We are giving away a semi-pro screen printing package with thousands of dollars worth of upgrades and training.
The winner of this contest will blog about his or her experience starting a screen printing business—from fruition to success—trials and errors, problems, questions, and success stories.
It is important to us that the winner is passionate about screen printing and is willing to share their experiences with others.
Click here for details on how to enter.
16 Comments
Robert
30 Apr 2010 06:04 am
I am a begginer printer who started because a professional who printed for my organization wouldn’t allow me to volunteer in his shop, for trade to learn the art.
So I have been learning all on my own! Of course with video blogs and reading blogs I am uncovering the hidden art…
Ardith Conley
30 Apr 2010 11:04 am
Hello,
Ryonet I am very glad enter and view this contest. I am 55 soon to be 56 and have worked all my life for companies and am sick and tired of it. I am going to post my story on youtube.. I have never screen printed or printed at all. I pulled this idea out of the air. After watching yudu commercial on tv something clicked. I know the yudu is just a hobby machine. However, I saw past that. Yes, I bought one but I checked out the silkscreen printing industry and it seems like it was something I could do. I wanted to do it right. Started with a company name and registered a domain name , Studio 772. I trade marked the name and got a business license. Now I am buying equipment with my over time money and income tax refund money. I am learning the screen printing business by doing. Like tonight I worked 10 hours on my job and came home and am learning how to reclaim a screen. The screen opener I got from Ryonet and the things I learned from the company helped.
It seems like working for companies and even a good company has an effect on people or at least I can say on myself that is not expected. From a child I have always been creative and a thinker. I solved many a problems with little to no help. I loved to be creative build things draw things,and fix things. It seems like working for companies has some draw backs. One is it robbed me of this creativity. Companies make policies and procedures that cause you to quit thing for yourself. It makes you mindless if you let them.
In all my years of working I learned this it is easy to put your future in somebody’s hands and think that every thing is going to be okay. My dad worked for a company for over 35 years and retired from that company with a good retirement. Those days are gone. You have to do things for yourself because at the end of the day your security is not in companies they are out to make money, There is nothing wrong with that but,it is a trap.
The trap is you give up your rights to work for these companies and I want my rights back. I want to redeem the rest of my life from the trap. Some people call it the rat race. I see it as a race you just can not win. An example of that is I fix computers for the company I work for. I have to be finger printed and go through a metal detector in order to go in to the work area. On any given day that is 6 times to go through the metal detector and 4 time being finger printed with the time clock. There is cameras on you all the time you are on the property. I guess the worse thing is I worked for the prior company for 9 years before they sold the factory to the company I am working for now. It is rumored that the company is not doing to good now. So lay offs are expected. This way of living ends up being pay check to pay check.
I work 40 to 80 hours a week. I done this for most of my life. Days go by and they add up to years and you look back and see all those things you wanted to do and didn’t, like take a real vacation when you wanted to and could not. Family things you wanted to attend and could not get off and why? Because the needs of the company out weighed yours.
I had my 1 year performance review one on one with my manager last week. That is a ruff thing for me because I done the same job for 10 years and the company sold the factory. It seems like the new company is just flat nuts. However, it felt good to tell my manager that I am starting a new company and I don’t know how much longer I will be working there. I told him that I will never, never, never give another company control over my life like I did with this company.
For me starting this screen printing business is about hope, redemption, and freedom. I know that there is bills to pay and life goes on. I am looking forwards to doing things because they are what I want to do or need to do not because some body told me. I want my life back. I am using Studio 772 to express myself and take it back. Thanks Ryonet for being there to help.
Ryonet
04 May 2010 11:05 pm
Ardith: Thanks for sharing your story...can't wait to see your You Tube video.
Stephanie
02 May 2010 01:05 am
I just uploaded my entry video! Wish me luck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPymvRnEK2E
*}Peace{*
Ryonet
04 May 2010 11:05 pm
Thanks for your entry!
Jessica
26 May 2010 03:05 am
Here is my entry for the contest!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdScQMZ184Y
Mikey
31 May 2010 12:05 am
Im brand new to screen printing, but I actually already bought my semi pro, it came in 2 days ago. But im still interested in this b/c I think it would be fun to video blog about my journey creating a business. Can I still enter and qualify to win the upgrades, ink, shirts, clip art, camera, and most importantly the training???? I think im perfect for this.
Ryonet
01 Jun 2010 03:06 pm
Yes Mikey you qualify--please enter!
Gina Fullbright
31 May 2010 08:05 pm
I just just finished my video and got it loaded and emailed it in. Woohoo cant wait.
Have a great and fun day.
Ryonet
01 Jun 2010 03:06 pm
Thanks for entering!
Jessica
01 Jun 2010 03:06 pm
I’m so excited to see who won! When do we get to see the results?
mikey
01 Jun 2010 09:06 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYGRY3xvyg0
My entry, hope its not to late
Michael
02 Jun 2010 12:06 am
Yaghali du shida ina! Check out my entry at http://youtube.com/watch?v=91RVw7p0CKo. Wish me luck!
Jeffrey Marmur
03 Aug 2010 06:08 am
ive been a ryonet custimer for two yrs now,i bought thier chemicals, emulsion, sqeege, scoop coater, ink. i built my own press, screens, exposure unit, drying cabinet, washout booth, and dryer. well i put my first craigslist ad up and got my first customer, well for a month i worked on her artwork and printed 30 shirts, and she said, how should i pay you, i said when i meet you to get them picked up just opay me then, well i stood in an empty parking lot in philadelphia for six hours at night, no one ever came. i called and called, nothing still have the box. well i went back to my computer and found a second job. i got a call from a design company in new york. huge company and told me we need 500 shirts by next week, well me of couse , i said shure no problem, well i bought exactly 500 black shirts with an extremely detailed artwork, one color luckly, white, well that was easy. i printed 500 black shirts with a 230 mesh screen with my somewhat knowledge with ryonet, so i got the right screen but i printed for 56 hours to finish, i printed them with white straight out of the bucket. well if i knew you need good tension it would of been easier and probably easier and prob some reducer too. well i did it, at that moment i knew if i could do that then i can acomplish anything. so i made 2000,00 dollars. wow. but i threw 1500 away on shirts, boo, i was left with 500.00, soo i talked to a local screen printing shop, they said go buy some newman roller frames and some mesh, strech it as tigh as possible. well i went to ryonet and they didnt have them at the time i think so i went and bought some somewhere else, well that was soo easy when i did that although i put it on the press and it fell and hit me on the head, the springs couldnt hold up. so i had 450.00 left, i did my research, since i didnt have enough for a four color i bought a two color press, and knew i could upgrade at anytime, so it was like heaven, i had a real press, with real clamps, with real registration gate, with real metal, wow, i got a few more jobs and had about 1000,00 dollars to the bis. so i went out and got a infrared dryer from ryonet, so i ran another somewhat big job, for a pizza place not to far from me, soo i had about 1500,00 now. one day im coming home from colledge and i get a call, hello, hi, can i place an order okay. al the time i only knew spot color, i didnt know there was such thing as four color prosses, so i said shure. he sent me a picture, kinda hard, i tried transfers, but to ugly, so i called ryonet and they sent me a dvd, i realized by equipment was not enough, i went for the top of the line and bought myself an x.vactor, two color upgrade, and four 305 mesh screens, two more squeeges and the proper ink. i though you couldnt get better than this, everything worked, no trying seven times, it all worked on the first try, no foam, then wieght then chip saw on top to expose, all high tech, well from that day bus took off, couple months went by and times were busy and i couldnt affors to hire yet, so i got a call oneday from a friend, this way a couple moths ago, and he said , i have a friend three hours away, he will give you his old equipment for free, he is moving, okay i went. when i pulled up, there was a blackline washout booth, four color one station logo press, a coil flash dryer, tons of ink, sqeeges and some screens, well i called up ryonet and told them and they gave me enough money for the press and dryer thati wasble to get the two station upgrade for my press. now i just bough a dryer because i was not able to keep up drying with the flash dryer. and now i need a nice riley hopkins press i want to get my self a six color four station press so it could let me get some rest, well a week ago i had to go into surgery because i fell in my shop and broke one of my disks and injured my siatic nereve, between my colledge payments and my surgery i almost went broke, screen printing saved me, i now can do minimal for a while and i cant afford new equipment now, so im writing in to do two things, one thank ryonet for all thier help through thier phone support and youtube video and hopefully i can stil use it in the future and hope to win, something like a press to make my life easier, or something just as good.
Frank Czap
20 Aug 2010 03:08 am
i got into screen printing because my son wanted to make and sell t shirts as a substitute to a real job. So in for a penny in for a pound. I financed his operation and now I do all the work and he gets the cash.
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