Either Suffer or Make Others Suffer

Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to make my own T-shirts?! Do you know how badly I still want to make my own T-shirts?! 

It has been a long and hard road for me when it comes down to crafting v.s. career!

I keep getting this hair up my ass about the T-shirt printing, it comes in waves of intensity and I go digging just to fall back down on my face when I go equipment pricing.
The cost of an industrial inkjet printer is equal to a brand new car, the cost of the transfer paper/vinyl in any amount comes out to a new outfit that includes brand new shoes. Its not an easy thing to start! So, almost defeated, I looked up my local printing shops, even the one right down the road from me wants a bit too much for their services. The price for one individual shirt would make it IMPOSSIBLE to profit from! Stuff like that is more for personal pleasures and groups, not personal profit. This makes me really sad and disappointed, I have so many things that I want to do and things that I want to get involved in, but the big price on the little things make it way too difficult for the average joe.

If I made you a shirt, or just an abundance of the same shirts, I'd NEVER want to charge you more than $10 for it. In a realistic world, in order for me to continue the act of producing these things, I'd need to profit enough to keep me going along with the service. So, even $20 is a stretch, but if it was a damn good shirt with a statement or depiction of YOU then it might be worth it, right? But, my local business wants over $22 for a single black t-shirt. That would literally leave me only one option, charge you $40+ for each shirt!! NOPE! I refuse and I will not do it! 

Now, I understand what it takes to print a shirt. I know from personal experience. With ease, you must pay. With difficulty you must get paid. 

I have cheated, doing silk screening. Its fun, it can be cheap yet time consuming with the slightest of artsy enthusiasm. I can't draw worth a damn, but I'm pretty good at tracing and going off someone's idea. That was and is worth it! If I could do a better job on the handmade screens, THEN I could sell my shirts for $10-$15 and still profit! In fact, I used to make shirts for a local band, they were not the best, but they were pretty badass!

Back to the drawing board, my friends. I will make this work in our favor!!!