Author Topic: The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...  (Read 1071 times)

Bogie

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The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...
« on: July 24, 2007, 07:54:02 PM »
I've spent the evening printing several different enlarged copies of a photo of a friend's daughter... (she's making a face at the camera).
 
It's amazing what some of the companies that allege to sell "professional quality" services pass as "professional." Using the supplied printer profiles from the paper manufacturers, I've run tests on my four color solvent printer (basically the kinda thing that folks use in sign shops for printing outdoor stuff, but lately "Signshop'r'them" has been offering to blow up digital photos... Things _are_ cheap as anything to run...) and on my 8 color Epson...
 
Night and bloody day... And guess which thing won... (hint, it's not the four color printer...)
 
Now tomorrow is going to be spent scanning tiny areas to use as examples on my web site...
 
Sabrina is gonna HATE me when I hang all these in the Freak Show tent during Knob Creek Fall...
 
Now to go spend a half hour flogging at "web site developer."
 
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Paddy

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Re: The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2007, 08:22:16 PM »
uhhhhh........I hate to sound like a dumbass, but what business are you in?

Bogie

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Re: The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2007, 09:16:44 PM »
Yeah, you're right... I need to focus on one thing at a time... I should concentrate...
 
First web site is targeted at researchers preparing poster presentations. Basically they diagram out what they did in an experiment on a big... well... poster... At some conferences, there'll be a few hundred (or more...) folks standing around wearing bad suits (it's amazing the number of researchers who buy The Suit upon graduation...), and swilling whatever cheap booze (they tend to coincide the poster presentations with happy hour...) that the conference is giving away, while hoping that someone wanders over and asks 'em about what they've been working on for the past year or three... These guys need _faithful_ color reproduction at times, so I bought a heckuva printer, which coincidentally can also be used for...
 
Site #2 is targeted at photographers who want to blow stuff up... er... enlarge it..., and #3 is targeted toward display stuff (like you'd see at a trade show). Same equipment and techniques are used for most of the stuff, so they overlap on my end... I didn't wanna put all my eggs in one basket.
 
I bought the solvent printer mostly because a relative heard what the guy wanted for it, and told me to buy it (and he _was_ right...). It'll come in handy for the "need less than highest quality, and by golly want it to be waterproof" bit... Can use it to print magnets, bumper stickers, vinyl outdoor banners, etc... Could turn out to be interesting in and of itself.
 
Oh, and folks are rolling into town for the IBS Benchrest Nationals, so I'm also screwing around with t-shirt stuff this week...
 
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Antibubba

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Re: The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2007, 10:49:54 PM »
Quote
Oh, and folks are rolling into town for the IBS Benchrest Nationals, so I'm also screwing around with t-shirt stuff this week...

Benchrest Shooters do it with great accuracy between breaths!!      grin
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Jamisjockey

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Re: The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2007, 04:46:38 AM »
Bogie,
Are your sites up and running?  We might could actually use some of the products you do.  I'd sure like to take a gander and show the CEO.
JD

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Bogie

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Re: The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2007, 11:44:28 AM »
I've got www.posterprep.com _sorta_ up... Still working on templates, and hopefully will get credit card acceptance set up soon... (the joys of a new company). The photo-quality stuff is up and 100%. The solvent printer stuff, well, it's probably okay, and would be acceptable for a lot of signage stuff, but I'm not happy with it. Still working on the cutting plotter for decals, etc... I'm together for stuff like car door magnets, bumper stickers, etc...

Will be adding more media/pricing the site too... Right now, I'm just hanging something out there...

Now it's back to The Bunker, so I can finish the signs for the match...

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RocketMan

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Re: The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2007, 12:09:01 PM »
Let me know when you have the credit card stuff up and running.  I'm in the market for a magnetic sign for my truck.   smiley
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Bogie

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Re: The joys of experimentation... and self-employment...
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2007, 01:31:41 PM »
If you wanna paypal bogie7@mindspring.com $55.95, I can print you a pair of 12x24 or smaller if you want (ish - a little gets trimmed), and let me know what you want on 'em... I'll email you a proof, run 'em and ship 'em in continental US... 
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