I now know you guys have ADD, so I'll try to keep this one a bit shorter than the post about my press.
Where to begin.. I had been reading Bill Hood's books when I found out he had a school. So as part of the wave of changes happening at my shop in preparation for getting a new press, I decided to use some of the budget toward attending. The way I see it, the machine can only do so much if the operator (myself) doesn't have the knowledge in place to use it correctly. And I was seeking that knowledge.
In the meantime, I had been talking with a guy named Alan on this forum, who was helping me greatly in my search for the new press. He owned one of the machines that I had on my list, and when I found out his shop was in the same city as the School of Screenprinting, I asked if I could swing by and check out the press while I was in the area. Shortly after sending the email, I realized that Alan was now the teacher and the school took place at his shop. Small world.
A few weeks later (which is now a few weeks ago) I was on a plane to Austin, and fortunate enough to be the only one signed up for the workshop that month. But before I get into that, I should probably give a bit of background on myself.
As a kid, my father owned bicycle shops, which in time became sporting goods stores. He eventually ended up moving from retail into the team sports side of things, and with that came the opening of a screen printing operation when I was in middle school. He was never a screen printer himself, but as a kid all I wanted to do was print my own shirts, and the guys in the shop were more than happy to show me the ropes. I grew up cutting amberlith, burning screens and pulling squeegees, and when I got older I worked at the shop on and off for about 10 years while pursuing other interests.
Fast forward about five years and I was on the tail end of a mildly successful music career and looking for something to do. My father was in the midst of closing his screen printing shop with plans to outsource that side of the business, and needed to get his equipment out of the building before the landlord got rid of it for him. I hired a flatbed and managed to salvage a 6 color Rototex, 24" Maxi-Cure, a spot gun, 15x15 110v flash, and a 10k Richmond Screen Maker before the rest went to the scrapyard. I rented part of a shared warehouse and a couple weeks later, opened the doors to my business as its sole employee.
I've now been in business for six years, and in that time the business has grown quite a bit. I even have a few employees now, and we pride ourselves on the fact that the shop is known in the area for its quality.
So why am I telling you my life story in a post about the School of Screenprinting? Because I learned more about screen printing in two days from Alan than I had in an entire lifetime of being around it, and six years of running my own shop. Even the stuff I was positive I knew, I didn't. And I now feel that I have the arsenal of knowledge needed to take my shop to the next level, and to continue to further myself in my craft.
The thing about Alan is that he is not only insanely knowledgeable on screen printing, but he's more than happy to share it with anyone, and does so in a way that anyone can understand. I feel very fortunate to have been able to spend the time learning from him that I did, and consider it to be the best investment that I've ever made for my shop. Besides renting the flatbed.
They say the path to knowledge is first realizing that you never knew anything to begin with. Well I thought I knew a lot about my trade. Then I hung out with Alan for a couple days.
Hats off to you Alan, and thanks for making screen printing exciting for me again.
