Holy Crap! What a visit!

[blue moon]

Few weeks back, 'had an opportunity to meet Joe Clarke and Richard Greaves. It was a highlight of the SGA trip and it was just spectacular to sit down with those guys and chat.

It turns out, Richard lives just shy of three hours north of here and wanted to stop by and see the shop. "Stop by" was changed to couple of days and extended to four!

Having Richard here was like an All Star High school player meeting Michael Jordan! What we do here is literally a joke compared to what he has done and can do. Some of the wildest things I thought about trying (thinking falsely that it has never been done before, like shirts with LED lights built in and touch sensors or lenticular prints with actual lenses on them) Richard did as far back as 20 years ago! I knew Richard was the stencil guru, but the level of knowledge about every aspect in a shop (including business, artwork, industrial design and so on . . .) was just astounding.

Yes, our work has suffered in the last few months and some of you might notice that I took down the advertising banner and have not sent anything to the competition this year. We are failing to deliver at our standard level right now. At the end of the day though, we can deliver a better print than most shops and because of it, I actually thought I had more than a Clue 1. Well, it turns out, that was all I had as my eyes have been open to this whole new world. The white ink we have been using over the last few years and getting pretty decent results with I should say, is failing some basic printability tests. All the dialing in of the films is just a fraction of what can and should be done. I always knew Alan802 had his processes dialed in and was doing stuff I wished we could do. Now I know that work we do here is at best at high school level compared to the PhD level stuff Richard can do. Needles to say, we have worked out a deal with Richard and hired him to fix the issues we currently have and help us grow as a business and as printers. I have not been this excited about screenprinting since winning our first Golden Image few years back.

And now for more good news! Richard is interested in doing seminars and classes on the TSB!!! Please let me know what would you like to see happen if we can take advantage or Richard's knowledge and desire to share. If there is enough interest I will try to work out a deal with him, so please, any thoughts and comments are needed.

thanx

pierre

 

[tonypep]

I've known Richard for something like 25 ys. He is definitely a pioneer of the industry along with Geoff Baxter, Joe Clarke, Mark Coudray and the like. You can't put a value on his time. His "Greaves on Garments" column in SP magazine was golden. That was time well spent I bet.

[bimmridder]

I remember sitting in on his seminars 20 some years ago. Tony, your list is pretty good, and they all deserve to be at the top. Having him here would be great.

[TCT]

I know this is a REAL broad reply/request, but I would LOVE to learn more about technique. I started at a place when I was 14, heck we would put our wood screens through the dryer after exposing them to dry them faster! I could go on with a list of things we did that would drop jaws(there were pins taped everywhere for us to use to help stubborn screens). Point is I learned everything backasswards, and what I know now is from what I have picked up here, the old TSPMB, and trial and error. I took a class or two, but there is never any SOLID technical details. So if there was stuff he could do with in depth technical details that would be killer.

P.S. Thanks for inviting me out to learn with you!

[GraphicDisorder]

I would say it's safe to say we'd all be open to seminar/classes on here.  Free or otherwise

[jvanick]

For me, I'm open to any and all education.  There's currently too much 'mystery' and not enough 'science' in what we do at our shop...

I love taking as many variables out of the equation as possible...

as I see it, the fewer # of variables, the more profit/time savings.

[blue moon]

I would say it's safe to say we'd all be open to seminar/classes on here.  Free or otherwise

I agree Brandt, the question though is: what material, what format and so on. I don't think right now that there would be a price to pay, but it might be something in the form of membership ($XX/$XXX per year for example) if there is to bee feedback or the classes are to take on some more serious material that would require preparation. I think some basic stuff like the emulsion and ink chemistry would be free, but if wanted something similar to the halftone mastery class that has homework and projects which have to be reviewed, there would have to be a fee involved. Would per class be better than yearly subscription? Should it stay free only? Should there be two groups (first and third week are free, second and fourth are for paying member)? I am coming up with this as I type and don't really know what would work and what would not. This is where the member's input is needed.

I also don't want to see Richard offer his help and then not have enough interest or have it wind down to one person per class. I think we owe it to a person of his caliber not to waste his time. He has graciously offered to help us, lets make sure he is treated kindly, with respect in return (as TonyP said, it is hard to put a number on the information he has to offer, it really is priceless. Think ROI of few months rather than years!).

pierre

[Shanarchy]

This would be awesome!

I'm just a small shop doing basic stuff and I've learned that when the seasoned vets of this industry speak, be sure to listen. This sounds like it could be a great opportunity for everyone on here (small/new to large/experienced).

[GraphicDisorder]

I would say it's safe to say we'd all be open to seminar/classes on here.  Free or otherwise

I agree Brandt, the question though is: what material, what format and so on. I don't think right now that there would be a price to pay, but it might be something in the form of membership ($XX/$XXX per year for example) if there is to bee feedback or the classes are to take on some more serious material that would require preparation. I think some basic stuff like the emulsion and ink chemistry would be free, but if wanted something similar to the halftone mastery class that has homework and projects which have to be reviewed, there would have to be a fee involved. Would per class be better than yearly subscription? Should it stay free only? Should there be two groups (first and third week are free, second and fourth are for paying member)? I am coming up with this as I type and don't really know what would work and what would not. This is where the member's input is needed.

I also don't want to see Richard offer his help and then not have enough interest or have it wind down to one person per class. I think we owe it to a person of his caliber not to waste his time. He has graciously offered to help us, lets make sure he is treated kindly, with respect in return (as TonyP said, it is hard to put a number on the information he has to offer, it really is priceless. Think ROI of few months rather than years!).

pierre

Fully agree. 

I like the idea of a yearly subscription.  One fee, etc.

[TCT]

I don't think it would be unreasonable to charge for it, get Mr. Greaves some coin for his time. You could do kinda like ISS does, where you can pay per class or have a lump some(yearly membership or whatever) that would include all classes. I am down either way. Heck, I'll throw my time in for some free smart a$$ classes

Help me out here my reading comprehension rivals most grade school students, but are you proposing web seminars/classes or actual hands on at a physical location deal?


It would be cool for people interested or that take part, if there was some artwork or project per class with suggested supplies(emulsion, mesh count, ect.) to use. This would have to go up a week or so before the actual class, but then we could all do our thing in our shop and discuss outcomes, issues, tweaks, tips, ect. Just a thought.

[Homer]

I would vote pay per class ...he has 1T of info?...worth it's weight in gold right there.

Online skype sessions or ? I'm not too familiar with gotomeeting or any of those programs, maybe worth looking into....sign up for the class you want, paypal 100.00 or whatever, limited space for time sake because of the million questions we'll have....


Maybe start at the beginning of the process and go from there?
Proper art set up, film, ink, printer set up -for those of us that still use film, sam zip it....

I would assume we are talking about "above newbie" type of info? or would it be as basic as "it's ink, not paint".....maybe the free class would be the bare basics of the subject and then in depth could be  a paid session...

[blue moon]

Help me out here my reading comprehension rivals most grade school students, but are you proposing web seminars/classes or actual hands on at a physical location deal?

I don't know. It really is up to us to decide the format as long as we have enough participants Richard will do it. It can be hands on at one location (our shop for example),it can be a gotomeeting presentations, it can be hands on without getting together or just about anything else. My point is, we should come up with something and I'll pitch the idea. As long as there is enough interest we can make it happen.

pierre

[blue moon]

Help me out here my reading comprehension rivals most grade school students, but are you proposing web seminars/classes or actual hands on at a physical location deal?

I don't know. It really is up to us to decide the format as long as we have enough participants Richard will do it. It can be hands on at one location (our shop for example),it can be a gotomeeting presentations, it can be hands on without getting together or just about anything else. My point is, we should come up with something and I'll pitch the idea. As long as there is enough interest we can make it happen.

pierre

here's another idea!

offer everything, from entry level to PhD classes. Have your press op sit on a video conference/presentation/class this week, your screen guy the next week (taking the basic classes) and you take the "Impact of correctly setup high delta viscosity inks on your shop's production rates".

pierre

[starchild]

A paid subsciption to videos, YouTube for instance would be an invaluable tool.. That way we get the ability to replay and digest the information..  Ink and emulsion chemistry/properties topics, will go a long way to tying the other variables together.

[sweetts]

Pierre let me say THANK YOU so much for allowing me the opportunity to meet Richard!  I am still on a high from all the little bits he offered me, it will take me some time to change things but change is coming! His knowledge not only about the entire process but the business side is surreal to me there is so much depth to what he knows. I would offer subscriptions maybe multi part series on a subject matter. Whatever the charge, it would be well worth it! Simply amazing again thank you so much!


Roger
RT screen designs
Www.rtscreendesigns. Com