Hello everybody!
I am new to this forum and this is my first post here. I have a couple of questions I would like to ask your expert advise on.
First a little background info.
I have dabbled with screen printing but in a very non proffesional format & mainly for fun. I've exposed my own screens and printed with exclusively with water based systems with good results. My goals are as follows... Initially I would like to do this mainly for fun and maybe eventually for profit (I've read the book). My current job is good but quite dull and I've always enjoyed screen printing. I have a bit of money to invest in this little endeavor, and lots of nursery-school age childrens t-shirts from a commision I got at my kids school to design some shirts for them. In the past all my artwork has been done by hand w/the final piece drafted on velum. I know how tedious this is and purchased a copy of corel draw and photoshop 7.0, both of which I am totally new to, so going is very slow. I do a lot of my "other" work on CAD/architectural desktop, so am somewhat knowledgeable with computers. I know how valuable/essential corel and adobe are to what I am envisioning as far as design work.
I do all my work on a PC not a Mac (at least for now), With that in mind here is what I was wondering, Could you guys recommend a good scanner for screenprinting purposes. I see plenty of them but cant make head or tails out of which is suitable for my potential needs? :o
With the scanner I am also looking for a decent printer, the Epson Stylus models seem to be pretty popular, what do you guys think of these? Are there any issues with regards to film types and inks that I should be mindful of when considering epson? I was considering the R1800 but its no longer being manufactured and the R2400 might be a bit pricey for now. Epson does have an R1400 and also what it calls the Epson stylus photo 1400, do you guys know whats the difference.
Ryonet's packges come with Accurip software or Fast Rip which I've seen mentioned here, how essential are these software packages for my intended purpose and do you recommend getting one of them? I guess this comes back to the halftone issue?
Thank you in advance :)
Fred