21 3/4" wide (used 1/2" MDF)
Top & Bottom 25 1/2" Long x 21 3/4" wide (used 1/2" MDF)
Braces - 22 strips, 25" long x 3/4" wide, spaced 1 3/4" apart (used 3/4" MDF)

This rack will hold 11 wood or aluminum screens.
I screwed it together so it would be easy to take apart if needed. I have it on wheels so it is very easy to move around.

You can always buy a screen rack if you are not up to building your own. :) I enjoyed building my own rack but I would have no problem buying a new one if the funds were available.

Jeanette

THE IMPORTANCE OF A BUSINESS PLAN

2011-03-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

QUICK UPDATE
On my agenda for this week was building a screen drying rack, installing the exhaust system in the shop and building a portable conveyor dryer. I finished my screen drying rack. Yippie!! It turned out very nice. I will work on the exhaust system as soon as I finish this post. I need to pick up a few more things in the morning and should have it completed by tomorrow afternoon. As soon as I have it installed I can do some printing. :) No printing until the fumes are sucked out of the shop. :)

THE IMPORTANCE OF A BUSINESS PLAN
According to an article on businessknowhow.com, the number five reason a business fails is "LACK OF PLANNING".
"Many small businesses fail because of fundamental shortcomings in their business planning. It must be realistic and based on accurate, current information and educated projections for the future."

I have been a research nut since the beginning of this venture. It is very time consuming and a little frustrating because I want to get this thing launched NOW! But I know if I do the planning and needed research now I will have less pitfalls down the road.

I have set a final launch date for my business and because success depends on careful planning, I have enlisted help with making sure everything is in order. Next Friday I have a meeting scheduled with a SCORE (Counselors to Americas Small Businesses) representative. SCORE (score.org) is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA.gov). They offer FREE help and resources to anyone who asks.

While I was on their website I found some great information on writing a business plan. Here is the link: Business Plan for a Startup Business. After reading over this information, I realized just how important a business plan is and the research needed to write an effective one. With the research I have done so far, I am hoping I can write a preliminary business plan before my meeting. I can go back as many times as I need but it would be nice to get as much information covered the first visit.

As always, THANKS for checking out my blog!!
Jeanette

UPDATE ON MISC. STUFF

2011-03-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

I am still waiting for the wind to stop blowing here in Las Vegas so I can build my screen drying rack. Today I re-claimed 7 screens and had to use the rack I already have. I had to do a little shifting but it worked. After I put everything away I found another screen I needed to clean. Ugh! It was sitting on the press. :(

The exhaust system will be in this week and if the wind cooperates, the drying rack will be built. I also need to buy one storage unit for all my supplies. It is suggested that you store your chemicals in a metal storage unit because they are flammable. Being the cautious person that I am, I plan on buying a metal one this week.

My homemade conveyor dryer did not work out as planned. I was kind of winging it anyway. :) I am still going to build one but I have to re-vamp my plans. I have limited space in my shop so it has to be a small portable type that I can move when needed. I really need another flash dryer to speed production. One flash dryer would be used as the conveyor dryer for final curing and the other one would be used for flash curing when needed. This is just a low cost conveyor dryer option. The ultimate goal is to buy a regular conveyor dryer which will happen when funds permit.

These are the last few things I need to finish in the shop. If I can get it all accomplished this week I will be a happy camper. The washout room and booth are another story. Ugh!

Later!
Jeanette

SCREEN DRYING RACK

2011-03-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well, my plan for today was to build myself a screen rack but the weather here in Las Vegas did not cooperate with me. Since I moved my screen printing shop to the garage I can't use my tools in there because of the dust. I was planning to build my rack in the back yard but it is VERY windy and cold. The cold is fine but I did not feel like having saw dust blown in my face and eyes. The weather is supposed to be bad for a few days so my screen rack will have to wait.

At the moment, my drying rack is in the bedroom closet and only has four slots.

This works fine most of the time but I have a total of 11 screens and at times I need to dry more then four at a time. Things become very time consuming when I have to wait for screens to dry. I also want to have all of my screens protected. I noticed a small tear in one of my screens and I am sure it is from having to shift things around all the time. The tear does not affect my prints so far but eventually I will need to have the screen re-meshed.

I do not mind building a rack but it would be nice if I could just buy one instead. :)

Screen rack from silkscreeningsupplies.com

Eventually I will buy one of these rolling racks but for now I will have to build my own. :)

Thanks for checking out my blog!
Jeanette

EMERGENCY PLAN FOR YOUR PETS

2011-03-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

The devastation in Japan made me realize I have not prepared myself for any type of natural disaster. It is hard enough to take care of yourself in an emergency but what the heck would I do with my dogs? I certainly would not leave them behind. It is not something I think about every day but you never know when an emergency will happen. So yesterday I decided to pack an emergency kit for myself and one for my dogs. I found this article on the Internet today and thought it would be great information to share.

For more information check out:

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/disaster-preparedness/

Be Prepared: Emergency Plan For Your Pets

The devastation in Japan this week is a sobering reminder of how everything can change in a moment, and the harrowing images beg the question: How prepared are you for a natural disaster? Here is an excellent article for pet guardians on what we need to know and do to care for our furry family members in the event of an emergency. – Global Animal

By ASPCA
Emergencies come in many forms, and they may require anything from a brief absence from your home to permanent evacuation. Each type of disaster requires different measures to keep your pets safe. The best thing you can do for yourself and your pets is to be prepared.

Step 1 Get a Rescue Alert Sticker
This easy-to-use sticker will let people know that pets are inside your home. Make sure it is visible to rescue workers, and that it includes 1) the types and number of pets in your household; 2) the name of your veterinarian; and 3) your veterinarian’s phone number. If you must evacuate with your pets, and if time allows, write “EVACUATED” across the stickers.

To get a free emergency pet alert sticker for your home, please fill out our online order form ; please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Your local pet supply store may also sell similar stickers.

Step 2 Arrange a Safe Haven
Arrange a safe haven for your pets in the event of evacuation. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PETS BEHIND. Remember, if it isn’t safe for you, it isn’t safe for your pets. They may become trapped or escape and be exposed to numerous life-threatening hazards. Note that not all Red Cross disaster shelters accept pets, so it is imperative that you have determined where you will bring your pets ahead of time:

Contact your veterinarian for a list of preferred boarding kennels and facilities.

Ask your local animal shelter if they provide emergency shelter or foster care for pets.

Identify hotels or motels outside of your immediate area that accept pets.

Ask friends and relatives outside your immediate area if they would be willing to take in your pet.

Step 3 Emergency Supplies and Traveling Kits
Keep an Evac-Pack and supplies handy for your pets. Make sure that everyone in the family knows where it is. This kit should be clearly labeled and easy to carry. Items to consider keeping in or near your pack include:

Pet first-aid kit and guide book (ask your vet what to include, or visit the ASPCA Store to buy one online)
3-7 days’ worth of canned (pop-top) or dry food (be sure to rotate every two months)
Disposable litter trays (aluminum roasting pans are perfect)
Litter or paper toweling
Liquid dish soap and disinfectant
Disposable garbage bags for clean-up
Pet feeding dishes
Extra harness and leash (Note: harnesses are recommended for safety and security)
Photocopies of medical records and a waterproof container with a two-week supply of any medicine your pet requires (Remember, food and medications need to be rotated out of your emergency kit—otherwise they may go bad or become useless.)
Bottled water, at least 7 days’ worth for each person and pet (store in a cool, dry place and replace every two months)
A traveling bag, crate or sturdy carrier, ideally one for each pet
Flashlight
Blanket (for scooping up a fearful pet)
Recent photos of your pets (in case you are separated and need to make “Lost” posters)
Especially for cats: Pillowcase or EvackSack, toys, scoopable litter
Especially for dogs: Long leash and yard stake, toys and chew toys, a week’s worth of cage liner.

You should also have an emergency kit for the human members of the family. Items to include: Batteries, duct tape, flashlight, radio, multi-tool, tarp, rope, permanent marker, spray paint, baby wipes, protective clothing and footwear, extra cash, rescue whistle, important phone numbers, extra medication and copies of medical and insurance information.

Step 4 Choose “Designated Caregivers”
This step will take considerable time and thought. When choosing a temporary caregiver, consider someone who lives close to your residence. He or she should be someone who is generally home during the day while you are at work or has easy access to your home. A set of keys should be given to this trusted individual. This may work well with neighbors who have pets of their own—you may even swap responsibilities, depending upon who has accessibility.

When selecting a permanent caregiver, you’ll need to consider other criteria. This is a person to whom you are entrusting the care of your pet in the event that something should happen to you. When selecting this “foster parent,” consider people who have met your pet and have successfully cared for animals in the past. Be sure to discuss your expectations at length with a permanent caregiver, so he or she understands the responsibility of caring for your pet.

Step 5 Evacuation Preparation
If you must evacuate your home in a crisis, plan for the worst-case scenario. If you think you may be gone for only a day, assume that you may not be allowed to return for several weeks. When recommendations for evacuation have been announced, follow the instructions of local and state officials. To minimize evacuation time, take these simple steps:

Store an emergency kit and leashes as close to an exit as possible.

Make sure all pets wear collars and tags with up-to-date identification. Your pet’s ID tag should contain his name, telephone number, and any urgent medical needs. Be sure to write your pet’s name, your name and contact information on your pet’s carrier.

The ASPCA recommends micro chipping your pet as a more permanent form of identification. A microchip is implanted in the animal’s shoulder area, and can be read by scanner at most animal shelters.

Always bring pets indoors at the first sign or warning of a storm or disaster. Pets can become disoriented and wander away from home during a crisis.

Consider your evacuation route and call ahead to make arrangements for boarding your pet outside of the danger zone at the first sign of disaster.

Step 6 Geographic and Climatic Considerations
Do you live in an area that is prone to certain natural catastrophes, such as tornadoes, earthquakes or floods? If so, you should plan accordingly.

Determine well in advance which rooms offer safe havens. These rooms should be clear of hazards such as windows, flying debris, etc.

Choose easy-to-clean areas such as utility rooms, bathrooms, and basements as safe zones.

Access to a supply of fresh water is particularly important. In areas that may lose electricity, fill up bathtubs and sinks ahead of time to ensure that you have access to water during a power outage or other crises.

In the event of flooding, go to the highest location in your home, or a room that has access to counters or high shelves where your animals can take shelter.

If emergency officials recommend that you stay in your home, it’s crucial that you keep your pets with you. Keep your Evac-Pack and supplies close at hand. Your pets may become stressed during the in-house confinement, so you may consider crating them for safety and comfort.

Here is a link if you would like to donate to animal rescue groups in Japan.
http://www.globalanimal.org/2011/03/15/how-to-help-japan-pets/32243/

Thanks!
Jeanette

WHAT HAVE I LEARNED SO FAR?

2011-03-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

Starting a business is a challenge and quite a learning experience. It takes time, time, time and money, money, money. One of the biggest things I have learned so far is the financial aspect of it. When you think you have figured out the start up capital you need.......ADD $1,000 to $2,000 more to that total. Always expected the unexpected!! Things will pop up that you had not considered or things you had considered will cost you MORE then you had thought.

Since I am doing the screen printing myself, I have to consider the cost of the equipment and supplies needed to produce the products I will sell. That includes the press, screens, flash dryer, inks, squeegees, printer and film, cleaning chemicals, tape, emulsion etc. I have been lucky in that most of my equipment was provided free from Ryonet. But again, expected the unexpected. Supplies do not last forever so make sure you have the funds to replace those supplies when you need them.

Beyond the equipment and supplies needed to produce your products, you need to think of the following list of items, all of which costs money.

1) Business structure......Sole proprietor, Partnership, LLC, Incorporation
2) Trade Marks......costs $375 +
3) Phone.....1-800 number, land line, cell phone
4) Website.....how do you want to sell your products?
5) Merchant Acct......Always a plus to accept credit cards
6) Credit Card Equipment.....check into portable equipment for craft fairs etc.
7) Business Insurance.....Insure your equipment and supply investment
8) Stationary, business cards and marketing materials
9) Order Forms
10) Price Sheet.....Invaluable for a screen printer
11) Shipping Materials....bags, labels etc.
12) Office supplies, storage and shelving
13) Mail box....if your business is home based and you want to use a different address

I have definitely overlooked some of these things. I have been more focused on learning the screen printing process, working on my designs and acquiring the equipment I need to produce a variety of products. My designs are ready for production so now I am working on the things I have not checked off the list from above.

YOU ONLY HAVE ONE TIME TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION!!!
I could do a partial launch without everything checked off that list but I want to make the best impression possible the first time around. For instance, I could print a shirt and ship it in a priority box from USPS and probably be just fine. But I think it would make a better impression if I ship it in a container with a professionally printed company logo. I think the little things make all the difference.

Only a few more things to check off the list!! :)
Jeanette

EXHAUST SYSTEM

2011-03-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

I partially met my weekend goal of having one design ready to put online by Sunday. The design is definitely ready to go but I am delaying the actual printing of the shirts. The delay is because the exhaust system in the shop is not set up yet. I thought I could do a small run of shirts without it set up but after printing and curing four test prints the smell from the cleaning chemicals and fumes from the curing shirts started to build up. I am being cautious for a few reasons.

First, my shop is now set up in my garage where the gas hot water heater is set up. Gas water heater means open flame. I do not know if there would be a reaction between a built up of fumes and the open flame but I certainly do not want to take a chance.

Second, I do not want all the fumes and chemical smell going into my system. I have not had any reactions yet but when you are dealing with chemicals you want to take as many precautions as possible. Better to be safe then sorry.

It will take me a few days to set up the exhaust system and then I will be ready to go. It is a simple exhaust system and total cost is under $50. I will do a post of it when its finished.

One step at a time!!
Jeanette

RIGHT ON TRACK

2011-03-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

I was really on a roll today. My goal for this weekend was to have one design ready to go online no later then tomorrow. I am right on track for that goal but I also finished four other designs in the process. :) Sweet!! Once I started working on designs my creativity went into overdrive. My screens will be dry in an hour or so but I will probably wait till tomorrow for printing.

All the screens I used today were 156 mesh. I coated each screen with a 1 x 1 coat of DXP dual cure emulsion using the thin side of the scoop coater. When I burned the first screen I forgot to put weight on top to hold the transparency tight against the screen. The image turned out fine but I made myself slow down with the rest of the screens so I would not make that mistake again. I burned the screens for 4 minutes using Ryonets RXP 20 x 24 Exposure unit.

I burned the screens 15 seconds longer then the recommended time but the emulsion on the ink side of the screen was a little slimy when I washed out the image. From my understanding, that means the screen was not exposed long enough. Hmmm! Previous screens I had burned for the recommended time of 3 minutes 45 seconds were slimy, that is why I increased the exposure time for this run. I will try increasing it another 15 seconds when I burn the next screens and see what happens.

Schedule for tomorrow.....PRINTING!
Jeanette

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

2011-03-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by the devastation in Japan. May their faith give them the strength and will to get through this incredibly tough time.

ONE DESIGN BY SUNDAY

2011-03-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

Yippie, it is Friday!! I love Fridays!! Today is extra special because it is MY BIRTHDAY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! :) No, I am not going to tell you how old I am. I will always be young at heart! :) I took an extra day off work so now I have three days to concentrate on screen printing.

My goal is to have shirts printed and online by Sunday. I am starting with one design printed on one color of shirt. I can add other color shirts down the road. The design is already done I just need to print it out on 8.5 x 14 waterproof R-Film. Then comes the screen. I will be using a 156 mesh aluminum screen coated with a 1 x 1 layer of emulsion.

Right now I need to mix the diazo into the emulsion and let it sit for 2 hours to let the bubbles release from the emulsion. While that is sitting I need to wash out some screens. My new washout room is on hold for a couple weeks so I have to do the screen cleaning in the house. Yuck! I will be glad when I do not have to drag a house through the house anymore.

Time to get busy! Later
Jeanette

TEST PRINTS

2011-03-04T21:54:00.000-08:00

It is Friday and time for some screen printing. :) I was actually able to do some printing in my new shop. Yeah!! The last thing I need to do is organize and install some ventilation. Today I did a test print for a design which has a distressed effect on it. I was not sure which distress effect I liked so I exposed ten different ones on a 156 mesh screen. The majority of them turned out great but I noticed the ones with a lot of half tones in them did not expose all the way.

The solution to this problem is using a higher mesh screen such as a 230 or 305. The higher screen mesh allows you to pick up more detail. I think a 230 would work fine so I will have to put them on my order list. I will have to thin the ink with curable reducer when I use a higher screen mesh which is not a big deal. I watched a video on Ryonets blog which showed how to thin your ink using curable reducer and have it look like you used water based ink. The effect on the shirt was very cool. The reduced ink allowed the color of the shirt to come through which gave the design added dimension. I can not wait to try it! The design looked very soft.

Time to work on designs. Thanks for reading.
Jeanette

CHASING BUTTERFLIES

2011-03-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

If you have not figured out by now, I am a major dog lover. I started this business to print shirts for people to show their love and admiration for our canine friends. So I am quite emotional when it comes to dogs or any animal for that matter. Something happened a few nights ago and I wanted to share it with you.

On my way home from work the other night, I saw a dog laying on the side of the road. Obviously it had been hit by a car and it appeared to be dead. I have driven past other dogs and animals that had been hit by cars and just kept going. I could not do anything for the animals and living in the city I knew animal control would be by to take it off the street. So after I saw this dog I just kept driving. As I was driving, I started wondering if the animal was actually dead or not. I could not stand the thought of that poor dog suffering there on the road so I turned around to check on him.

I grabbed a blanket out of my car and headed for the dog. She was dead. :( At least she was not suffering anymore. My plan was to wrap her in the blanket and lay her on the sidewalk so animal control could get her in the morning. But once I had her in my arms I just could not leave her there. Who knows how long it would be before animal control would get there and I felt she deserved a little more respect then that. I decided I would take her to my vet and pay for her cremation.

Unfortunately, it was 3am and my vet was not open. I brought her home with me and laid her in the garage until morning. I would take her in the morning and have her cremated. The next day my vet said I could take
her to a pet cemetery by my house and they would take care of her for free. I brought her to the cemetery and said good bye to the little girl.

Even though she was not my dog, it was still very emotional. But my heart felt good. I knew it was the right thing to not leave her on the road that night. I do not know her name but I call her Angel and I know she is in heaven chasing butterflies.

Thanks for reading!
Jeanette

FEB. 2011 Blogger Contest Entry - PAYING IT FORWARD

2011-02-28T22:46:00.000-08:00

I have been working on my screen printing business for the past six months. During that time I have purposely NOT advertised my services to others, at least for the time being. My main goals have been to 1) screen print shirts for myself and 2) when the time was right, screen print for others. I believe doing business this way is a good thing. (At least for me.) By printing shirts for myself first, I get plenty of experience and also some much needed cash flow. Once my business is up and running, I could start taking orders.

This month as a Ryonet blogger, I have a chance to win a Little Buddy Conveyor dryer. So what is this months contest? The blogger who prints the LARGEST single run during the month of February wins the conveyor dryer. I certainly would not pass up the chance to win a $2000 piece of equipment. But I found myself at a little self imposed disadvantage...."HOW DO YOU GET A LARGE ORDER WHEN YOU HAVE NOT ADVERTISED YOUR SERVICES?" Hmmm!! I had to change my way of doing business and fast.

I started asking my friends and family but no orders came my way. Then I remembered a business idea a friend had talked about last year. I approached her and asked if she still wanted to start her business. Of course she did but funds were low. Being a new business owner myself, I definitely understood how hard it is to get an idea off the ground when you just do not have the available funds. Many dreams get lost because of the lack of funds.

I thought back to when I wanted to start my business. I had a great idea but NO money to get going. Then I found RYONET. Ryonet believed in my dream enough to give me an opportunity of a life time. Without their belief in me I would not be in business today. Because of their faith in me, I wanted to pass along my good fortune to someone else. I decided to "PAY IT FORWARD."

My friend has a very deep religious faith and she wanted to express that faith in t-shirt designs. When we first talked about it she gave me one short verse and I fell in love with her idea. Time went by and I became so involved with my designs that I put her idea to the back of my mind. With this contest I decided to help launch her idea. Now my order is not huge but I know it will have a huge impact on her life. It feels good to give back!

Final order was a 1 color design printed on 30 shirts and 10 tote bags for a TOTAL OF 40 ITEMS!

FINAL ORDER COUNT WAS 40 ITEMS

Here is the design on a black shirt!

For such a time as this...

White shirt with black ink.

Tote Bag

Invoice - Beyond the actual cost of the shirts and bags, I only charged $40 for this job. This was my way of PAYINT IT FORWARD!

Here is a video showing me in production.

It feels good to give back!
Jeanette

UPDATES

2011-02-26T22:18:00.000-08:00

THE SHOP

I worded on finishing up the new shop today but I am still not done! :( I ran into some snags with the last project for the shop. I am building a conveyor dryer using my 16 x 16 flash dryer. It is a very simple plan but I got tired of running to the hardware store. I am hoping to win a BBC Little Buddy Conveyor dryer in this months blogger contest but I always have a back up plan. :) I will be going into major production with my designs and having a conveyor dryer of any sort will be very helpful.

THE DESIGNS

Choices, choices, choices! I love when I have choices. I love to look at a menu and have TONS of choices. Even though it may take me a few extra minutes to choose an option, I get disappointed when my choices are limited. This is the philosophy I have with my business. I want my customers to have choices. Some people like their shirts form fitting where others like a little extra room. I look terrible in pink and would be disappointed if I really loved a shirt design but it only came in pink. With that in mind, my plan is to offer my designs in 2-3 different colors and at least 2 styles. I think this will improve my customer base tremendously. A few months ago I took a survey on favorite shirt colors but I think I will take another one and see what comes back.

Thanks for visiting my blog! :)
Jeanette

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2011-02-25T23:53:00.000-08:00

The new shop will be done tomorrow!! Yeah!! I did not get much time to work on it this past week so I will be finishing it up tomorrow. Just in time too because I have an order I need to print by Monday. I get so busy with work and life in general that I am not able to work on screen printing as much as I would like. I will be so happy when I can screen print full time.

My whole screen printing adventure started because I wanted to design shirts to show my love for dogs. Because most of my time is spent working on my own designs, I have not been promoting my screen printing services to others. I have taken a few small orders from friends but nothing huge. I had no idea how to price those orders so I just did it on the fly. I called a few local screen printing companies to see what they would charge for the job and then I went with a price in between the two highest bids. I made a few mistakes doing it this way but it worked at the time.

That method of pricing worked but I knew I would need a price sheet in the future. I will be launching my online store in the next month so now I can start promoting my services to others. This past week I have researched how other companies price their work. Most of the price sheets I looked at were very similar. Some of the things they charged for were things I had not considered. I do not want my quotes too high but I also do not want to work for free. I will finalize my price sheet this weekend so I will be ready when I start taking on more orders.

Have a great day!
Jeanette

RYONET - Thank you for your support!

2011-02-19T23:56:00.000-08:00

I wanted to give another big shout out to RYONET.   If you have followed my story from the beginning, you know I got my start in screen printing from a contest sponsored by Ryonet. Because of their contest, I and twenty others were given equipment to help start our screen printing business. We were also given the opportunity to become a Ryonet blogger for one year and blog about our screen printing experience. Each month (for 1 year), Ryonet puts on a contest for all their bloggers and we have a chance to win some AMAZING screen printing equipment. This equipment is expensive and most of us would not be able to run out and buy it, so it is incredible we get a chance to win it for FREE. Ryonet has given out a sublimation package, a washout booth setup, an Epson 1400 printer package, an $800 press upgrade and a big ink package. I know that sounds awesome but it gets better! :) The winner of this months contest (Feb. 2011) wins a $2000 conveyor dryer. Sweet!!

Having a chance to win FREE equipment is enough to give a big shout out to RYONET but for me it is more.  Yes, we as bloggers help promote Ryonet and its products. Why wouldn't I? Even before I entered their contest, I was impressed by their equipment and customer support. They have an incredible company. What means the most is having someone believe in your dream and giving you the opportunity to fulfill that dream by continually finding ways to keep you motivated each and every month.

My dream is alive because of Ryonet and I wanted to say THANK YOU to Ryan and his staff.   Thank you for your continued support.

Jeanette

JUST FOR FUN!

2011-02-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this video. It does not belong to me but I just had to share it! These guys know how to have fun!!

Here is a picture of my dog Ginger, helping me with some computer training! I sure wish she could draw! :)

Enjoy!
Jeanette

SQUEEGEE - PUSH OR PULL?

2011-02-18T23:44:00.000-08:00

It is Friday and time to write a blog post again. My days off from my real job are Friday/Saturday so I do most of my blogging and screen printing on those days. My plan for today was to do the finishing touches on the new shop. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to work on the shop. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and today was no exception. Guess I will have to get up extra early tomorrow.

When I first started screen printing I was only pulling the squeegee. I had no idea you could push it. I am fairly strong but after a few small print jobs, my fingers, arms, wrists and shoulders would hurt. I wondered how I was going to get through a 100, 200 or even a 1000 shirt order if my fingers and wrists got sore after a 20 shirt order. Yikes!!

After doing some research (yes, I said research...my favorite thing), I found some videos and blogs that talked about pushing the squeegee. I thought I would try it and wow, what a difference on my body. Pushing the squeegee allows me to put my whole body into it instead of just using my shoulders. My fingers and wrists do not get sore when I push the squeegee. I also have more control over the pressure I put on the squeegee so I get better and more even ink coverage. This is especially true when I use a large squeegee, like a 15" one. I can not get enough pressure on a 15" squeegee when I pull it but I can when I push it. Because it is easier on my body, pushing the squeegee is my choice.

I love screen printing and I want to do it for a long time. Therefore, I do LOTS of research so I can find the best and safest way of doing things. Whether you pull or push the squeegee might not seem like a big deal at the beginning but it will definitely have an affect on your health down the road.

Push, Push, Push!
Jeanette

NEW SHOP

2011-02-12T23:51:00.000-08:00

Things are coming along great with the new shop. I spent the last five hours working on it. I am tired, tired, tired!! All the walls are up now. One wall will be painted, which is the garage wall. It is all prepped and ready for paint. I plan finishing it tomorrow. I should have the new shop all put together by next weekend. I have had my shop dismantled for almost three weeks now. I will be so glad when the new shop is finished so I can do some printing again. Yippie!!

I did not want to clean screens in the house anymore but I may have to until I get the washout room finished. I have researched a few ideas and I am sure I can build a washout booth for under $100. It will work for the size of screens I use right now, which is 20 x 24. I plan on doing a video when I make it. I think it will help people who can not afford the big washout booth.

I wanted to mention a new screen-printing forum on Ryonets Blog. They launched it a couple weeks ago and it is great. I love being able to hit one website (or blog) and have lots of options. Ryonets Blog offers FREE vector art, FREE t-shirt mock-ups, FREE fonts, FREE training, other FREE stuff and now a FREE screen-printing forum. I love the word FREE!!

Busy day tomorrow! :) See ya
Jeanette

RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH

2011-02-11T20:45:00.000-08:00

I have not been able to finish my new screen printing room in the garage yet so I have spent my time working on designs and doing my favorite thing...research! I LOVE researching a subject, especially on the Internet. It is just amazing the amount of information available.

Since your design is the most important aspect of t-shirt printing, looking at different designs has been my research subject lately. Designing is still very new to me. I am getting better but I definitely have lots to learn. I think it is awesome how designers can make a one color print look so darn cool!

Today I spent some time looking at shirt designs at a local store. It helps spark my imagination when I can see how designs are laid out and how the ink feels on the shirt. I always have a tape measure in my purse! (You never know when you might need one.) I was able to measure the design size and how far from the collar those designs were printed. To be honest, my wardrobe does not consist of a lot of shirts with designs printed on them. (Yet!) So, doing this kind of hands on research helps me to visualize how I might want to print my shirts.

I also spent time buying a few more things I needed for the new printing room. HABITAT FOR HUMANITY!! I LOVE this store! I spent $4.50 and bought metal brackets to connect the walls, hinges for the door (.25 cents each) and metal wheels for a rolling table. Look them up in the phone book. They are awesome!

Tomorrow I get to finish the walls of the new shop! Yeah!!
Jeanette

SELLING YOUR PRODUCTS.....Part 2

2011-02-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry about such a quick end to my post yesterday. Work was calling. I can not wait until I can do screen printing full-time! :)

Here are some online avenues to sell your OWN designs.

ETSY.COM
This is a venue to sell handmade items. It is FREE to register. It costs .20 cents to list your item for four months. When it sells you pay a 3.5% transaction fee. My personal favorite!!

ARTFIRE.COM
This is a venue to sell handmade items. It costs $9.95 a month which includes unlimited FREE listings, zero sales commission plus more. And there is NO contract.

ZAZZLE.COM
Here is a quick and FREE way to set up your own online store. You can create your own designs, they will print it on a variety of items for you and ship to customers when item is purchased. You can set up the commission percentage you want to earn. There is a base price per item and the percentage you want to earn is tacked on to that base price.

CAFEPRESS.COM
Very similar to Zazzle.com. Basic shop is FREE and a premium shop will cost you $4.99 per month. You create, they print and ship and you earn a commission.

EBAY.COM
We can not forget to mention ebay. Seems like it has been around forever. You do all the printing and then ship out to customer when purchased. It costs you to list your item and you pay a commission on the final sales price. An ebay store is also an option. Last time I checked, a basic store costs $15 a month.

These are some great options to do a test run for your t-shirt line. Once you know which designs are popular you can start working on your own website.

I hope this information is helpful. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving comments. I appreciate your support.

Jeanette

SELLING YOUR PRODUCTS

2011-02-04T16:23:00.000-08:00

When I first came up with the idea for The Pondering Pooch, my initial goal was to launch my own website with designs I screen printed myself. Launching your own website is a huge undertaking. You want it to be as professional as possible. You can not just through up a website and expect it to succeed. Lots of planning needs to go into your website. But more importantly, you need to have the right products to sell and they need to be as professional as possible.

My ultimate goal is my OWN website. Because I knew a website was my goal, I have had my domain name registered for over a year. Now, when it comes time to launch my site, all I have to do is build it. It is SO important to register your domain name when you come up with one. You do not want to put so much time into promoting your products under your business name and then find out you can not use it as your domain name when you want to build a website.

There are many ways to sell your products until you are ready to launch your own website.

TO BE CONTINUED........(sorry, I have been called in to work today....I will finish this post tomorrow)

Thanks!
Jeanette

Making Registration Marks In CorelDraw - THE VIDEO

2011-01-31T18:01:00.000-08:00

Here is a video on making your own registration marks in CorelDraw. I was having a problem getting my registration marks to print on ALL my transparencies. But with a little research, I figured out how to do it and I wanted to share it with you. I searched on a few forums and it seemed like lots of people were having this same problem. I hope this helps!

Thanks for watching!
Jeanette

CHOOSING A SLOGAN/TAG LINE

2011-01-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

I am constantly doing research on the business side of screen-printing. It is great to have cool t-shirt designs but if you do not focus enough attention on the business side of it, you are setting yourself up for possible failure.

In my entry titled "Business Branding", I talked about creating a distinctive logo and developing a catchy slogan. I loved my original logo but I knew something just was not right. Realizing the importance of a company logo, I decided to change mine. My new logo is awesome and I have received some great feedback.

My next challenge is to create the catchy slogan that will really grab attention. Again, I have my original slogan, which is OK, but it is not perfect. I found an article by Marcia Yudkin, in which she shows you 19 steps to creating your slogan/tag line. Just by going through the first two steps, I have come up with a few very interesting ideas. I will test my new slogans with family and friends and see what kind of feedback I receive.

I am sure I will come up with more slogans when I finish the rest of the steps. Here is the link if you would like to read the article.( www.yudkin.com/generate.htm) It gives some great insights. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks!
Jeanette

BUSINESS BRANDING

2011-01-30T13:14:00.000-08:00

When launching a business, it is so important to get everything right the first time. It saves you time, energy, money and possibly lost sales. Sometimes mistakes are inevitable but if you do some research, you can eliminate many of those mistakes. I have been doing some research on "branding" and I wanted to share it with you.

One of the biggest things to consider before launching your business is "Business Branding". So what is "business branding?" In an article by Chris Joseph, "A brand helps to differentiate your company from the competition as well as creates an image in the minds of customers and prospects."

A"brand" is the identity of your company. It is your company name and your logo. "Brand" is the way customers perceive your business. It lets people know what your company stands for. The first thing is to know who YOU are and what YOU stand for because it ultimately will reflect in your business. Once you understand this, you need to take the appropriate steps to convey this in your "brand".

Your company LOGO is critical. You want your logo to be as distinctive as possible. In addition, you want to use your logo in ALL your business marketing and correspondence. It needs to be on your business card, letterhead, website etc.

Develop a catchy SLOGAN! A catchy phrase or jingle will stick in consumers' minds. A shorter slogan is better.

Use COLOR! Colorful brands stand out more. Color is very powerful and each color evokes a different response. Do an Internet search on color and human reaction. It is very fascinating.

Everything you do should tie into each other. Your website should have the same design as your blog. Your business card and stationary should tie into your website etc. Consistency is necessary.

Business branding is very fascinating and definitely needs your attention if you want to set your business apart from others.

Thanks for reading!
Jeanette

PROGRESS ON THE NEW SHOP

2011-01-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I made some progress in setting up my new shop. The garage is clean and I have two walls done. Yippie!! I ran out of building supplies so I had to stop for the day. My plans for the wash out room have hit a snag but I am working on a new idea. The plan is to have it all done by next weekend so I can finally do some printing.

I have been working on my business for six months now. It sure feels like it has been longer. Just when I think I am ready to launch....BAM...I have a setback. Sometimes it gets frustrating but I have learned to go with the flow. There is only so much time in the day and there is only one of me so I do what I can when I can.

Over the last six months I have spent my time learning CorelDraw, screen-printing techniques and slowly buying the big ticket items I need. My big expenditures are done for now so I can start stocking up on blank shirts. :) I was hoping to attend the ISS Long Beach show this weekend but I really needed to get my new shop finished.

Til next time!
Jeanette

2011-01-21T22:30:00.000-08:00

I have been a little under the weather lately so not much has been happening. I received my new programs I had ordered. Yippie!! The art program I ordered from Ryonet is awesome. I now have 3420 very cool vector art images. I browsed through them and they are wonderful. I can not wait to play around with the program and see how it works.

Today I was able to learn some things from an advanced power training bundle I ordered from Advancedtshirts.com. The training bundle consists of 32 hours of CorelDraw training from beginning to advanced. It is a great program!! I would suggest ordering this training bundle if you are new to CorelDraw. I have only been through a couple hours of the tutorials but I have already learned some very cool tricks and short cut keys. The program has projects to do which helps to really cement your knowledge. I love it. I am such a visual person. I learn so much faster when I can actually watch someone do something.

My plan for tomorrow is the garage. I was supposed to get it done last weekend but the sick bug found me. I am still not 100% but I need to get it done.

Jeanette

Mayday, Mayday..Computer Going Down!!

2011-01-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

You have spent all your time, energy and money installing programs on your computer and creating your designs. You have a library full of awesome clip art and vector art. Now is the time to protect all of your hard work. My computer is in the middle of a melt down and at the moment I do not have my important files backed up. I always think of backing things up but never seem to get around to it. Well, procrastination can lead to a complete halt on a business.

I wanted to get this posted today so I could point out how important it is to have your files backed up. If you do not have a back-up drive, I suggest going out and buying one. We spend hours on our designs and losing them would be a huge set back. BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE!!!

I have been talking a lot about graphics lately because they are the nuts and bolts of any screen-printing business. I wanted to share with you a video called "Stop Selling Products...Start Selling Graphics." It is a free video from silkscreeningsupplies.com. I thought it was very interesting and wanted to share it with you. They talk about design templates, which is another thing you should have in your graphics library.

Design templates are customizable. You can take a completed design and change different aspects of it to suite your needs. Again, for us none graphic artists, this is a great tool. We can take a completed design and change wording or graphics. I am into learning about anything that can make my designing easier.

Here is the link....I hope you enjoy!

Thanks!
Jeanette

VECTOR ART IS A MUST!!

2011-01-14T21:56:00.000-08:00

Artwork is such an important aspect of screen-printing. I believe it is the most important part of the process. Taking a squeegee and pulling ink through a screen is easy but its the image you produce from this process that will make or break your business. If you were not born with artistic ability, then the artwork part of screen-printing can be a long, frustrating and tedious process. Do not fear my friends! There is plenty of art available for purchase and for free.

One option when purchasing artwork is to purchase vector art. Vector art is ready to go. It has nice clean lines. You can use one vector graphic for your image or combine the graphics together to create your image. If you have a library of ready to go vector art, your designs are limitless.

I just purchased a vector art pack which has over 3400 vector art images. It will arrive on Monday and I can not wait. Having this art pack will benefit me greatly with custom orders. There are so many graphics to choose from, I feel confident I will be able to complete any order thrown my way.

I found my vector art pack at silkscreensupplies.com for $99. They are having an amazing sale on tons of screen-printing supplies, including vector art packs and clip art packs. Having a library of ready to go art is invaluable to your business. It is definitely worth the investment. Check out the sale at silkscreensupplies.com....supplies are limited!

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Jeanette

A BUSY MONTH AHEAD

2011-01-08T00:29:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a very busy month for me. I have a few designs ready for production and I need to get things ready. The first project I will be tackling is moving my printing business to the garage. At the moment, everything I do is in the house, including screen cleaning and re-claiming. When it is time for me to print, my house becomes kind of a disaster zone. I have a hose coming through a bedroom window and down the hall to the bathroom. The pressure washer cord comes down the hall from the kitchen to the bathroom. Yikes, it is a mess. It has worked fine so far but I am wanting to get all the chemicals out of the house. It will also be nice to have my bathroom back.

Today I will be cleaning the garage, taking stuff to my local thrift store and setting up the printing area of the shop. It will definitely be an ALL day project but I can not wait to have it all out of the house. I also need to fit in a Seattle Seahawks play-off game!! :) Go HAWKS!

A wash-out room!! What to do, what to do! I am entered in a contest to win a wash-out booth. Click the link below and vote for "THE PONDERING POOCH" as best Blooper Video.

http://www.ryonetblog.com/bloggers/vote-favorite-video/

PLAN A is to win the contest but it is always good to have a PLAN B!! :) I will be building Plan B next weekend. My sister just happens to be doing a bathroom re-model and will have a FREE shower stall available for me next Saturday. Yippee!! I love when things fall into place. I have to drive to get it but it is only 1 1/2 hours away. It will work perfectly.

I am still thinking of how to do serious production with only a flash dryer! I have a few ideas for a home-made conveyor dryer. If it works, I will post pics.

Have a great day!
Jeanette

LITTLE THINGS CREATE EXCITEMENT

2011-01-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

It is the little things in life that make me happy! :) I recently downloaded a blank t-shirt to do mock-ups. OH MY, it is my wonderful new toy. I have known about the blank shirts but had not really researched them. Ryonet has a cool free t-shirt download on there blog. The download has 11 different colored shirts. I have seen it but unfortunately it is for Photoshop and I use CorelDraw.

I decided to finally try downloading a blank t-shirt. I found mine at advancedtshirts.com. They offer a few different downloads. Look under FREE STUFF and click on Plugins and Macros AND T-shirt Templates. The one I decided on comes with a full frontal and full back view of the shirt. Here is the full frontal view!

WOW!! It is SO much fun. The really cool thing is, I can change the color of the shirt with the click of my mouse. The shirt was originally white but I changed the color to yellow. So cool! Now I am able to see my designs on any color shirt. This has made my designing so much easier. My creativity has gone into overdrive since I downloaded the blanks. Now I need to find different style blanks, such as v-neck, long-sleeve, hoodies etc. Fun...Fun...Fun!! :)

Jeanette

I NEED YOUR VOTE!!

2011-01-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone....I could really use your help. :)

Click on the link and vote for THE PONDERING POOCH as the best BLOOPER VIDEO!!!

http://www.ryonetblog.com/bloggers/vote-favorite-video/

Thanks a bunch!!
Jeanette

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful and safe celebration last night. May 2011 be filled with many blessings for you and your loved ones.

I wanted to start this year out by sharing some cool websites with you. The first is VECTORMAGIC.COM. I mentioned in an earlier post the importance of your artwork and the difference between raster and vector art. Vector art is what you want to work with because it has clean lines. If you try to screen-print something that has jagged edges, those edges will end up on your shirt. You want your design to have clean, smooth lines. I use CorelDraw PowerTrace to convert my drawings into vector. Even after they are converted, I still need to clean up some of the edges and lines. Vector Magic is a program that will convert your stuff to vector and give you very clean, smooth lines. You can buy the program for $300 or you can pay $8 monthly and use it online. If you do not know how to convert your art to vector, definitely check out VECTOR MAGIC.

Two other cool websites are ADVANCEDARTIST.COM and ADVANCEDTSHIRTS.COM Both sites offer CorelDraw training videos as wells as vector art DVDs, CorelDraw training DVDs and SIMPLE SEPS (a color separation program). They also offer a CorelDraw plugin called FASHION FACTORY. (You can also purchase this program from silkscreeningsupplies.com) This plugin lets you do some very cool effects to your graphics with just a click of a button. It is very cool. You definitely have to check them out.

Fashion Factory and a vector art DVD are on my purchase list this month. I can not wait to buy them!

I hope you enjoy the websites.
Jeanette

LAST BLOG POST OF 2010

2010-12-31T15:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, my last blog entry for 2010. I can not believe I will be ringing in 2011 in less then 10 hours. Where has the time gone? This past year has been amazing and I am confident 2011 will be even more fantastic. I alread have big plans in store for the coming year. But before the new year starts, I want to say THANKS to some people.

Thank you RYONET CORPORATION AND SILKSCREENINGSUPPLIES.COM for a year filled with amazing opportunities. For those of you who do not know, here is a recap of 2010. In April of 2010, I entered a contest sponsored by Ryonet and Silkscreeningsupplies.com. The prize for winning the contest was a complete screen-printing package and a chance to blog about your screen-printing experience for one year.  Only one winner was chosen but Ryonet decided to offer ALL contest entrants free equipment and a chance to blog.  What an amazing offer!!!

Getting the free equipment and being able to blog about our journey is awesome but it gets even better. Each month, we, as bloggers, have a chance to win additional equipment.  At the moment there are over 20 Ryonet bloggers. (All bloggers can be found at ryonetblog.com.)   The opportunities Ryonet has given us is incredible. I feel absolutely blessed to be associated with such an amazing company who has the most outstanding customer service on the planet.  THANKS RYONET!!! I know my screen-printing future is in good hands.

Thanks to all of my blog visitors and followers.  I appreciate you taking the time to check out my blog and watch my videos on youtube. I love reading your comments and questions so please keep them coming.

See you next year!
Jeanette

MERRY CHRISTMAS and GOO GONE

2010-12-25T16:23:00.000-08:00

First of all, I want to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. I hope your day is filled with lots of love and laughter. My Christmas was terrific. I am blessed to have such a wonderful family and truly great friends.

I am trying to be consistent with my blog entries by posting twice a week. Today is the end of my week so even though its Christmas and I should be taking the day off, I need to get a post up today. :)

In my video "SCREEN PRINTING TIPS AND TRICKS TO SAVE YOU MONEY", I mentioned the wonders of Goo Gone. I wanted to post some pictures so you could see the results of using Goo Gone. I was doing my rounds at some yard sales one weekend and came across a yard sale with screen printing stuff. The guy wanted $40 for 20+ used screens, a squeegee, a vacuum platen and a standard shirt platen. The stuff was not in the best shape so I kind of hesitated at the price. Well, the guy ended up just giving me the stuff because it was taking up space. :) I certainly couldn't pass up FREE!! The only thing I really wanted was the platen but I took it all. I found a home for the stuff I did not want.

The shirt platen was SO nasty. I wasn't even sure I could get it clean. Here is a picture of the platen BEFORE I used Goo Gone on it.

BEFORE USING GOO GONE!!

Here is a picture of the platen after using Goo Gone and a little muscle.

Platen AFTER using Goo Gone!

Pallet tape is great but I LOVE to save money. When my platen gets a little yucky, I spray Goo Gone on it and it comes clean as new. I works great and its CHEAP!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Jeanette

PRINTING WHITE INK

2010-12-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

White ink can be very difficult to work with because it is such a thick ink. Thick ink takes some arm muscle to get it through the mesh. Yikes! I think I need to work out more. If I had to print a lot of shirts with white ink, my arms would be very tired. :)

I have printed white ink two different ways. The first time, I used a 110 mesh screen which I coated 1 x 2 (one coat on each side, let dry and coated one more time on the outside of the screen). The thicker the coat of emulsion, the thicker the layer of ink. I then did two passes with the squeegee, flashed for 7-10 seconds, did two more passes with the squeegee and cured for 35-40 seconds. The shirts turned out nice.

I was out of emulsion for this job but luckily I had a few 156 mesh screens already coated with a 1 x 1 layer of emulsion. I had to get the shirts printed so I used what I had. I decided to thin the white ink with Curable Reducer so it would be easier to work with. It took a few extra passes because of the thin layer of emulsion but the shirts turned out nice. I definitely prefer using the 110 mesh screen with a 1 x 2 coating.

Here are the two shirts I printed. They were for a husband and wife. The wife is always misplacing things and asked her husband, "Have you seen....???" The husband always has the same answer....."I dunn kno!!" I thought it was classic. I think quite a few husbands and wives can relate to it. :)

Here is the shirt for the wife!

Here is the shirt for the husband!

I think they turned out nice.

Jeanette

BLOOPER VIDEO

2010-12-20T10:32:00.000-08:00

It is not easy shooting videos. Sometimes they take hours to get right. Watch my blooper video and see. Hope you enjoy!!

If you enjoy this video, please go the ryonetblog.com and vote for me. I will win some cool screen printng equipment. Thanks for your vote!

Thanks!
Jeanette

SCREEN PRINTING TIPS TO SAVE YOU MONEY...THE VIDEO

2010-12-19T04:47:00.000-08:00

I LOVE when I can save some money, especially when it comes to screen printing. I wanted to share a few tips and tricks that may help you save a few dollars here and there. Please feel free to share any tips you may have on saving a few bucks. :)

Enjoy!
Jeanette

USING 13 X 18 Waterproof R-Film

2010-12-18T20:11:00.000-08:00

Today I am working on two designs that will be printed on size 3X shirts. Such a big shirt requires a big design so I get to use my 13 x 18 Waterproof R-Film for the first time. The biggest film I have used so far has been 8.5 x 14. Wow, the amount of room you have on 13 x 18 film is awesome. I can't wait to do some more big designs.

The designs are not real complicated. It is a couple funny sayings printed in one color. It should be a piece of cake. I made a mistake when I printed the first round of transparencies. The designs are 15 inches by 8 inches but I forgot the largest squeegee I have right now is 15 inches. Oops!! You should try to use a squeegee that is at least 1 inch larger then your design. That would give you a 1/2 inch clearance on each side of the design. It was not a big mistake on my part but it did require me to shrink my design to 14 inches and re-print the transparencies. I wasted a lot of ink on the first transparencies. New print cartridges for my Epson 1400 cost $150 so I need to be more careful before I hit the print button.

One thing I was worried about was the shirt platen. I thought I would have to make a larger platen to fit the 3X shirts but the design and shirts fit on a standard 16 x 16 shirt platen. I was not in the mood to make another platen so I am very glad it fits the 16 x 16 platen. :)

Time to go expose screens!
Jeanette

ADDING FOIL TO YOUR DESIGNS

2010-12-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

Foil is a great addition to your designs. I have been working on a foil design the last few days. Actually, I have done this design once with foil and it turned out great. I made the mistake of not keeping notes on how long I exposed the screen. Not good!! :) When you are setting up for a job it is a great idea to keep notes on exposure time, how many layers of emulsion you use, where you expose the design on the screen, etc.

I found the actual foil process to be very easy. Getting the screen prepped is the tricky part. Here is what you need to do foil....60 mesh screen, emulsion, foil adhesive, foil and a heat press. Foil adhesive has granules in it so you need a screen with bigger holes. That is where the 60 mesh screen comes into play. Now, a 60 mesh screen means you have 60 holes per inch, compared to a 110 mesh screen which has 110 holes per inch.. Because the holes are bigger, you need to use more emulsion. You also need to do more then a 1 x 1 coating so you can lay down a thick enough layer of foil adhesive.

My exposure unit is the Ryonet RXP Exposure unit. The recommended exposure time for a 60 mesh screen with a 1 x 1 coating is 5 minutes. I decided to do a 1 x 3 coating using the thick side of the scoop coater. I called Ryonet and they said to add 30 seconds to the exposure time for each extra layer of emulsion. That brought my exposure time up to 6 minutes. I decided to expose the screen for 6 minutes 20 seconds just to be on the safe side.

Even the extra 20 seconds was not enough to properly expose the screen. When I went to wash out the screen, the emulsion on the ink side of the screen washed out. My image washed out fine but then I blew out the image. Time to start over. This time I decided to do a 2 x 2 coating using the thin side of the scoop coater first and the thick side of the scoop coater for the second coat. I have not decided on the exposure time yet but it will probably be in the 6 minute range. I am out of emulsion until my order arrives on Tuesday so I hope my screen exposes properly. It is a piece of cake once I get the screen exposed and washed out.

Once I get the screen ready I will post on the rest of the foil process.

Jeanette

MYSTERY SOLVED

2010-12-11T19:15:00.000-08:00

I have finally solved my mystery of shifting screens. I could not figure out why my screens would go out of registration after I tightly locked them into place. I decided to set my printing press up from scratch again. I re-watched the video from Ryonet on how to set up the silver press and do all the adjustments. One problem I figured out was the stop that the screen arm rested on needed to be adjusted. I then loosened up all the adjustments and re-set them again. I made sure the screen arm was level with the platen. I think that was the big problem. Anyway, after re-adjusting all the parts I could re-adjust, my screens are no longer shifting after I lock them into place. It still takes me a few minutes to register every screen but they stay registered now. I am a happy camper. :) It was a nightmare. I thought I was going nuts!

My next purchase will be side clamps! This will also help in keeping my screens registered. Side clamps allow me to move my screen in four directions and have four locking screws instead of the two I have now. It would be a $500 investment (I need four!) but time is money. If I do not have to waste time re-registering my screens, I can print more shirts.

Here is the second shirt. Again, it is a four color print. It is still a challenge to get everything lined up but practice makes perfect.

Later!
Jeanette

CUSTOM ORDER

2010-12-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

So here is the final print for one of the 4-color designs I needed to do. It turned out cute and the customer really liked it. It was a fun little design. I added a few things to the drawing but not much because it was so cute all by itself. Most of my designs fall in line with this one...two or three colors with a black outlilne.

Yellow 3T shirt...four colors!

Same design on a 2T red shirt!

The biggest issue I had was lining up the four different screens and actually keeping them in alignment. I am using my 4-color silver press from Ryonet and aluminum screens. I am still baffled as to my dilemma and have not found a solution at this time. Let me explain! I have my image taped down to the platen so I can line up all of my screens. I get the screen all lined up with the registration marks and tighten the screen into place. Everything looks good. This is where I am baffled. As soon as I lift up the screen and bring it back down into place, it is out of alignment. It should only take a few minutes to register a job. Line your screens up with the registration marks, lock into place and you are ready to go. Nope...not me. It takes me hours to get the screen to stay registered.

I even had to call Ryonet yesterday and talk to someone about it. They couldn't figure it out either. My tilt adjustment is good. The off-contact is good. The screen arm is level. I hold the screen as I tighten the it into place. It really makes no sense. After many hours of frustration, I finally had to start laughing. It makes no sense and is not logical to me. Once I get this figured out, there will be no stopping me!!! :)

GREAT NEWS!! I did figure out how to make my own registration marks in CorelDraw and have them print on ALL of my transparencies. I am a visual person, so I will do a video on it.

If any of you seasoned professionals have an answer or suggestion to my dilemma, PLEASE feel free to share. I hope I am not the only one who has had this problem.

Later!
Jeanette

NUTS I TELL YOU, NUTS!!

2010-12-04T01:02:00.000-08:00

Well, it is 12:43am and I am done with my little two shirt order. I did a dozen practice prints before I felt confident enough to do it on a real shirt. It was lining up great but....! You know when your car makes noise and when you take it to the mechanic, the noise suddenly stops? That is kind of how my print went. :) It was good for the last four test prints but when I went to print on a good shirt, it went out of alignment. #@*%**#@!!! I ruined the first shirt. I did a couple more test prints and then tried it again. YIPPEE....I have success. It went out of alignment for the second shirt, so I ruined that one too. The third and fourth shirt turned out OK but not as good as the first one.

I did not realize it was so difficult to keep the image lined up. Maybe I am doing something wrong. Hmm...I will have to think about it. I use the Epson 1400 w/RIP software. I think there is a place in the print function where I can over-print the black and set how much I want to over-print it. Lots of investigation to do. I certainly can not do it like this forever. I will end up in the nut house.

I have only done one other multi-color print job where the outline covered the other colors. It was just a two-color job so I didn't have four screens to register. But that one was also a little difficult to line up. Time to check out some YouTube videos on registering multi-color jobs. If you want to know anything about anything, check out YouTube!! I have one more design to print for this order and I am not looking forward to doing it. :( Practice makes perfect I guess.

Practice, practice, practice!!
Jeanette

DIFFICULTIES

2010-12-03T22:18:00.000-08:00

I am taking a break from work because it is driving me NUTS, NUTS, NUTS!!!!! My biggest problem in screen printing is lining up multi-color images when the outline is very small. I get it all lined up and locked into place but when I lift up the screen once, it goes out of alignment. Not sure what the heck I am doing wrong but its getting on my last nerves. Well, maybe not my last nerves but pretty darn close. :)

I made sure I checked "over-print" outline before I printed the transparencies. I guess this is when micro-registration comes in handy. I will have to put that to the top of my list. WOW...it is taking me forever. I wouldn't worry quite so much but ALL of my designs have an outline. Yikes!! Not good.

One thing I need to do is make better registration marks. The registration marks that print from CorelDraw are so thin and tiny I can't see them very well when they are washed out. Most of the time they don't wash out all the way. There is a way to make a template with big thick plus ( + ) signs and use that template every time you design an image. I will have to research how to make a template. The way I am doing it now is very time consuming and not productive at all. Did I say it is getting on my last nerves?

Try and try again!!
Jeanette

4-COLOR PRINT JOB

2010-12-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

This weekend I will be working on two 4-color print jobs. The designs are hand sketched dinosaurs. The first thing I had to do was hand trace the drawings and outline them in black ink. Then I was able to scan them into CorelDraw and use the TRACE feature to trace the drawings. The TRACE feature is pretty cool. Once your drawing is traced, it becomes a VECTOR graphic and then you can manipulate it as much as you want. I didn't really add much to the drawings because they are so cute all by themselves.

The first drawing was easy to color because I only needed to use four colors. The second one is a bit tricky and I am still playing around with it. Because I only have a 4-color press, I am only able to do four colors per design unless I try 4-color process and I am not ready to venture into that area yet. I can use the shirt color as one color, which would allow me to make the design a five colors. I will have to see how that looks.

I definitely would like to take some computer graphics classes, specifically CorelDraw and Photoshop. The community college here offers lots of Photoshop classes but I have not found a CorelDraw class that fits my needs. Photoshop seems to be the program of choice but I prefer CorelDraw because it is much easier to learn.

Lots to do....Later!
Jeanette

KEEP MOVING FORWARD

2010-11-30T03:47:00.000-08:00

You would think with all the computer technology available, starting a business would be easier then in the past. Well, I am here say....not a chance. Computers and the Internet have made some things easier, especially for us little guys. But it has also given us so much work to do.
If you own a business in this day and age, you better have a website for it. If you want to increase your customer base, well then you need to join Twitter and have a Fan Page on Facebook and MySpace and this and that. You need to join forums to do some chit chat with fellow business owners. To keep people up to date on products or services...a blog is a must. All of these things take time. You need time to post a blog entry. You need time to check your Fan Page and respond to your growing fan base. Do not forget to send a TWEET when something cool happens. And let us not forget YouTube. Videos! Wow, that is a whole different animal.

And do not forget of course, you have a business to run and products to sell. That is the reason for your business right? Answer the phone, take orders, ship products, create products, marketing and advertising. You might be able to add sleep in the mix. Maybe!!

You are probably wondering if its all worth it. All this madness. My answer is, without a doubt...YES!! I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have total strangers as fans on Facebook. They are no longer strangers. Now we have a connection. How cool is that? I can post a video on YouTube and have someone I have never met post a comment that says, "Thanks for the video. Keep them coming." Incredible.

Starting a business is definitely not a walk in the park. Honestly, it does get overwhelming at times. Some days I wonder if I will ever get this business off the ground. But I just keep moving forward, day by day, and I know things will fall into place. I am writing this post because I know there are some of you out there that get frustrated and overwhelmed. With so much to do, who wouldn't be frustrated. But I say, if owning a business is truly what you want, do not give up. Things will fall into place.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
Jeanette

CREATIVE MARKETING...THE VIDEO!

2010-11-30T02:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here is the video on my CREATIVE MARKETING IDEA!! Hope you enjoy. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to share. :)

Thanks!
Jeanette

CREATIVE MARKETING STRATEGY

2010-11-27T20:18:00.000-08:00

You have a great business idea. You have worked hard to put all the pieces into place. Now you are ready to market your business and its products. What is marketing? Is it the same as advertising? I run a home based business, is it important to have a marketing plan in place? How much does it cost? How do I do it? Yikes! There are so many questions to ponder but luckily, there is tons of information available to help you.

Home business marketing is just like marketing for big businesses. In order for your business to be successful, you need to make money. For any business to make money, you need to have sales. In order to make sales, you need to market your product or service to potential customers.

Here is one definition of marketing:
“Marketing is the process of interesting potential customers or clients in your products and/or services.”

Did you notice that I said “PROCESS”? Marketing does not involve just one thing. Marketing involves branding, researching, promoting, selling and distributing your products or services. Marketing involves everything you do to get your potential customers and your products or services together. To market your product or service to its full potential, you must consider all of these things.

Branding helps customers recognize your company and what it stands for. Branding is used throughout the company, such as in its logo, stationery, business cards, on its website and in its tagline. Everyone knows the Nike swoosh. When you see the swoosh printed on a shirt, you know it is a Nike shirt. The word Nike does not need to be printed with the swoosh…you recognize the swoosh as Nike. That is branding.

Researching involves finding the perfect customer for your product. If you are trying to sell peanut butter brownies to a diabetic, you are probably wasting your time. If the brownies are sugar free, then you could have a market. What product or service are you offering? Who is most likely to buy it? Do your research. You do not want to waste valuable time and money marketing to someone who will not buy your product or service.

Selling is the process of informing your prospective customers of the benefits of your product or service. Tell them why they need your product or service. How does your product or service benefit them? Moreover, why should they buy from you and not your competitor?

Promoting keeps the product in the minds of your prospective customers and helps drive demand for the product. This could include a little publicity. Sponsor a charity event and have a local paper cover the event. For screen printers, hold a free or low cost screen printing class. My local newspaper always lists local events. Write a Blog about your products. Publicity goes a long way.

Distribution is the many methods used to get your products or service to its customers. Do you want to sell on the internet, through a catalog, in a brick and mortar store or a combination of the three? In this section, I also think you need to include order fulfillment. Will you be able to distribute all orders in a timely manner? Deciding on your methods of distribution will greatly affect the other aspects of your marketing.

Now that you have considered all of these aspects, how do you get the word out about your wonderful business? The capabilities of the internet and social sites have given us little people lots of help. However, it can still be tough. How do you stand in a crowd of so many?

You stand out by being as creative as possible. “THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX”. Well, I decided to think both ‘INSIDE” and “OUTSIDE” the box. Therefore, I have named my marketing strategy “INSIDE OUT CREATIVE MARKETING”

Stay tuned...VIDEO ON ITS WAY. I wanted to get this posted first.

Jeanette

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2010-11-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

I wanted to personally wish each and every one of my readers a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. I hope the day was filled with lots of family, food, fun and laughter. I am SO thankful for having the opportunity to share my screen-printing experience with all of you. I am thankful for my wonderful family, friends and new acquaintances. I am especially thankful for my four, furry children...Ginger, Rocky, Maverick and Mandy, my awesome dogs. Without them, The Pondering Pooch would not be happening.

Enjoy your holiday and be careful if you happen to brave the BLACK FRIDAY shopping madness! :)

Talk to you soon!
Jeanette

HEAT PRESS = OPPORTUNITIES

2010-11-21T17:17:00.000-08:00

I you do not yet own a HEAT PRESS, you may consider putting this piece of equipment close to the top of your wish list. A heat press can offer so much to your business.   With this one piece of equipment you offer so much to your customers. And the more you can offer...the bigger your customer base with become. A heat press is not a small investment but one well worth every penny spent. A good 15" x 15" heat press will run you close to $800. You can find them cheaper but make sure its a good brand.

So what can a heat press do? Wow, where do I begin. :)

FOIL!! Foil is a great addition to your print. It adds a lot of class to a shirt. If there are two identical prints but one has foil added...my eye will drift to the foil shirt. I think that is true for most people. Foil is definitely an attention grabber. Adding a little foil to your design will also add to the price of the shirt and that is always good. The whole process takes seconds. You screen print foil adhesive on your shirt, just as you would ink. Let it cure just until jelled. (Maybe 10 seconds) Place the shirt on the heat press, place the foil shiny side up over the design, and heat press it for 15 seconds. Let it cool for a few seconds and peel of the foil. SIMPLE AS THAT! And it looks awesome.

BLING!! Diamonds are a girls (and guys) best friend. So many articles of clothing have bling on them. It looks cool. A heat press is used to apply these sparkly little things. And the cost per application is very minimal. You will need to purchase additional equipment for this but if you already have the heat press, it is one less thing you need to buy.

VINYL LETTERING! I had an order for team jerseys with player names on back. I had to screen print 15 different names on the shirts, which is not a fun process. If I had a heat press and plotter, the process would have taken me minutes instead of hours.

SUBLIMATION!! Want to put things on mouse pads, picture frames, key chains and 1000 other items. A heat press is also used for this process. You will need to purchase a Sublimation printer but you can pick on up for $450.

CHROMOBLAST!!  Another process where you can hehttp://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/heat-transfers-machines-tshirtsat press on to items. If someone wanted a picture of their children printer on a shirt, you could easily do it with a heat press and a Chromblast printer.

HEAT TRANSFERS!!  Take your designs and print them on heat transfer paper. Then you can heat press them to shirts, tote bags, aprons and lots of other stuff.

For most of the processes mentioned, you will need to buy other equipment. Foil is pretty simple and cheap. It only takes a 60 mesh screen, emulsion, foil adhesive and foil. The foil comes in lots of colors. So definitely check into a heat press. You can do foil until you are able to afford the other equipment needed for sublimation, BLING, etc.

If you have any questions, give me shout or check out silkscreeningsupplies.com. They are very helpful with all you needs.

Thanks!
Jeanette

MY APOLOGIES

2010-11-19T23:09:00.000-08:00

The last week and a half has been so exhausting. Please accept my apologies for not posting any screen-printing information. Last weekend I was busy with a big screen-printing project that will hopefully be coming out early December. I will keep you posted on its progress.

This week has been exhausting emotionally. As you can tell from the name of my blog, I am a BIG dog lover. I have four wonderful dogs who have inspired me to start this wonderful adventure into screen-printing. Without them, I may not be here writing to you. This week has been rough because of the medical issues my dog Rocky has been dealing with. I have never had any big medical issues with any of my dogs before so its a little hard. The blood work showed a problem so we are continuing to do tests and hopefully we will find out what is going on and fix it.

I will be back soon!!
Jeanette

PUPPY PRAYERS PLEASE!!!

2010-11-18T16:40:00.000-08:00

I could use some extra prayers sent my way. My dog Rocky had a seizure the other day. It was absolutely the worst thing I have gone through with any of my dogs...EVER!! I thought he was going to die right in my arms. It was aweful. We are having tests done to find out why it happened. X-rays came back ok...waiting on blood work and then we will go from there. I could use some extra angels sent to my little buddy.

My dog Rocky!!

Thanks!
Jeanette

FINDING THE RIGHT SHIRT

2010-11-16T17:31:00.000-08:00

Finding the right brand of shirt to use for your t-shirt line can be expensive, frustrating and time consuming. I do not think you can just buy a shirt from its description. I also do not think you can buy a shirt based on its brand. I want to feel the shirt. I want to wear it and see how it fits my body. And I want to wash it a few times to see how it looks afterwards. I have purchased the Alternative brand of shirt and at first it fit great. It was a longer length, fitted women's t-shirt. But after a few washes it looked all stretched out. Lots of people rave about the American Apparel brand but lots of other people dislike it.

It seems like everyone has their favorite brands and the brands they do not like so much. How the heck do you figure it all out without going broke? I have figured out my own little strategy and it yields many benefits.

I LOVE thrift stores. You can find lots of deals at a thrift store. You can also get very cheap t-shirts at a thrift store. These shirts have been worn and washed LOTS of times. If you want to see how a shirt looks after it has been used, go to a thrift store and look at the shirts on the rack. You are probably thinking, "Yuck, a used shirt." or "Why would I buy a used shirt? I can not sell a used shirt!" You would be correct. You can not sell a used shirt. (Actually, some people make very good money dressing up used clothing and reselling it.) But I love buying used shirts.

I can pick up a used t-shirt for $1.00. For that one dollar, I can tell if I would want to use that shirt in the future. Which is a lot cheaper than buying it wholesale. Alternative Brand is $5 wholesale and American Apparel is even more. And you have lots of color choices.

That $1.00 used blank shirt can also yield 4+ test prints. Test pellons run I think .38 cents each. Buy a $1.00 used shirt and now your test print cost is only .25 each, saving you .13 cents per print. That may not sound like much but it will add up in the long run. After the shirt is all printed with test prints, you can use it for a rag in your shop. Even more money saved. LOTS AND LOTS of benefits from a $1.00 used t-shirt.

So go check out the racks at your local thrift store. You can also get great design ideas from printed shirts on the racks. :)

Enjoy!
Jeanette

SHARING IT ALL!

2010-11-08T17:47:00.000-08:00

I have been blogging about my screen-printing adventure for almost 4 months now. If you have been following my progress you have seen that it is not all peaches and cream when it comes to starting a business or learning a new skill. When I started blogging, I said I would share all of my successes and failures with you. I certainly have had my share of mishaps so far. In the beginning, I thought it would be a bad thing to share my mistakes but I have realized it is actually a good thing to share them.

Learning a new skill is very challenging at times. If every blog or website about screen printing only showed how great things were, I would probably have been even more frustrated and never learned anything. I may have thought screen printing was not for me. I think its great to find someone who has made the same mistakes I have made. It is nice to know you are not alone in your struggles. Screen-printing is an incredible industry to learn. I have learned so much and received feedback from some some awesome people. I am so thankful for all the knowledge that has been shared with me. I pass along any knowledge that is shared with me. And I will continue to share my successes and failures. We learn from both.

If you are new to screen-printing, remember "You will make mistakes!". Make your mistakes, learn from them and keep plugging along. Success will happen!! :)

Happy Printing!
Jeanette

Oops!

2010-11-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

Remember the saying "Measure twice, cut once."? Well, I found out yesterday that it applies to screen printing as well. "MEASURE TWICE (or three times), BURN SCREENS ONCE." Ugh!! I burned my image in the wrong place on the screen and that means....START ALL OVER AGAIN!! I am getting real good at washing out the screens though. :)

Even though I was extremely frustrated and had to start all over with the screens, it ended up being a good thing. There was a small adjustment to the image I had wanted to do and I forgot all about it when I printed the transparency. I went to burn another screen and noticed my mistake. I would have wasted lots of time and money if I had printed the bags. Most people probably would have not noticed but I think that little adjustment really makes a difference in the final image.

After many hours of work, I decided to call it a night and start over today. So today's project includes adjusting my image, re-printing the transparency, coating screens with emulsion and burning the new image. I will not have enough time to print today so maybe tomorrow. Lots to do and limited time.

So, what did we learn from yesterday? Mistakes are all part of the learning process. You will make mistakes! Make mistakes, learn and move on. :)

Jeanette

USING A WHITE UNDERBASE

2010-11-06T17:32:00.000-07:00

Today I have been busy printing transparencies, coating screens, burning screens and washing out screens. Did I miss something? Oh yeah, blowing out screens. I was down to washing out my last screen and I blew out the image. Ugh!! I had to start the whole process over again. It was my first blow which is not bad.

I will be printing hot pink ink on black tote bags. I do not want to print a ton of hot pink ink so I am going to do a white under base. Basically I am printing the image twice, once in white ink (because color shows truest on white) and then a second time in hot pink. The white under base will allow the hot pink to really pop on the black background. I guess this could be considered a two color print because I will be using two screens and I must line up the image with my registration marks.

I printed two transparencies for this job. The first transparency was the original design. I printed the image again on a second transparency but I did a CHOKE on the whole image. What that means is you are choking your image back, making it a little smaller then the original image. This makes registration easier because you have a little room to maneuver.

I have been confused as to what exactly a CHOKE, STROKE and TRAPPING means and how to do it in CorelDraw. I searched on the Internet for months but could not find an answer anywhere. I called Ryonet a few days ago and spoke to TJ. TJ IS AWESOME!!! Finally someone could give me an answer.

The fastest way to do a CHOKE in CorelDraw is to place a 1-2 point outline around your image and make the outline white. The outline goes half way inward and half way outward. When you go to print your transparency, CorelDraw will not register the white ink. So a 2 point outline will shrink you image by 1 point. It was very fast. I did have to play around with the size of the outline since some text was smaller then other text.

Time to coat more screens!
Jeanette

WEEKEND FOR PRINTING

2010-11-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

It is so nice to be working with upgraded equipment and new chemicals. I used the Enviro Line emulsion remover and it worked in less than 1minute. Awesome! Using the pressure washer is also a big help. I just put emulsion on four screens and I am waiting for them to dry. My goal for the next few days is to FINALLY get some dog designs out. I will be printing two tote bag designs and if all goes well, I may even have time to print one shirt design. I am hoping to have them listed for sale by Monday.

I decided to start selling my designs on ETSY for the time being. Building a website is a challenge I do not really want to tackle. I wanted to do everything myself but sometimes you have to know what your limits are and when to delegate things to others. I would rather be printing shirts so I decided to pay someone to build the website. One less stress I have to worry about.

ETSY is pretty easy to set up so I should be ready to go by Monday. :) Once my website is up and running I will shift everything over to it. Thanks for following my progress. :)

Jeanette

EXPOSING SCREENS

2010-10-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Today I am working with my new UV RXP exposure unit from Ryonet. WOW!!! I am used to burning my screens for 12 minutes then waiting for the glass to cool before I could burn another screen. Not anymore. With the UV exposure unit, I burned my first screen for the recommended 3 minutes 45 seconds and it washed out beautifully. I am all ready to go with my next screen. No more waiting for the glass to cool off. This particular design does not have any detail so I am anxious to burn a screen with a detailed image.

I made one mistake with the screen. I burned the image in the wrong place. I needed to burn it more in the middle of the screen. This particular design will go on a tote bag. Tote bags slip over the platen with the top of the bag towards the press so your final print will be right side up, not upside down like a t-shirt print. I hope that makes sense.

It is so nice to have upgraded equipment. My other equipment did the job but the new stuff is so much better. Within 10 minutes I re-printed my transparency, burned a screen and washed out the image. Nice!!

More screens to do.....by for now!

Jeanette

EPSON 1400 BLACKMAX PRINTER

2010-10-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

It took a couple days to get over my head cold. Yikes, I hate being sick. I have been lucky this year...only sick once. (Knock on wood!) Usually I get the flu/cold twice a year. Must be all my healthy living. :)

So, I have been busy re-arranging (again) my printing room. I had to shift a few things around to make room for all my new toys. I still have a few things to get organized but I am getting there.

I installed my new Epson 1400 Blackmax printer with ACCURIP yesterday and have been playing around with it today. It has been pretty easy to work with so far. The first film I printed looked horrible. I could see so much light through it. I was getting a better result from my Lexmark printer. You want your transparencies to be as dark as possible to block out the light when you expose your screens. I played around with it a little more and figured out what to do. It only took a little more reading and a few adjustments in ACCURIP and I was good to go.

These are the ACCURIP settings I had luck with:
Under Ink Set-up
Ink Coverage - STANDARD

Under Printer Set-up
Print Resolution - 1440 x 720 DPI
Droplet Weight - MEDIUM OR HEAVY

Under "How would you like this screened?"
I chose - ELLIPSE
Angle - 22.5 Degrees
Frequency - 45 LPI

Wow, the new transparencies are SO much darker then the ones I have printed with my Lexmark. I am looking forward to exposing my screens, especially since I will be using my new UV Exposure unit for the first time. :) It is so much fun to have new toys. I can't wait. I have had four screens ready to go for a week now. I was going to print last weekend but I decided to wait until I got the new equipment.

Now I need to make sure the exposure unit is set-up properly. Not really much to do there. I just need to clean the glass and cut the foam to fit my screens. I already checked to settings on the unit and it all looks good. I wish I had an electric bread knife to cut the foam. They work great for cutting foam in a straight line.

Lots to do....later.
Jeanette

IT'S HERE!!

2010-10-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

My new equipment just arrived. :) I wish I had enough energy to actually open the boxes. I have such a head cold, it took all of my energy just to get the boxes in the front door. Fever, stuffy nose, aches and pains. Yuck...I hate being sick. All I want to do is sleep. I just drank some Thera Flu....yummy. I have my blanket, pillows and one of my favorite movies, "YOU'VE GOT MAIL" with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Kind of fitting since I just had mail delivered. :) You can not go wrong with a Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks movie.

Hope I feel better tomorrow. I can not wait to try out my new stuff.

Later!
Jeanette

NEW EQUIPMENT AND BIG SURPRISES

2010-10-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

NEW EQUIPMENT

I am very excited today. :) I have a UV exposure unit, an EPSON 1400 printer and a Foil Kit on its way. It will be here tomorrow. I also ordered a heat press today. Yeah! Now I will be able to add foil to my designs and offer a couple different versions of one design. I think its always good to offer people choices. The more choices you can offer, the more customers you can attract.

Ordering the heat press is a big investment but one that has many advantages. With this one piece of equipment I can do the following:

* Add FOIL
* Add BLING...sparkly diamonds :)
* Heat Press vinyl lettering
* Heat Transfers
* Sublimation
* Chromablast

Having the ability to do all of these things is a huge business advantage. I will still need to invest in a few more pieces of equipment but the heat press was my first step. My next big purchase will be a SUBLIMATION printer. Once I get the printer, I will be able to add coffee mugs and mouse pads to my inventory. I have had a few people want me to print a picture of their animal on a shirt but I had to say no for now. Once I get the sublimation printer I will be able to do it. :)

BIG SURPRISES

I have some HUGE surprises coming in the next month. I would love to elaborate on it but I still have so much work to do. Please keep following my blog and definitely become a fan on Facebook. Be sure to tell all your dog loving friends about The Pondering Pooch.

I look forward to sharing my continued progress with you.

Jeanette

VIDEO FOR OCTOBER PHOTO CONTEST

2010-10-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

GETTING READY TO PRINT

2010-10-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

It is a very over cast day here in Las Vegas. It has been raining off and on for the last few days. Yeah!! Rain is definitely something we need. I love this time of the year. Thunder, lightning and rain! I love it. :) This is a good day to open the windows, listen to it rain and BLOG about screen-printing.

I have been doing some final adjustments to my designs. If all goes as planned, I will print my transparencies and burn my screens tomorrow and then I will be ready to print on Friday or Saturday. I have two shirt designs and two tote bag designs ready to go. Before I print my tote bags I need to cut down one of my platens so the bag will fit over it. Luckily I picked up some screen printing supplies at a yard sale (for free) and it included a platen. I just need to trim the width of it and then I will be able to use it for tote bags as well as kids shirts. Yeah! It definitely saves me money when I can use equipment for multiple things.

Friday I will also start work on my website. I am not looking forward to it. I can not wait for it to be designed but I dread doing it myself. Even though most website companies have drop and drag templates, it is still so Greek to me. Just one more thing I need to teach myself. It will be a challenge but I will get it done.

Thank you so much for continuing to follow my progress. I look forward to showing my designs. :)
Jeanette

VICTORY IS MNE!!!!!

2010-10-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

I have VICTORY over the big, bad, dirty screens!! A pressure washer, a little muscle and a little patience and I have won. The screens look FANTASTIC. No need for re-meshing!! Sweet! :) I love saving money.

I am letting the cleaning solutions sit on the screens for 8 to 10 minutes, especially the Citra-Paste and the Dehazer. I am getting the ghost images and emulsion off my older screens too. I am so very happy. I have had this problem since I started and I was getting very irritated. I felt like I was ruining all my screens. Now I know I need to let the chemicals sit on the screens a little longer and use a pressure washer.

I love my pressure washer. I will definitely not be going back to the garden hose. It may still work since I am leaving the chemicals on longer but a pressure washer works SO much better.

Now I am getting anxious to print my shirts. I was very frustrated before because my screens looked like crap. One more step in the right direction. :) My next little issue is exposure times. That was part of my problem with the wash-out. I do have a UV exposure unit on the way which will be great. But I still need to figure out the right time with the 500watt unit. I had less problem when I exposed for 11+ minutes. I think I will go back to that for now. I am headed out to pick up a new bulb for the light so that should help as well.

Things are looking good. :)

Jeanette

SCREEN CLEANING DAY

2010-10-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

I have had issues with my screens not coming clean during wash-out. Today I decided to hook up my pressure washer and really blast them. The pressure washer REALLY makes a difference. The first couple screens came clean. One screen still has a little ghost image but not bad. Now I am working on my older screens that really look bad. I am hoping them come clean as well. I may need to have a few of them re-meshed or I may just buy new screens. It will cost $13 to have one re-screened. I need to add in the shipping cost too. It is free shipping back to me but I have to get the screens to Arkansas. It may just be cheaper to buy new ones.

Actually, a better investment would probably be the Newman Roller Screens. With the Newman screens I can put new screen on them whenever its needed. I will also be able to get better tension on the Newman screens. Even though I have not used my screens very much, I am sure the tension is very low, which does affect the final print. Once I get my website up and start actually selling my shirts, I will be purchasing the Newman screens. Having the best equipment definitely makes a difference.

More screens to clean!!

Jeanette

A LONG ROAD

2010-10-16T01:27:00.000-07:00

I had a second order for Goonie shirts. :) A few of the parents wanted shirts so I printed them up today. It was only a six shirt order but every little bit helps. I have hesitated in taking any new orders because I have been working to get my dog designs out. It is kind of a catch 22 because the custom orders bring in money, which helps fund the business but they also take so much time away from my own designs. My designs seem to take longer because I have to actually draw the dogs myself and that is still a challenge. I am getting better at drawing but it takes so long to get something out of my head and onto paper. Ugh! Like anything else, it takes time, practice and patience, all of which I am a little short on these days. :)

I am certainly not complaining. This whole screen-printing adventure has been a total blast so far. There is so much to learn its amazing. Every time I think I am finally ready to print one of my designs, I order a new piece of equipment or a new product that will make them look even better. I have to put off printing until the new stuff arrives and then I order other new stuff and I have to wait until that arrives. New equipment means more printing options and that means more sales. I will be glad when I finally have all the pieces of the puzzle put together. Soon!!! :)

Jeanette

SCREEN WASH-OUT

2010-10-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

I have been having a few problems with my screen wash-out process. I can't seem to get the screen completely clean and it has been driving me nuts since I started this whole adventure. I have watched so many videos showing the wash-out process and their screens look like new when they are finished. My screens never look new after wash-out. I always seem to have some emulsion left on the screen or a very noticeable ghost image.

I used my new aluminum 156 mesh screens once and now they look awful. It is quite irritating because I feel like I am ruining my screens. I want my screens to look new when I am done washing them out. I finally called Ryonet and spoke with TJ. She was very helpful. TJ said my whole issue probably starts at the beginning when I expose my screens. At the moment I am using a 500watt halogen work light as my exposure unit. My exposure times have varied from 12+ minutes down to 8 minutes. She said if my screens are under exposed or over exposed I could be getting some cross hatching of chemicals (mixing of chemicals). I am pretty sure that is what happened with my screens that I exposed for 8+ minutes. I had a little ink build up in the image and I used Sprayway 957 Screen Opener. On the screens that I used the screen opener on, the emulsion will not wash out around part of the image. Ugh! :(

The ghost image is not the real problem because it does not block the mesh opening. I can still see the holes in the mesh. But the emulsion not washing out is a big problem because it blocks the holes in the screen. TJ gave me some pointers that will hopefully solve my problem.

First, I will need to figure out my exposure times better. The light on my exposure unit might be going out too, so I will be getting a new light tomorrow. I am sure that will help. The good news is, I have a 20 x 24 aluminum exposure unit being delivered in the next week or so. :) Yippie! I will be so glad when it gets here. I can't wait to see the difference in exposure options.

Next, I need to use a pressure washer instead of the garden hose I have been using. TJ said I need the high pressure in order to force the emulsion out. I already have a pressure washer but it has been leaking and my wash-out room is my extra bathroom. I will be solving that problem this weekend. I will be moving my wash-out room to the garage. I think the pressure washer will really do the trick.

I am also trying the Enviro Green Line of products from Ryonet. I recently switched from Screen Wash 147 to Citra Paste, which is biodegradable. I love the Citra Paste. I have read up on the Enviro Green line of products and they have received great reviews. A lot of people say they work better and they are also better for the environment, which means they are better for us. :)

I have seen lots of videos on how to wash-out a screen but I have not seen any videos that show what is normal and what is not normal after a screen is washed out. Maybe I will make that video once I get my ducks in a row. :)Hopefully, my screen wash-out problem will be solved with the above remedies and my screens will look like new after each job. :)

If you have any questions or problems with your screen printing, don't hesitate in contacting Ryonet. Their staff is ALWAYS very helpful. I know I have contacted them quite a few times myself. :)

Take Care.
Jeanette