QTR-Quadtone RIP

Hello, this is my second posting.  I am new to digital photography and attempting to follow the QTR route to producing black and white.

Most of the information I am finding, here and via QTR, Paul Roark etc is way above my current understanding, so I am floundering quite a bit in the dark.

I am currently using a Mac running OSX 10.8.2 Mountain Lion
Photoshop Elements 11
Epson Stylus Photo 1500w (identical to Epson Artisan 1430)
I have installed QTR 2.7.2
I am hoping to use MIS UT14 inks in the near future

As a starting point I have tried to follow Paul Roark's approach to B&W using Epson 1400 Claria Inks and his profiles relating to this and am now completely and utterly befuddled. I have installed the printer as Quad 1400 using Roy Harrington's InstallScript 1400 with Paul Roark's Profiles Etc. (Or so I thought)

I'd be grateful if anyone could answer any of the following questions;

Am I correct assuming QTR is not a stand alone application on my setup but only comes into play when "print" is selected from an application?

Would Paul Roarks approach work in my set up? (He suggests importing a TIFF into QTR, which I can't do as QTR is not an application, and I cannot get his curves in printing via QTR, all I can get are Claria-2880-EPGP and Claria-2880-HFBG-BO).

Will my set up above be able to use MIS UT14 inks successfully?

Can anyone suggest articles or sites which would help someone at the bottom of a steep learning curve get to grips with printing in B&W.

Thanks

Ross