Tuesday 29 March 2011

How to Start a Home Printing Business

Are you afflicted with the anticipation of starting a business, but don't accept the aboriginal abstraction of how to go about it? If you accept disregarded what a computer can do besides answering e-mails and amaranthine surfing, you accept not banked aloft the opportunities available. With a minimum advance and a PC you can aftermath able attractive documents. Whether you are a aerial academy apprentice attractive for some added money, a homemaker, or a retiree, a abundance of opportunities are accessible aloof a bang away. You can actualize a acknowledged press business by actuality a little artistic and alive aloft a accurate plan.


Services to be provided
The blazon of account you accommodate has to be absitively first. It is your advantage to abject your accommodation on the calibration of the business and your managing ability. You can accommodate simple casework like designing a resume, creating a newsletter, or accounting jobs. If you are absorbed in clear designing, you can alike actualize logos and add designing to your account of casework provided. 


Printing Methods
Commercial press employs abounding altered methods. The affectionate of press adjustment you accept should be based on claim of your blazon of business. Flexography is a adjustment that involves continued printing. Press newspapers involves a adjustment accepted as gravure printing. Lithography is the cheapest adjustment available. Press on bolt is accepted as awning printing. Digital printing, not acceptable for continued printing, usually involves blush press jobs.


There are assorted factors to be kept in apperception while chief aloft the press method. You charge not alone appraise the actual on which the press has to be done but additionally how abundant press is required. Time and amount are important issues to be advised with this regard. You charge appraise the amount for the press job forth with the time it will booty to complete it. Businesses accept to complete the job aural the accustomed time or they shall ache banking losses. 


Advertising Your Home Press Company
You can acquaint your business by agreement the advertisement in the bi-weekly or by distributing fliers. Apart from this, you can booty the inter-net avenue to announcement by creating websites, which accommodate advice about your aggregation and the casework you provide. The advertisements should be able to back the capacity in a simple and accessible manner. It should authority alone accordant information. The chump doesn't accept abundant time to go through awful blowzy and alternate abstracts area he is not alike able to acquisition the acquaintance information. You can alike column boards and acquaint in E-magazines, which acquiesce chargeless advertising.


You do not have time to do the process?'s Easy, you simply create a list of printer vendors in your city. Go to one by one, tell them that you want to become business partners. That way you'll be given the difference in price than the price offered to consumers. Easy enough right? If you do it already, it is time you find customers.

Monday 28 March 2011

Online Digital Photo Printing + Home Digital Photo Printing Business

Most bodies who buy a digital camera would generally go out afterwards to buy a photo printer. It's altogether accomplished to do this about what best bodies don't apperceive is that it's cheaper in the continued run to book your photos online. Let's go through why this is the case.


Digital Photo Press At Home


Let's say you bought a camera for $400 and you again absitively to book your own photos at home. You buy an boilerplate photo press for about $200. It'll amount you about $40 (almost bifold for a new cartridge) to change your colour ink armament and that's if you recycle them. About application recycled ink cartridges can account your press to breach down. On top of that you'll additionally acquire to buy photo cardboard for about $50 for a pack.


If this is still ok with your account and aliment cost, you'll be abruptness to see the affection of the prints aback they appear out. If you acquire an boilerplate printer you won't be admiring with the quality. And if you're afterwards affection you'll acquire to get a bigger press which could set you aback about $300 to $500 depending on the model. You'll still acquire to pay for ink and cardboard which could amount added depending on the model.


Now if you can acquire all the disadvantages of press at home you'll be alike added aghast to apperceive that if you capital to book a ample admeasurement photo, you're press ability not be able to do so.


Digital Photo Press Online


Printing your photos online is an another band-aid for bodies who don't demand the hassles and amount complex with accepting your own home press lab. Online press websites all appear with accessories for you to upload and enhance your photos if you haven't already done so.


Some online photos shops alike acquiesce you to book your photos on T-Shirts, mugs, calendars and abundant more.


And one of the above allowances of online press is that you can save money aback you book in aggregate and you can additionally get them delivered appropriate to your aperture step!


If you haven't already approved online press I do advance you accord it a go and see how you like it. It's actual fast, bargain and saves time because you can get them printed while at assignment or in a caf

Sunday 27 March 2011

High Powered Printing Solutions For Small Businesses


Printing solutions are available with a variety of options because of the latest developments in printing technology. They are very important for any business because a document printed in bad quality can cause damage to the reputation of your business. Depending on the type of your business, you can choose the printing technique right for your commercial use. Before you start using any printing method, you should understand what the printing requirements of your business are and how they can be fulfilled. 


Different Types of Printing Techniques
Some of the high-powered printing solutions for small businesses include flexography, screen printing, gravure, digital processing and lithography. Different printing solutions are suitable to different kinds of businesses. For example if a company wants long printing, then flexography is the most suitable option. Screen-printing is the best printing solution when one needs to print on several kinds of cloth, make banners, or do some other fabric printing. Gravure technique is useful for long run printing and newspapers. You cannot perform long printing work on digital printers. Digital printing is best for the color jobs. Lithography is the least expensive method of high-powered printing solutions for small businesses.


Before you finalize any of the aforementioned high-powered printing solutions for small businesses, it will be useful to gather all the relevant information. First, you need to know on which kind of material you are going to print. Next, the quantity of the printing to be performed. Once you decide that a particular technique suits you best, then make some enquiry from the provider. For example, ask how much they will charge for it. Also, ask about the total time they will take to do it. Similarly, ask specifically about the designing and further assistance. 


Time is the costliest commodity fro any business today. Like any other business, timely completion of commercial printing requirements is necessary for successful and smooth operations. If you do not provide necessary print outs within the deadline, then you are going to bear huge financial losses. If your business is growing and you want to increase your printing capacity, do not keep on adding newer and newer Ink-jet printers. Ink-jet printers are notoriously costly and are not capable of serving many people at a time. One big size laser jet printer is the right solution, as it will print more speedily and more efficiently than several Ink-jet printers.

Saturday 26 March 2011

Understanding Basic Principles of Screen Printing Process

Screen printing techniques primarily require a fine mesh or screen securely stretched around a stiff casing. Segments that are not to be printed are blocked on the screen. To create a print, the screen is placed on a piece of dry paper or fabric and ink is placed on top of it. A rubber blade is used to spread ink consistently across the screen. The ink passes through the open spaces in the screen onto the paper or fabric below after which the screen is removed. This method is usually used for flat or moderately flat surface printing.

Basically there are 2 type of screenprinting :
1. Waterbased ink : this type are used to screenprint on t-shirt or something that made from textille. There are many kind ink such : rubber, extender, and many more.
2. Oilbased ink : this type are work in paper or plastic. But in further, there are some oilbased ink that also worked for textille. It's called plastisol ink.

Screen printing is a combination of preparation, installation and orientation. In the initial stages, one needs to use cutting tools to create a design. These include art knives, scooping knives, multiple blades and scalpels. One can use these to create a design on a monofilament or multifilament nylon or polyester surface or a photosensitive indirect screen printing film. One needs to have a collection of screen printing inks. With the help of blotting pens, an artist may block the parts that are not to be printed.

The next step involves spreading the ink with spatulas, rubber blades or squeegees. After this step is completed, the artist needs to use screen printing frames. Amateurs may consider using clamps or tapes to hold the article to be printed, in place. While using a photosensitive indirect screen printing film, tabletop printers or garment printing machines have to be used.

Once the printing process is completed, it is important to cure the ink. For this, a textile dryer, flash dryer and a drying board is required. After the printing process is completed, a fabric cleaning brush is used to clean the screen. In some cases, a fast screen wash may be needed to remove ink stains. Instant screen openers may also be sprayed on a dry area of the screen to dissolve the inks and open the mesh after two or three ink coats.

In order to observe the minute details of screen printing, flash bulbs are used. Equipments may be purchased as needed or a screen printing kit containing all the necessary items can be purchased. Until an amateur artist gains a better understanding of the process, one may use ready-to-use stencils or designs in the initial stages. Kits often come with manuals, which are indispensable guides for beginners and advanced users alike.

Thursday 24 March 2011

6 kinds Facebook or Twitter status who make miserable!!


1. Negative comments about the job or company
As quoted from PC World, Wednesday (28.09.2010), many Facebook members feel the need to notify your friends or family about the bad job and their company or how unpleasant coworkers in the office. It should not be done because of anything that was posted on Facebook, can easily leak anywhere - even if you have set it in such a way that only certain people who can read it.
2. Boss defends all-out in online feud
This is because even though you think no problem with everything said, but actually you are not a public relations professional. Thus, what you post could be wrong and damaging the company image.
3. Talking about things related to company secrets
For example, you know the rumors that the company was discussing some of your colleagues to be dismissed from employment. You'd better shut up and do not disclose it on Facebook.
4. Hiding the identity and pretend to be someone else.
Of course badly pretending to be someone else. The best advice is just apply to be honest with ourselves, in order to avoid misunderstandings.
5. Tell too much about private lives to recreational activities
Instead, you sort out what he wanted to tell. No need too much indulgence in the story in your personal life and activities on Facebook. Since this may affect your image in the company.
6. Posting inappropriate pictures
Not only the words in the post status, post status on Facebook was able to bring disaster to your career. Do not believe? For example a member of the cheerleading team named Caitlyn Davis, was fired from the team just because his Facebook profile picture in the account was raised middle finger. What's your Facebook status today?

Tuesday 22 March 2011

How to wash your helmet (no need going to helmet washer)

Based on my first post,now i will post a tutorials how to wash helmet by own. This article is post by : sportbikeguy.com
What you needed:  
1. Laundry Sink or Bathtub
2. Gentle Laundry Soap (i.e. Woolite)
3. Towels (2)

Estimates:        
Time: 15-30 minutes to wash, 24-72 hours to dry.

Cost:
~$5 USD for detergent.

Even if your helmet has removable pads, you should wash the helmet out as well. You can wash the pads at the same time and leave them out to dry with it.

Step 1 - Remove the visor   
 
Step 2 - Place towel in tub
You do not want to scratch your nice helmet, do you? Make sure you put the drain plug in first.

Step 3 - Measure out some of your favorite delicate laundry detergent     



Step 4 - Fill the tub 



Step 5 - Wash the helmet
Squish the soapy water through the pads and the rest of the helmet.
Open your vents and let some soap drain through them as well.     





Step 6 - Drain


Step 7 - Rinse
Rinse the soap from the outside, vents, and inside.
To get the soap out of the pads, squish the clean water in them repeatedly. Be thorough   

Step 8 - Drain
Hold it like this for a bit to let much of the water drain out.    
Step 9 - Dry
The best for way for a helmet to dry is on a dish rack like this one. It allows air to circulate to let it dry faster.
DO NOT use a heat source (hair dryer, etc.) to expedite the drying process! The heat will cause glue breakdown and other problems. Just DON NOT do it! (This are excatly true, because I have tried to dry out using a hairdyer but instead make helmet use is not fragrant)


So, now you can wash your helmet by yourself. No need to go to helmet washer.

Home Screenprinting Tutorial (Basic Level)





Willy vs. Mass Production Silkscreening is such a great happy medium — nestled comfortably half-way between hand-drawn and mass production, more colourful than photocopying and with an aesthetic all its own. Artist Shannon Gerard broke out her silkscreening gear to make cool shirts and posters for her upcoming comic launch, and despite being crazy busy has shared her skills in this funny and detailed tutorial. Read on to learn how to print your own posters, shirts, or whatever you fancy printing on, and how the Virgin Mary and Spiderman join forces to help her out.

Home Screenprinting Tutorial
by Shannon Gerard
1. Choosing and Preparing Your Screen
What you need:
~ A screen with the right mesh count for your printing surface
~ Mr. Clean or any water based degreasing agent
The first thing you need when setting up a home print shop is the screen (I know, weird). Screens with aluminium frames last much longer than wooden frames which warp after repeated washings. Aluminium screens are usually only 10 dollars more than wooden screens of the same size, so even if you plan to use your screen more than one time, the extra money is definitely worthwhile. A sturdy aluminium screen will continue to lie flat on the printing surface after multiple uses and the mesh is pulled much tighter around an aluminium frame which produces a crisper printed image. They’re also a lot easier to wash out than wooden screens.
The other major factor to consider is mesh count. The mesh count refers the tightness of the weave in the mesh fabric of the screen. A higher mesh count means the fibres of the mesh are closer together and a lower count means the fibres are more loosely woven, so more ink can pass through the screen. If you are printing on paper, you want a screen with a mesh count of about 230 for really optimal results. A screen that tight will allow you to print images with finer details and thinner lines. Since fabric is generally more absorbent than paper, you need a screen that lets through more ink when printing on t-shirts, totebags, or anything cloth. For fabric printing, you should use a screen with a mesh count of 110 or 160 (those tend to be the standard counts sold). I use 110. A lot of folks also opt for a mesh count of about 180, which allows printing on both paper and fabric, but there is an obvious loss of fine detail if you print onto paper at that count.
If you live in Toronto, the best place to buy screens and related materials (it’s the cheapest too), is G&S Dye and Accessories at Dundas and University. Dixon, who runs G&S, knows everything about fabric printing (I almost believe he could bring about world peace) and is also very helpful about supplies and advice. His website has very detailed information about printing including some in-depth tutorials and awesome diagrams of home set-ups.
Once you have bought your screen, the first important thing to do is wash it out with cold water and a degreasing agent (I use the unfortunately gender-specific Mr. Clean, the concentration a little bit weaker than what you would put on the
floor). Getting any grease out helps the emulsion to bond with the fabric which gives you a crisper stencil.
Also important is to understand the orientation of your screen (not the gender specific kind). The flat “back” of the screen which sits on the printing surface is called the “print side” or “paper side” and the “front” of the screen, recessed inside the lip of the frame, is called the “squeegee side.”
paper sidesqueegee side
2. Preparing Your Artwork
What you need:
~ Original artwork with a high contrast
~ Transparency film
Screen printing is a very “flat” medium, so images that are starkly contrasted work best. When preparing your artwork to be burned to the screen (to create the stencil), work in black and white only — grey tones and the subtleties of photographic images will not produce a workable stencil. If you start with a photo, as in the example below, reduce the information to a line drawing, or apply a filter or halftone screen in Photoshop which will reduce the image to a series of dots.
I used the photo on the left as a source to produce the drawing on the right, but I liked the red colour of the boxing gloves and wanted to include that in the final print. You can print in any colour you want, but the artwork used to make the stencil must be black. I coloured in the glove shapes, making sure they remained registered correctly to the drawing:







Every colour you want to print requires a separate stencil.
Once you have the artwork prepared, print or photocopy it onto transparent film, and you will be ready to produce the screen stencil. It is very important that the black areas printed on the transparency are completely opaque, so hold it up to the light and make sure all the black lines are totally dense.
3. Burning the Stencil
What you need:
~ The screen
~ Emulsion and sensitiser
~ A scoop coater or squeegee
~ Rubber gloves
~ A rubber spatula
~ A darkroom and photosafe light
~ Black bristol board, or black cloth or felt
~ Transparencies containing your artwork
~ A sheet of glass
~ A light fixture with a 250 watt photo flood bulb
~ A timer
~ A spray bottle full of cold water
~ A shower head, spray nozzle or garden hose
This is the most intensive step in the screenprinting process, but if you take a little extra care when making the stencil, the printing process will go super fast.
The first thing to do, after your screen is degreased and completely dry, is to coat the screen in emulsion. Emulsion is the photosensitive goop that will make the stencil on the screen. In areas where the emulsion hardens, the screen is blocked so no ink can pass through. In areas where the emulsion is kept soft and eventually washed out of the screen, the ink will pass through to produce your print. Emulsion is hardened by exposure to light, so you need to conduct this entire process in a darkroom using photosafe lights to see by. I use the extremely ghetto mechanism of a Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) night light with a red christmas tree bulb inside (witness the shame below) and coat my screens in our windowless bathroom (it gets worse).
Emulsion comes in two parts, the emulsion proper and a small bottle of sensitiser. Working by the red light of your own BVM, mix the emulsion with the sensitiser (each brand comes with its own set of instructions on the label). Once sensitised, emulsion is good for about 3 weeks at room temperature, or about 3 months (tops — it gets iffy at the end of those 3 months) if refrigerated. Always wear gloves! when handling emulsion. Those photo-chemicals are nasty!
To coat the screen, you can invest in a scoop coater (about 14 bucks) or can use the slightly grosser and less controllable option of a squeegee or wallpaper smoother. A scoop coater is a very easy-to-use trough which holds the emulsion and deposits a nice even, thin coat on the screen. If you’re using the squeegee or smoother option, use a spatula to spread a line of emulsion along one end of the screen (See below) and then, pressing very firmly with the squeegee, drag the line of emulsion down or up the screen until it is evenly coated with emulsion. It is very important to have a thin, even coat of emulsion on the screen, uninterrupted by drips or blobby areas that could mess up the clarity of your stencil. I always double coat my screen by applying one coat to the paper side and another to the squeegee side. You must double coat all in one go while the first coat is still freshly wet.
emulsion and sensitisercoating the screen
Leave the coated screen in the dark to dry for at least 2 hours. Some tutorials say one hour, but I always have bad results with that timeline because the emulsion is not ready. The important thing is that the emulsion is completely dry before you expose your image. No stickiness allowed.
Once the coated screen is dry, you can expose it. It is easy to set up a home exposure unit by arranging materials in this order (from bottom to top)– 1. black cloth or board on the bottom to absorb the light and prevent it from bouncing back through your image area; 2. screen next with paper side down (against the black board); 3. transparencies against the squeegee side of the screen, oriented so that you can read them normally from left to right; 4. a sheet of heavy glass on top of the transparencies to hold them down as tightly as possible to the screen surface; 5. a lamp situated about 1 or 1.5 feet above the glass top with a 250 watt photo flood bulb installed (any good photo store has these for about 8 bucks a bulb).
Don’t forget to set up this exposure unit inside the darkroom! Also, make sure there are no obvious dust particles or other matter in between the transparency and the screen or the glass and the transparency. Any material that blocks the light from getting to the emulsion will show up in your stencil and will interrupt your print.
The other big thing to keep in mind here is that the outer two inches of the screen area (closest to the frame on all sides) are unprintable. Because the tension is so high where the fabric is stretched around the frame, you can’t get a good print out of the border areas of the screen. Make sure your image does not go closer to the frame than 2 inches all around.
Once you have the unit set up in the dark, turn on the flood light for about 15 minutes and allow the emulsion to harden in areas that receive the light.
At the end of 15 minutes, you can turn off the flood light and work in the regular light of the room (no more darkroom necessary). Remove the glass and transparency (you will probably be able to see a ghost image of your design at this point, but if you don’t — it’s okay) and immediately, thoroughly spray the entire surface of the screen with cold water. You have to do this right away and wash the screen out before the emulsion gets hard where your design is. Use a spray nozzle in your shower (how convenient that my exposure unit is in the bathroom) or sink, or use the garden hose to spray down the the screen. Gently pass the spray across the whole surface of the screen until your design is completely washed out. Hold it up to the light to make sure no cloudy areas remain inside your stencil. If any pinholes show where you don’t want them, paint them in with left over emulsion and leave them to dry in the sunlight. Now your stencil is done! Let the screen completely dry before printing.
4. Printing the Image
What you need:
~ One set of two hinge clamps
~ A large flat surface
~ A big sheet of acetate (at least 2 feet square)
~ The finished stencil on the screen
~ Packing tape
~ A rubber spatula
~ Appropriate ink for your printing surface
~ The right squeegee for your printing surface
~ Whatever you plan to print on (t-shirts or paper)
~ A hot iron
To set up for printing, you need a completely flat table or counter top with two hinge clamps installed at the far side and a large piece of acetate or velum (at least 2 feet long — much larger than the paper or fabric you are printing onto). Tape the acetate down firmly at one end so that it will not budge. You need it to be perfectly fixed at one end in order to properly register your print.
hinge clampsacetate for registration
Fasten the screen into the hinge clamps with the squeegee side facing up and make sure you can move the screen into an upright position in the clamps without it falling back down to the printing surface.
Use packing tape to block off any open areas of the screen that you don’t want to print.
Prop the screen up slightly with your roll of tape and apply a line of ink onto the surface of the screen about 2 inches above the image to be printed. Flood the image with ink using your squeegee. Make sure you have the right kind of squeegee for the material (paper or fabric) on which you are printing. If printing on fabric, make sure you use fabric ink, otherwise your image will wash off in the laundry.
inking the screenflooding the image
Make sure the acetate is between the printing table and the screen. Lower the screen to the table surface and print the first copy of the image onto the acetate. Immediately flood the image with ink to keep it from drying out. Raise the screen to an upright position in the hinges.
Use the acetate to register your image in the right spot on your shirt or paper by orienting your shirt or paper underneath the acetate.
Remove the acetate (just move it out of the way, don’t detach it from the table!) and lower the screen onto your shirt or paper. Print the image by holding the squeegee at about 45 degrees and applying even, strong pressure to pass the ink through the screen.
Ta da!
Remember that this ink dries to plastic. Any area, however small, where it dries in the screen will become unusable in the future. In between each print, flood your image. When you’re done printing, wash the screen of all ink right away. Mr. Clean (or any non-gender specific water based cleaning agent) can be used to wash out ink (if necessary) without degrading the emulsion.
Screen ink dries very quickly, so if you are printing in many layers on paper, you can print the second layer on top of the first within about 20 minutes (I wait longer just to make sure no colours bleed together, but you can do it in 20 no problem). If you are printing on fabric, let the image dry for at least an hour (I wait 2) and then iron over top of the image on the hottest setting for at least 1 full minute. Ironing the ink makes it colour fast in the wash.
Easy huh?
Here’s what the printed shirt looks like, and here’s what the same image looks like, in two layers, on paper:







~~~
Thanks again to Shannon for writing this amazing tutorial — check out her art on shannongerard.org

Now you can made own tee's in your home.... :)
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