Who are you Mentors?

[tonypep]

RS very aware of all that. Sometimes though, the kids do not always like the big boys playing in their sandbox. As I am apparently stepping back and doing my own thing or partnering up with a small shop requires the perspective changes. You and I and most others here can perform the aforementioned tasks with ease..
Soup to nuts. All that said, I would like to thank all that contribute both here and in the past.

[SEPSINK]

Rick Roth has always been a very inspiring figure in the industry to me. Extremely knowledgable and most importantly, not a garbage person. The Ink Kitchen rocks as well!

[Dottonedan]

That Rick Stefanick guy. Yea, he's been around for a few years also. In many big named shops throughout the screen print history. He's done so much he's got to know "something" about everything. Ribb'n ya,


 Great guy too.

[Dottonedan]

Rick Roth has been a great and "real" contributor to the industry as a whole in many ways we don't see every day. An he's a No BS kind of guy.

[Dottonedan]

The truth be said. Those guys mentioned are the main stream heros and trade publication contributors. But when it comes down to it there are a couple dozen regular people that know as much( maybe more) and still print everyday. Thats where the rubber meets the road my friends. Hit the floor and set me up a 16 color on black with a flock and foil in the same design then explain to me the importance of pallet temperature and my squeegie , mesh selection along with a garment that they ACTUALLY printed. Or someone that can actually go into a shop , analyze it and actually make real changes on the fly to get it running like a machine. Those are the guys that are the game changers. Just sayin

True. But at least one of them mentioned that I know off, (can) do as described.  But having a shop "continue' to do what was changed to make it run like a well oiled. machine (while there), is yet another story.

[RICK STEFANICK]

That Rick Stefanick guy. Yea, he's been around for a few years also. In many big named shops throughout the screen print history. He's done so much he's got to know "something" about everything. Ribb'n ya,


 Great guy too.

Dan, I appreciate all that but After all these years I have realized and changed my management style. There are printers out there now that blow me away AND THEY UNDERSTAND AND RESPECT the craft of screen printing. This industry needs a fresh batch of mentors and all i'm saying is they are out there just not approached like the rest of us back in the day. The new age of tri- lock locking millenniall professionals are amongst us and quite honestly they still need us vetrans to learn the business financial side of production management. My hero's are no longer my mentors as I have been forced to conform, learn and apply in order to be my best and survive in this ever changing industry.

[tonypep]

All understood. A little nudging from the past never hurts though. It is a craft that is often underappreciated. At least here in the US and  elsewhere. As mentioned, some shops want to ink it up and get it out the door. Makes sense for many but not all. I do believe that future mentors are in the make and will make some of us humble. I am already.

[Prince Art]

My hero's are no longer my mentors as I have been forced to conform, learn and apply in order to be my best and survive in this ever changing industry.

Good life lesson in that. Past mentors/heros got you to one place. And they should always be respected for it. But if you don't want to stay stuck in that place as things change around you, you've got to have new input. Some old lessons are still quite relevant, some aren't. Some who helped in the past are still doing it now, some aren't. It's wise to see that help can come from the up & coming, too. As industry & the world at large change ever faster, there are a lot of new modes & models for production, sales, delivery, communication, etc. I'm not exactly a veteran, but I still see a lot of smart younger people who are thinking differently simply because they don't have any "old ways" to unlearn. They can just look at the situation for what it is NOW, learn it, and figure out how to make the most of it.

[3Deep]

This got turn around fast LOL, I look at mentors as people who can teach you things you really wouldn't know or do and it doesn't mean they have to be able to do it themselves, but know how to teach you to be the best at what you do.  Michael Jordan was a heck of a basketball player, Phil; Jackson made him even better and Phil couldn't play nowhere as good as MJ, I look at mentors as someone to learn from, heck some of you guys on here have been mentors to me you might not know it.  I've got great art advice from Dan, Steve just to name a few.  Now if I look at the industry heavy weights Scott Fresener comes to mine Rich Hoffman, Thomas Trimmingham, I gotten some great advice from each of them at one time over the years.  Funny there are people out there that can't screw in a lightbulb, but can tell you everything there is to know about how it works how to build it and what it takes to make it work.

[RICK STEFANICK]

GOOD POINT!!

[tonypep]

All true. The most important thing to know is what you do not. Still trying to figure out how to screw a lightbulb!

[Sbrem]

I don't know if I've considered anyone a mentor exactly, but I read Screenprinting magazine every month once I first saw one in '75, and derived what I could from there. A little later, when I saw an ad in in for Control Without Confusion, I bought a copy and read it 3 or 4 times, so many kudos to Mr. Coudray and Mr. Clarke. Before that, we had been directed to Serichrome Seps, and Fred Clarke, who made his process seps with a set of filters, and process camera, the super old school way. He was very helpful, a real gentleman who would take some time with you. I think most of the big boys would use him when they were taking equipment to trade shows. After that, a bunch of years later, the forums, and knowing enough to tell the wheat from the chaff, have had a lot of very helpful info, so in a way, all of us here as well as the well known educators out there. For me in particular, Al from Murakami writes very well.

Steve

[tonypep]

I do. It was  Joe Clarke. The differences from those who want to pull a squeegee for a paycheck and those who want to learn are vast. There are others such as Richard, but Joe laid it down before we ever knew what was possible.
tp

[tonypep]

Sorry, left out Mark Coudray

[Sbrem]

I dove in, and the only reference at the time was Screen Printing magazine. I did what I could to soak up useable info out of it. Then I bought Albert Kosloff's Photographic Screen Printing, and found other info and books. Consider I was using stapled, multi-filament polyester, which I'm sure would register zero newtons. And we made it work. So maybe that trade mag for starters. Then I bought Control Without Confusion, and that "larned me right". Joe's later writings taught me how to think outside of the box to solve problems. Still making films with a camera then. Richard Greaves visited our shop once (not mine, the one I worked at before opening my own) and gave us nice info. We had some fun as we had a new Matex 7 color from Italy that he wanted to see; he asked us to crank it, and he couldn't keep up, but that's because the machine could run so fast that no one could, we weren't exactly beginners. There was no point to that speed really. His writings were great too. I also had the chance to speak with Fred Clarke from Serichrome Seps back in the day, and Jeff Campos. All of these people helped me a lot. Though I never thought of them as mentors per se, the shoe fits.

Steve

Holy Cow, I've been so busy that I didn't realize I had already replied to this,