# Screen Printing/Embroidery/Heat Press Training in Southern CA



## LCE (Jan 18, 2007)

Hi guys.

I just to let you know that I just got back from the ISS show in Long Beach yesterday. The show rocks! For being a newbie, that place was very overwelming. 

I am interested in heat presses, screen printing and embroideries. 

Heat presses - I met up with Josh from Imprintables and he basically gave me a quick lesson on heat presses and the machines that I need. (Thanks Josh).

Embroidery - The embroidery machines are not CHEAP. Before I jump into things, I want to make sure that I have proper training operating a Toyota or Happy machine. 

Screen Printing - I need to do a lot of research on this one. Types of machines, ink, etc...

In summary, I am trying to find out if there are any training facilities around the Oxnard/Ventura, CA 93030 area (or anywhere within driving distance) that can do training on all three designs.


Thanks for your help!


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## John S (Sep 9, 2006)

Welcome.
You might want to pick one disipline and become good at it before moving on to the next. You will get your self out on a limb in a wind storm if your not careful.

Build a business plan before you start spending money.


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## LCE (Jan 18, 2007)

Thanks for the advice John S. I will start with the heat presses.


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## ftembroidery (Nov 25, 2006)

LCE, we've been in the embroidery business for about 11-12 years. We've been screen printing for just over 2. We bought a screen printer that was barely satisfactory (in all honosty, no it wasn't or we'd have continued to use it...it was a P.O.S.), and struggled with it for a year. Then we bought a new Antec Legend. It's a "given" that the Antec Legend is probably the most expensive manual press of all of them (still worth it in my opinion), and the price does scare off some buyers. We weren't scared off though, because as the salesman said it.....embroiderers don't suffer "sticker shock" when buying a printing press. BE FOREWARNED!!! Embroidery is VERY expensive to get into if you consider not only the machines, but the hoops, etc., thread, needles, and the DIGITIZING SOFTWARE. It'll also very likely take YEARS to become really good at digitizing a design for embroidery so that it looks good on material. Yes, they all have the "magic button" in digitizing programs that will do it all for you, but quite frankly, it'll never look better than first-grader finger painting quality. There's a LOT of art, technique and EXPERIENCE required in properly digitizing a design. I applaud your enthusiasm, but as John S urged, pick one and get good at it. You'll find that heat press and screen printing go together very nicely and will have an initial startup cost that is only a fraction of embroidery. Also if you think about embroidery machines, if it's a single-head you can only sew one item at a time, and if you've got a fair-sized order with a design that is several thousand stiches (many of our left-breast designs are 12-15 thousand stiches, very few are only around 5 thousand), it'll take you a long time to fulfill the order, which makes you hourly income less. That means as an embroiderer, you'll want multiple-head machines which enable you to sew more than one item at a time (but they cost more). Reasearch thoroughly, make a plan and work your plan.


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

Looking at things the other way, if you have the budget and a good prospect for a target market, you can start with embroidery. Of course you got to have your business plan & a lot of training for this embroidery business. Heat press is fairly easy and cheap to add to your embroidery business later on, but if you start with it (heat press), you might stop there, relax and not continue with your other plans. Nick is right, when he says that it will take time & experience to be good in embroidery. Why not start now?


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## LCE (Jan 18, 2007)

Thanks Nick and Byron for the feedbacks. I know that embroidering will take years to perfect.... But let me just tell you guys why I wanted to get into embroidering. I collect authentic sports jerseys (mostly baseball, basketball and football jerseys). I have been paying the local sports store to sew authentic names and numbers on my blank jerseys for some time now and it is becoming costly. The avg. amount that I pay is between $30 - $80 depending on the player name and the layers of twill on the numbers and names. Also, this is the only sports store that I know that does this service. I really just want to learn to use an embroidering machine for this reason. If there is an easier way to get this accomplished, please let me know. 

(Byron - I am a Pinoy living in Oxnard California! Kamusta!)


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

LCE said:


> Thanks Nick and Byron for the feedbacks. I know that embroidering will take years to perfect.... But let me just tell you guys why I wanted to get into embroidering. I collect authentic sports jerseys (mostly baseball, basketball and football jerseys). I have been paying the local sports store to sew authentic names and numbers on my blank jerseys for some time now and it is becoming costly. The avg. amount that I pay is between $30 - $80 depending on the player name and the layers of twill on the numbers and names. Also, this is the only sports store that I know that does this service. I really just want to learn to use an embroidering machine for this reason. If there is an easier way to get this accomplished, please let me know.
> 
> (Byron - I am a Pinoy living in Oxnard California! Kamusta!)


MABUTI PO, SALAMAT PO. ! Wow! We really are everywhere. 
1) Well, if you don't mind the cost & training, starting with embroidery as a hobby could be perfect for you. You won't have too much pressure because you'd be doing it for yourself. And if you plan to do some letters and numbers initially, you won't need to buy a costly high level digitizing software. Anyway, with the advent of Corel Drawings, the cost of digitizing softwares has generally gone down.
2) Another alternative is to use a cutter/plotter to make a heat pressed vinyl/tacke twill. Here's a video by Josh from Imprintables: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/t-shirt-articles/t9959.html . The roland GX-24 seems to be the favorite machine of members in this forum.
3) Lastly, there's a sportwear manufacturer here in the Philippines who has a website, I think it's botak.com.ph, I know some of their peeps, but I haven't really tried ordering from them. If you have relatives here, there are a lot of shops here which can do custom-made sportswear. You'd be helping the economy if you order from them. 

Good Luck on your decision, and I and the other forum members will just be here in case you need more advice/tips.


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## 2craftymom (Jan 31, 2007)

ioline makes a machine that specializes in the twill cutting for that very purpose... just a thought. as an embrodiere i concur with everything said... it takes lots of practice and tons of computer time . to get goo digitizing and nice stiches...
DD


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## amp267 (Oct 11, 2006)

Im From Oxnard Myself. I Have Looked Into Certain Screen Printing Schools Myself. I Found One In Arizona And In Colarodo. I Have A 6 Color 6 Station Press Set Up. Just Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things. I Use To Work For A Shop About 10 Years Ago. I Was Very Rusty But Things Seem To Be Falling Back Into Place. I Also Picked Up A Heat Press Package From Josh. I Definatley Recommend A Heat Press Setup As Well. Very Easy To Use. As Far As Embroidery Never Touched It. I Would Concetrate On One Or The Other Screen Printing Or Embroidery, And A Heat Press Package For What Ever You Choose. Are You From Ventura Or Oxnard


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## LCE (Jan 18, 2007)

amp267 I'm from Oxnard also! The only place that offers training is "The Grendel" and they are in Colorado. Do you have an actual shop? Is it possible to check out your setup? I'm pretty close to getting my heat press equipment!


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## amp267 (Oct 11, 2006)

i dont have a shop yet. im doing it out of my garage and using my bedroom as a graphics / cutter,plotter room. i only planned on doing this part time but it seems to keep growing. im hoping to be doing it fulltime by this year. i dont see to much of a problem if you want to stop by and look at what i have. it might help you decide if its something you like. keep in mind screen printing can give plenty of headaches, you have to have alot of patience. im still learning new things each day. what area of oxnard do you live in. what do you do for a living at the moment.


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## Ujudgnme2 (Mar 28, 2006)

Sounds like when u need some embroidery, u should visit downtown l.a. or find someone working out of their home. Heat press patches might work for what you need.






LCE said:


> Thanks Nick and Byron for the feedbacks. I know that embroidering will take years to perfect.... But let me just tell you guys why I wanted to get into embroidering. I collect authentic sports jerseys (mostly baseball, basketball and football jerseys). I have been paying the local sports store to sew authentic names and numbers on my blank jerseys for some time now and it is becoming costly. The avg. amount that I pay is between $30 - $80 depending on the player name and the layers of twill on the numbers and names. Also, this is the only sports store that I know that does this service. I really just want to learn to use an embroidering machine for this reason. If there is an easier way to get this accomplished, please let me know.
> 
> (Byron - I am a Pinoy living in Oxnard California! Kamusta!)


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## bigbad900 (Nov 14, 2006)

I dont know how far Oxnard is but I stay in Ontario. Theres a Shop called Envision Screen Printing here and they train on the weekends you might want to google them. One of the guys there is named Kent hes very helpful , I havent actually done it but i spoke to him on the phone.


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## 14dateam (Jan 8, 2007)

I met a guy at the Long Beach Show with a company called Aftershock Distributing. They were in the city of Santa Paula. They offer monthly Saturday classes with a 6 hr course. they cover creating artwork, seperations, coating and reclaiming screens, printing multi color designs. I think they charge $175. The contact name is Rex White 888 374-3444. I think he also sells equipment and such. Good Luck


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## LCE (Jan 18, 2007)

bigbad900 said:


> I dont know how far Oxnard is but I stay in Ontario. Theres a Shop called Envision Screen Printing here and they train on the weekends you might want to google them. One of the guys there is named Kent hes very helpful , I havent actually done it but i spoke to him on the phone.


Thanks for the 411 bigbad900. I will check on them this weekend!


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## LCE (Jan 18, 2007)

14dateam said:


> I met a guy at the Long Beach Show with a company called Aftershock Distributing. They were in the city of Santa Paula. They offer monthly Saturday classes with a 6 hr course. they cover creating artwork, seperations, coating and reclaiming screens, printing multi color designs. I think they charge $175. The contact name is Rex White 888 374-3444. I think he also sells equipment and such. Good Luck


Nice! That's 20 minutes from my house. I will hit them up too!


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