How to Learn Printing?

[Alith7]

Start by reading "twelve steps and twelve traditions". This is the Alcoholics Anonymous bible. Trust me, you'll need it.

Love it!! A friend of mine used to joke that we have "ink in the blood". once it gets in there, you're hooked for life.

as has been said a couple times, the print industry, whatever branch you look at, is not for the faint of heart. it is a fast paced industry prone to huge amounts of barely organized chaos, with HUGE feast to famine swings. We're generally underpaid, over worked, and slightly wacked in the head.

on that note, almost anyone who's got ink in their blood will tell you that they couldn't imagine working at anything else. either it's in you blood and you're a lifer, or you don't last long.

If you're still interested, tour a local print shop, lurk on a few forums, and check it out. it's an understaffed industry when it comes to skilled workers, so we'd be glad to have you!

Good luck!

[Servicetech]

We used to say "wherever there are four printers, there's always a fifth".

To help answer your question.

What kind of "printing" were you wanting to look at? For commercial offset printing the correct term would be lithography, or the modern version would probably be "offset lithography", this is the most common type.

But there are numerous kinds of printing technologies, such as screen (silk screening), flexography, digital printing.

[Armya Inc]

Just touch the Plates, smell the ink, Clean the Blanket, smell the Papers and clean the Processor, you will fall in love with the Print/ Graphic Industry forever.

[postnetnc133]

Start off as others commented to come up with just what are you looking to print as you will find many different pieces of equipment that would be needed for the different products.

Once you narrow down what you are wanting to do you can ask or read up on that specific type of printer.

[BeauchampT]

And be a humble person.

Never walk in to a print shop with the attitude - "I read about this so..."
Take time to learn from press operators or prepress techs who have learned how to do the job according to the book and a little creatively (its amazing how duct tape, scrap plates and cardboard can help you improve production).

And i'll throw my hat in with everyone else - printing demands passion. You will either love it or loathe it, but you'll never forget it.