4 Color Screen Printing

It has been nearly 13 yrs since I've had a 4 color screen printing machine.  I used to love the expression of designing and selling a t shirt.  Of course, back then things were a little different.  I was on a college campus, surrounded by younger, more daring folks and was intoxicated nearly all of the time.  Now things have changed a bit...the crowd isn't nearly as young or daring.  But neither here nor there, I've somehow managed to stumble upon a 4 color screen printing press here in the jungle.

It took some time to get her all geared up and ready to go but it looks as if I've finally reached the stage of learning how to print t-shirts again!  I'm an old user of Photoshop but now it's taking me some time researching to finally get a grasp on the whole process.  I've decided to "simplify" my life and begin with CYMK printing.  That's the basic 4 color separation that fools the human eye into seeing more colors.  This includes breaking the picture into separate colored layers, printing them at a high d.p.i, adjusting the degree of tilt for each color, dot formation and printing.  Wheew!  It's far more complicated than I remember but I'm working through it.

To make the Cyan Yellow Magenta and Black printing  you need to create Cyan by mixing Green and Blue together and Magenta by mixing Red and Blue together. Black is black and yellow is yellow.

I'll be posting more on my 4 color findings as things progress.  It's ok...we're in the "slow" season here in the Jungle, so I should have plenty of time to figure all of this stuff out.  The only problem, of course, is getting re-supplied.  Ordered some things last week and it needs to be transported by ground, boat and then ground again.  Always an adventure!

Stephen Hunter

Living in the Tropics has done wonders for the types of books that I read.  Where I live you can't even buy a loaf of bread on Sundays let alone hop on down to  your local bookstore giant, sip on a latte and peruse the shelves for the afternoon.  Those of us who live here feed off of the umbilical chord.  We suck at the teet of information as it comes...one little drop at a time.  Recently, we've been given the gift of "broad band" internet and it is quickly changing how things happen here.  I am no longer begging at the local watering holes for new titles to read...I no longer need to sit and stare blank faced to an overweight woman from Minnesota who is so burned from the sun that she's willing to trade me 3 romance novels for my aloe vera plant.  I've had William Shatner thrown down my throat a few times and I can say that I was pleasantly surprised...But now it's the Kindle from Amazon.  Everyone is traveling around with this little, digital "book" that is able to put you in the book aisle from anywhere in the world.  I have played with them...heard their criticisms and praise and I do believe that it's time to pick one up.  I love my book shelf.  It's moldy and a few are homes for the ant colonies (at least someone likes Grisham) but it's still 4 yrs of my book hording on display for all the world to see.

Currently, I've managed to steal a slew of books by Stephen Hunter and they're great.  Great action, great writing.  He's really blowing me away...his books more nudge you to the side as opposed to the politeness of other novels in his genre.  He has no problem telling the story the way the story needs to be told.  He's number one on my "Borrower's" list and everyone is loving his work.

So, if  you're not stuck on a beautiful beach or a humid jungle, go to your local bookstore and grab a few paperbacks of Stephen Hunter.  If  you feel the need to send a few to Central America, know that someone will treasure them.  Meanwhile, I'll just sit down here and ponder the Kindle.

The weak customer chooses the understandable rack

The weak customer chooses the understandable rack...yep... that pretty much sums up my Sunday. Drove a dear friend to the ferry this morning...He's heading to the EEUU and it scares the hell out of all of us. With him gone it's forced all of us to see ourselves in that ugly mirror. Who is left and for how long can they stay? We're all living on Temptation Island and it looks like we're being voted off one at a time. Chazzito...R.I.P.