 Kathy Radford |
Selling Note Cards in local stores Are any of you selling note cards in local stores? I recently got mine in 2 local stores. I'd like to compare notes with anyone who is doing the same. I have them in on consignment. I'd like to know what you pay the shop owner, paperwork and things like tracking the photos etc. Any help will be greatly appreciated. What kind of success have you had? Let's hear it guys, there must be more of you out there that have tried it. Kathy in NH
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Corinne M. Thompson |
Hi Kathy..I don't have answers for you and am just posting to see what kind of responses you receive since this in something I'm interested in trying too. Good Luck!
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Kathy Radford |
Hi Corinne, thanks for commenting I hope we get some good input. I talked to a girl in MA at an outdoor Art Show and she said she had note cards in about 50 stores and it really keeps her busy. I happened to notice her cards in a convenience store along the seacoast and the owner said they are selling very well. I have one in the seacoast in Hampton, NH and the other in Exeter, NH in a town with an exclusive private school (Phillips Exeter Academy) They seem to be doing OK there. The one on the seacoast I just put in a week ago. I put the suggested retail price of $4.00 and am giving the owners a 25% commission. The one in Exeter put a price of 3.99 instead of 4.00. I haven't been back to the seacoast yet to see what he is charging. By the way, the girl I mentioned, her cards are selling for 3.50, but I don't know what she is giving for a commission. I don't think 4.00 is an unfair price when you pay 3.99 for a mass produced card.
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John Rhodes |
Kathy, I believe I'm right in saying things sell better for $3.99 than for $4.00. It;s a psychological thing--three is better that four. The folks at the retail establishments have a pretty good idea about what sells. Just be sure your art is outstanding and this should work very well for you. John
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Corinne M. Thompson |
My son just got back from NH today after visiting a friend. He bought me 2 photo notecards (how coincidental!) and he said he paid $3.95 each. The photographer is out of Portsmouth.
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Rich Collins |
This is a great way of bringing in an extra income which could work toward a great income, but I am wondering specifically, when you say Note Card, is this a folded piece, or single 3x5 with room on the back? I also would like to know how you are printing them? Kinko's? or using your own printer? I use a EPSON Photo R320 but am not often happy with the way it changes from my screen resolution either in clarity or color. Thanks to all who can input.
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Charlene Bayerle |
Go to PhotographersEdge.com and you can order cards from them and print out our own 4x6 pictures and add them to the card. They have a catalog also. Hope that helps Charlene
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Kathy Radford |
Rich thanks for your response. I print out my 4x6 photos on my printer then attach them to note cards. I buy them at Photographer Edge through the mail (These are excellent cards, I prefer theirs) or buy the Strathmore's Photo Mount Cards which are a little cheaper and can be purchased in the craft stores. They are regular folded over cards that are blank on the inside. I then add a clear address label to the back that has my name, phone number, copyright emblem and date. You can eeither write where the photo is on the front under the picture and sign your name or put the info on the back above the label you put on it or write all the info on it. I like to use the clear address labels so I don't have to keep writing my name, phone number and copyright date, it saves a lot of time. I prefer the clear address labels. I think they look better but you can use the regular white labels if you prefer. I hope I this is helpful. By the way I just got another convenience store at the Hampton Beach seacoast. Wish me luck. He only wants photos of the local area. That seems to be the trend. Kathy in NH
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Kathy Radford |
Your right Charlene, I just posted the previous to Rich, we're on the same wave length. That company is super, they have great products and excellent service. I prefer using them, a little more expensive but they have great quality. Kathy in NH
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Rich Collins |
Thanks Kathy & Charlene. I'll check out both. I have a close friend who manufacturer's rubber stamps which are laser cut so they come out really sharp & clear. I may buy a package of the cards & try one out as he just sent me a new stamp. Many thanks.
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Autumn Hernandez |
When you guys are taking cards to shops, are you only taking a small amount? When I do this, I plan on having a pretty substantial amount of cards to offer. I found a company that prints 4x6 cards really cheap (500 for $99). I posted the link on another question, it's ADGprinting.com. (and no, I don't work for them. lol) This seems like it would be far more profitable than a card that costs you at least a dollar to make, and from which you have to take some of the small profit to give to the shop. That's just my way of thinking though. ;) Just thought I'd throw out the link in case anyone else could use it.
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Joe Jarosz |
Hi Autumn, I took a look at ADG. Unless I read their pricing guide wrong, $99 is for a 4x6 postcard, not a greeting card. a 6x8 folded greeting card is $244 for 500. Envelopes are another $50 for 500. Joe
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Autumn Hernandez |
Oops, sorry guys, yes, I thought I put postcards, but see I only put "cards". Either way it's still cheaper to go that route than to hand mount and buy all the cards, unless that's the specific look you're going for. I do think it lends a nice touch. Each card with an envelope would be $.58 with the printed version as opposed to over a dollar for the framed cards. Plus, you have to pay for the printing of the actual photo on top of that. From a business standpoint, I would think the bulk printing would be a better option if you are looking for profitability. Of course, then you may have a different market for the other types of cards seeing as they are "handmade". Sorry about the mixup. ;)
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Deja Webster |
Kathy I bought a pre-inked hand stamp from Staples for about $16. They personalized it so it has the copyright symbol, my business name, location and website address. It's a breeze to sit down and stamp a hundred out at a time. I'm using an Epson CX4600 and love the color. I print out my 4x6 photos and attach them with Photo Stickers that you can get from most any craft store. I buy my cards/envelopes from Wal-Mart. They run about $6.99 for a pack of 50, crease/folded and with envelopes. They come in white or creme. Thanks to everyone for the websites to check out other options for printing. Deja
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
hi guys! So youre making cards from photos and they sell? Do you just glue the print to a card? I ask because my wife also makes hand made cards.. she uses fancy papers, these can be anything from Wall paper to print outs of designs she makes on the computer in Photo Shop to using "Paint" samples from Home depot, shell cut them into a 2x2 inch squaer and then she finds all the little pictures on line, 9 ihave no clue as to where, probably some clip art site or something, anyway she then glues that onto another , bigger piece of fancy paper the buys really good card stock, cuts it to size hand creases the fold with some special tool and glues the finished picture to the card... They come out very nice and look really good, I was gonna try to sell some on ebay, maybe in pacs of 6 or 8 or something. Do you think its possible or are people more apt to buy a card made from a photograph? Also,Rich, I read somewhere that Epson printers like 365DPI or more.. try upping the dpi of your photos then print them. worth a try I guess. Craig-
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Rich Collins |
Craig thanks for the suggestion, but I don't know quite how to increase the DPI. I'll look it up but if you know offhand you might inform me. Otherwise thanks for the tip.
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Rich Collins |
Craig thanks for the suggestion, but I don't know quite how to increase the DPI. I'll look it up but if you know offhand you might inform me. Otherwise thanks for the tip. Never mind I just looked & my printer delivers 6-color photo printing at 5,760 x 1,440 optimized dpi so I guess it's just the difference between the screen image & the printed image. But thank you.
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
you can change it in photoshop. -zacker-
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Rich Collins |
Thanks I'm using PS7, I'll take a look.
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John G. Clifford Jr |
If ADGprinting lets you get 500 cards printed from 10 images (50 cards per image) for that pricing, instead of making you get 500 of one image, then it's a very good deal. I don't think it'd be hard to come up with 10 images that would make good postcards of an area for a gift shop, or if you sell at art shows or galleries these should also sell well. Even if you had to get 500 of one image, at $4 a pop less 25%, sell 100 of 'em and you've paid for the entire lot, and you'll make $1200 profit after selling them all. A good shop should be able to sell at least 20 per day during the busy season, meaning that you'd make that much a month. Not bad for one card.
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Cathy Stancil |
has anybody tried PSprint ?? (psprint.com)
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Kathy Radford |
John C. I don't see any shops selling 20 cards per day. Especially with the economy the way it is now with the high gas prices. People have cut way back on buying cards. Kathy in NH
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John G. Clifford Jr |
Hello Kathy, Maybe not 20 per day of any single card, but a gift shop should be selling lots of cards during the busy season (and lots of other things, too), otherwise they're in trouble. The way for photographers to sell 20 cards per day is to sell cards at more than one shop... because all the tourists don't go to all of the shops. For instance, if I lived in a coastal tourist town, I'd have card displays at several shops. Some of these towns will get tens of thousands of visitors per week during the summer, and if you can sell cards to just 1% of the shoppers that is still a LOT of cards. Even better, if you can get your cards in several shops in several different near-by towns, and the cards have images that people who travel to the coast associate with their trip (lighthouses, cliffs, etc.), you should do okay. Your goal should be to sell one card per day per shop. Of course, like anything else, in order for customers to want, and buy, your cards, the images have to be compelling, and you have to be ruthless in not offering cards that people don't want to buy. Some printers do runs of 125 cards for about 80 cents/card with envelope, and small runs are the way to go until an image proves itself as a best-seller. Other ways to boost card sales: let your retailer sell 3 cards for $10, and still give him his 1/3 cut. Or, if every other comparable card is selling for $3.99, put yours at $3.79 or $3.49 or $2.99. If people don't have a clear preference due to the image, price will sway them. I'd rather sell lots of cards at $2.99 (and get 2/3rds of this), than very few cards at $3.99. Will you get rich off of this business? Probably not. If done right, should you be able to make a grand or two a year doing it? Yes.
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Michael H. Cothran |
I've been selling note cards at juried Arts & Crafts shows for several years. They have been good to me, sort of icing on the cake - but the meat & potatoes are my larger prints. I charge $5.00 each, 3 for $12, and 6 for $18. Most sales are the 3-fer. I find places like Photographers Edge to be too pricey for any decent profit line. And while they look ok, they still do not possess the 'personal' professional look I aspire to. As such, I print my own on 8x10 Epson Matte paper (cut down to 7x10) using a desktop Epson printer. I designed a template in PS years ago. On front, I have a 4x6 image surrounded by a drop shadow and a matching pinstripe 1/8" out. On the back I have the title and location of the image, plus all my business and contact information. I use a metal awl to score the paper, using an old mat cutter as a guide, then fold it, insert a matching white envelope, and package it in an Impact Images Crystal Clear envelope. Total cost to me is about 25 cents. AND...I only need to print on demand - no stock pile ups. Michael H. Cothran
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Michael H. Cothran |
Please allow me to offer some personal insight into selling your own note cards. 1. This is not a get-rich venue. It is, at best, a 'pocket change' venue, but nonetheless, when coupled with other financial means, it can be a good access to additional monies. 2. I would NEVER recommend purchasing volumes of prints at a time. It is purely speculative as to whether or not the image will sell. Spending $99 for 500 prints is tantamount to photographic/financial suicide in my book. I've been selling at juried Arts & Crafts shows for over 15 years, and have NEVER sold 500 of any image yet. Compound this with your having several note card images (I have 72 images on my note card racks at any given show) and you have an extremely major investment that you will probably never recoup in your lifetime. 3. If you plan to sell note cards, I would strongly recommend that you do as much in-house as possible. If you have a desktop printer and PS, it is very simple to design a template, and use it for all your images. Any paper supply house can provide you with white or off white A7 envelopes, and Impact Images can provide you with the packaging. Think! before you dump a lot of money into speculation. And, take it from my experience, probably none of your images will sell as well as you think they will.
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John G. Clifford Jr |
Michael's input looks like very good advice. Testing the water is always a good idea. I wrote my first "how-to" book and self-published (set up a publishing dept of my company, got ten ISDNs, and paid a small printer to print the book from press-ready PDF files) it a few years ago (one of three in a series). The book cost me $1.25 per copy to print, qty 500, plus the time to write, edit, and format it, and I sold them for $4.99. I sold 300 in the first year out of my own retail shop... meaning I doubled my money. I knew from my direct experience (customers asking me) that my book would sell, and was willing to make the $750 bet. I looked at PSprint.com, and they had small-run jobs where you could get 125 cards printed, with envelopes, for around $100. If I had a postcard image that I was reasonably sure would sell (and I'm thinking that perhaps I do), and a place to sell them, I'd be willing to bet $100. But, remember, if you're putting these in someone else's shop, you'll need to buy a small display rack, and regularly re-stock it. Michael, and photographers like him, is in the best position to sell cards personally. He sells his images and cards are a natural. If I were a photographer selling thru a gallery, I'd also have cards available. Selling cards at someone's shop is another question. If you have the ability, like Michael, to make your own cards, then printing 5 each of maybe 10 images, buying a display rack and envelopes, and then seeing what happens would be a very good idea that would not take much of an investment.
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Kathy Radford |
Thanks everybody for your great input. It has been very interesting and helpful. John, I thought you ment 20 cards a day in each shop. Boy, I would love that. Kathy in NH
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Rich Collins |
Michael is it possible to see one of your cards? I'd like to get a real look at just how yours comes out. Or anyone else as I've not yet done this. Perhaps via email or url? Thanks.
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Kathy Radford |
Michael, I too would like to see one of your cards. Is there any way you can post it here? Kathy in NH
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Rich Collins |
Just received a free sample 50-pack of smear resistance photo card stock (4x6) from that friend I mentioned. I printed a photo, waited 10 seconds, he told me to wait 10 minutes, & while it didn't smear, at all, I did notice a slight raising of grain, but within a few minutes it was as new again. This is something I'm going to have to try on another printer just to be sure, but it looks good so far. Oh and Waaaay back to Deja on 4/01/2006 I did go to psprint.com & have bookmarked. Thank you. For starters thought I think I'll go with printing myself especially if my friend Ken can supply with 8x10 stock. I'll have to give him a call. I think I've learned more from this forum discussion than I'd have from weeks researching alone. This is a great Community. The next challenge is to figure out how to print a 4x6 all the way to the edges. I even selected borderless but still have white edging. Thanks again everyone.
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Kathy Radford |
Rich C I use HP Photo Printing and print the cards out 3 to a page. These come out without borders. You cut them apart as they are on an 8x10 sheet. Good Luck. Kathy in NH
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- Marcos Medina (M2PhotoArt) Contact Marcos Medina (M2PhotoArt) Marcos Medina (M2PhotoArt)'s Gallery |
Good info in this forum Kathy, thanks for posting the question. I am more interested in selling 8x10 prints at art shows but I am having problems with how they should be priced. My prints are matted and packaged in clear cellophane. Michael H. Cothran mentioned "the meat & potatoes are my larger prints. I charge $5.00 each, 3 for $12, and 6 for $18", what are the sizes?
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Deja Webster |
Hi everyone Rich I can't take the credit for mentioning psprint.com, think it was Cathy. I'm using Wal-Mart 50/pk of cards and printing on my little Epson CX4600 for just cards. Marcos I think prices like $5, $12 and $18 must be for cards. I did really well last summer selling cards at our local farmer's market and I sold large cards for $3.50 and small for $2.50. I found people were more interested in the smaller size, less blank space to write on. Another idea is to think of grouping in bunches or using themes for your cards. It is tough selling to any local stores since they usually want to mark-up cards 50% so I ended up dropping my price to them. For me stores are a great place for people to see my work when I'm not at my vendor booth at the market. We start here in Port Townsend at the end of this month and run till end of November. Great way to test the "market" and keep your costs down. Deja
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
how good do prints sell at showes? What sizes sell the most and do matted prints sell better than un matted? Also, what kind of prints sell beter? Macros of flowers? Landscapes? Artsy type stuff like an old car or something like that? and do color or black and whites do better? sorry for all the questions but im new at this and I need to start having a reason for all my equipment.. Also, please look at my gallery and let me know if you think any of the shots would sell. thanks soo much guys and girls. Craig-
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Deja Webster |
Craig Both your BP.com gallery and SmugMug site are loaded with beautiful photos. Your cars, landscape especially farm scenery, building etc. all stand out. I had never heard of SmugMug but they must be who you are using to host your Broken Fence site. I also went into your "for sale" section and it looks like you are selling just the prints in different sizes, no cards or matted pieces, right? Does your town have a farmer's market that allows art and crafts? I would think your scenes as cards would do well. My home in WA is a tourist spot and people really like to buy cards from here, not Seattle, they want pictures of where they are visiting. I'm currently taking a class with Jim Zuckerman on Making Money with your Photography and recommend it. It might answer many of your questions and be that next BP.com class you were thinking about taking. Deja
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Bob Chance |
Rich: I don't know what kind of printer you are using, but on my Epsons, if I go into the page laypout page of the printer settings box, there is a slider for adjusting the expansion for borderless prints. Bob
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Linda Anderson |
Kathy: How do you get your photo copyrighted?
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
Thanks Deja.. I replied to this last night but its not here..Hmmm I wonder what thats al about? Anyways.. We have a farmers market every sunday but its small and all flowers and veggies, no arts and or crafts.. I guess you'd say most of the people around here arent the "Art" type.. unless that is, I sell prints of the local Wal-Mart! I can try a few towns along the affluent shoreline, they have different arts and crafts showes I can try.... I remember when I first got married, me and my first wife used to make all these little crafts and things and sell them at different shows.. we never did any good...lol oh well.. I saw a guy selling 4x6 prints at the local flea market.. he had some nice stuff and I bought one for 3 bucks just as a show of solidarity... (I was trying to boost his confidence a bit too.. I admit it) but he said that was probably going to be his only sale that day.. Yeah I think Art is dead in Wallingford, its more about Antiques and junk than art. lol Thanks for the comments, maybe I will go get some mats.. they are like 3 bucks each at Michaels.. do you make your own or buy them? Craig-
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
Oh yeah,, PS.... Yes Smugmug is the host, its a good deal, 99 bucks per year and they handle all the sales... all you do is post the pics and set the pricing. You get like 85% of the profit they keep the rest. I recently sold 4 shots @ $4.00 each and they kept .99 per shot and I didnt have to raise a finger.. they print, ship, take the charge card over the net and handle everything including mailing me a check every quarter. Craig-
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Bob Chance |
Craig, So, at $99.00 a year, do you really net any kind of profit in a years time.
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
So far ive sold four prints so so far im still in the hole but... it is also a way to get my pics on line, yeah BP's sites are cheaper but I cant download from it and cant link to it for posting shots at other forums. So I use it also as just web space to share and hopefully make a buck or two. I think if I were going to try to sell seriously on the web Id get a nicer looking site maybe a "flash" animated site but then were talking prolly about 300-400 bucks per year. Look at the price of the pro sites here I believe they are about $360.00 or so! At 99.00 per year, I can deal with this one..lol My only gripe about it is the lack of templets they offer, they all look the same except for a color change. I wish you could do more to personalize it but, what the hey? I prolly wouldnt even know how to..lol Craig-
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Rich Collins |
Kathy I'll try your suggestion on 3 to a page & Bob I too print with an Epson, an R320 but no slider even when I choose Glossy Photo. But I'll keep trying. Have a couple of prints to do this afternoon. Here in Vancouver WA we have a Saturday Market with a slight angle on Artsy items, so maybe when I get enough pics that I like(I need to shoot a lot more). And perhaps I can shara a space with another vendor with a stand for displaying photos, revolving type. Thanks Deja for suggesting Jim's Making Money with your Photography class.
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Sylvester E. Robbins |
Glad I found this thread as this is something I have been wanting to look into. I have a catalog from Photographer's Edge and like the look of their products. Deja, you mentioned finding your cards and envelopes at Walmart. I tried looking at ours here yesterday, but could not find any. Could you tell me what area you find them in there?
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Deja Webster |
Hi Sylvester They are with the scrapbooking supplies near fabric. The are made by Paperbilities and are called Bonus Greeting Cards, they come 50 to a pack, in ivory or white, and either 5 x 7 or 4 x 5 1/2. Either #MPR71943 or #MPR71943. The ivory look nicer than the white. They run like 5.99 for the smaller size and 6.99 for the larger. I have been able to find them all over WA state, however they are not on line, I tried that. Ask someone in fabic or craft department for help. Let me know if that helps. Deja
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Rich Collins |
Deja, are these actual photo note cards, with an opening for inside placement of photos? Or are these blank note cards, for glueing photos on the outside face of the note card? When you say you are able to find them all over WA state, I live in WA also, Vancouver actually & do you mean only in Walmart, or elsewhere? Thanks
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Deja Webster |
Rich These are blank cards, pre-folded with envelopes and I use photo stickers to attach the photos. I have found them in Walmart here in WA. Deja
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Roger M. Wells |
I have sold over 600 note card through a local retailer. I know that's not a lot but it has given me some insite as to the process. My personal view is do it yourself as much as possible. Print, score, cut and fold your own cards. Be clear on all the costs. I found retailers want 40 to 50% of the selling price, so if you think $3.95 is your market then $1.75 to $2.00 would be wholesale. I only sell by the 1/2 dozen per image. I would never do consignment. I offer a replacement exchange for unsold cards. Makes it safe for the retailer. If you use an inkjet printer compute all cost, ink - paper - errors - time. I found the best profit was in a laser print. I use clearbags and a good quality envelope. I also use the best cardstock I can get. To get full bleed(boarderless) prints scale the image so when you score and cut the card it produces a boarderless card. Hope this helps a bit. Roger
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Kathy Radford |
Thanks Roger. I have them in on consignment. The store owner gets 25%. I have been buying my note cards from Photographers Edge, but they are very expensive. Just this week I started making them myself using card stock. I am printing the card stock out with a double border the outer border is thicker than the inner border. I have been coordinating the color to match the colors in the photo. I also print my info on the back of the card, where it is, copyright symbol with the year and my name and phone number centered on the back with a small number on the bottom left to identify the photo for my reference for tracking the photos sold. I then glue the photo on the front to line up in the double border. Wow, what a big savings by doing it that way. Then I just have to buy the white envelopes and the clear plastic envelopes to protect them. They actually look better than the ones that I have been buying because the colored border enhances the photo. Kathy in NH
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Roger M. Wells |
Kathy the problem I have with consignment is; who pays for stolen, damaged or lost cards? Do you use photos or images that you print them yourself? What do you think your cost is per card including your time? I have used printed boarders and ful bleed but never paste the image on the card. Do you do it for cost or for effect? Roger
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Roger M. Wells |
Kathy the problem I have with consignment is; who pays for stolen, damaged or lost cards? Do you use photos or images that you print them yourself? What do you think your cost is per card including your time? I have used printed boarders and ful bleed but never paste the image on the card. Do you do it for cost or for effect? Roger
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Rich Collins |
According to Deja her cards from Walmart are costing $.12 each including prefolded blank cards & envelopes. I don't know how one could get it much cheaper. Roger with your self-scoring/folding/printing can you actually beat that? Of course Deja didn't mention the print per photo & photo paper. I would assume you could add another .15-.25 per card for a total of let's say .32? If you are doing it cheaper would you mind sharing your paper stock source? When you say card exchenge, you mean that you will take back the cards not selling & replace with others that might sell better? Also Kathy could you share your paper & plastic sleeve source? This morning I looked at http://www.cardblanks.com/index.php & by comparison your costs beat them but if you stay with white not by much.As an example: 250 cards with envelopes cc5x7ccsce3 $0.27 $67.50 Thanks & I hope this helps
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Deja Webster |
I get my clear 6x8 bags from Floral Supply: http://www.fss.com/ Clear Bags Item CF68, 200 for $6.50 (.0325 each) plus small shipping fee. You need to place atleast a $50 order. As for paper I get mine from Costco 300 glossy 4x6 sheets for $13.79 (.045 each) Deja
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Rich Collins |
This thread is getting some use isn't it. Thanks Deja, that is an unbeatable price on the clear bags. I think I'll get some. Have you ever used them in a damp climate? And as for the 4x6 photo paper I do like the price but I am really stuck on this new waterproof paper I've been using lately even though I'm spending more. I can show them in our Saturday Market even when the air is quite damp & fear nothing. What about Photo Note Cards on the cheap, anyone? Or have I already found the best pricing at cardblanks as above?
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Kathy Radford |
Roger by doing the cards myself the stock cost came to 55 cents plus ink. I haven't been able to figure out how much the ink costs per 5x7 photo. I can cut the price down by buying supplies by more than 50 at a time and get the volumn discount. That does not include my time. I buy full sheets of photo paper and print them 3-up on a sheet. I paste the photo on the note card that I make. Actually I like the notecard I make better than any that you can buy. Because I can custom color each double border around each photo, it looks more professional and a much better effect. All my cards are on consignment. I haven't run into any being stolen yet, but I have only had them in stores for a few months. I suppose I could split the difference with the owner if that happens. If not I'll just have to eat the cost and if it happens too often in one store, just pull the cards out. How do you label the back of your cards, do you use labels or handwrite on the back? (Name, phone no. copyright info and photo tracking etc.) I print everything on the back when I print out the double border on the front of the card. That way everything looks very provessional. I used to use a clear address label with my name, phone no. and copyright on the back centered, then I wrote in pen where the photo was or something about the photo and then put my photo reference number on the bottom left of the back of the card. You mentioned you used printed borders but didn't paste your photos on. How did you attach them? Where did you buy the printed borders? Were they from Photographers Edge? Thanks for your feedback. It's so good to be able to bounce things off fellow BP'ers and get their feedback. I know Chrystal Barryman sells her cards outright. She sell a lot of cards as well. For Rich I bought the card stock by the ream of 250 sheets from Staples. Check out Clearenvelopesonline.com or ClearBags.com or Photographer's Edge also sells clear envelopes. Deja, I'll have to check out that sight as well sounds great. Rich, who puts out that waterproof paper, and where do you buy it. Sounds interesting. Kathy in NH
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Roger M. Wells |
My goal is to produce a card that looks like a high end Hallmark note card. I use the best paper I can get. I buy paper that is made for the printer that I will use to produce the card. The size is 8.5" x 11" fully coated to resist moisture and retain the color. Next I design the layout in Photoshop or Corel Draw. I include in the layout any boarders, title, copyright and the image to be laid on one side of the paper(the coated side) leaving the other side blank. Once printed I score and cut the card to size. I have a cheap cutter that I purchased at Costco that has a scoring wheel so I can make easy folding. I use a square flap envelope 28# in weight. The sleeve is made of poly-carbonate(crytal clear) with the ability to reseal. Polyurethane bags are cheaper but diminish the visual experience. I will upload a card That I did for a friend so you can visulize what I have said. It shows details on layout like crop marks and fold lines etc... About Ink cost: Use the number of pages that your printer manufacturer boast and divide it by 7. Divide the resulting number into the coast for a comlete round of ink (all cartages). This will be a good guess as to cost of ink ber card. Note most printers quote the number of sheets per color cartrage based on 5% coverage. A 5" x 7" card would require about 35% coverage so dividing by 7 would work.
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Rich Collins |
Kathy I buy this waterproof paper either in 4x6, 5x7 or full page from a friend of mine in Ritzville WA. His name & phone# follows; Ken Stamps For You 509 659 4271. Give him a call if you like or his email is kcheska@yahoo.com. This is new to the market & it works really well. I don't know how it works in poly bags but I've had no problems with smearing after a few minutes drying time. _________________________________________ Roger I am getting that you print directly on the paperstock you score & fold into Note Card size, full bleed. Your concern over stolen cards is one I hadn't considered. Is this something all others have had bad experience with? Rich
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Roger M. Wells |
I am not in favor of consignment because the artist will always loose. If the shop owner is not responsible for damaged or stolen items there is less need for security. If I were to place my work on consignment I would rather know what my responsibility is up front so I can factor in the cost (loss) to my manufacturing cost. I think for the relationship between the artist and the shop to survive a written agreement must be put in place before placing the cards. I tried to upload a card that I just did for a friend but it did not attach to the posting. I will try again.
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Roger M. Wells |
I am not in favor of consignment because the artist will always loose. If the shop owner is not responsible for damaged or stolen items there is less need for security. If I were to place my work on consignment I would rather know what my responsibility is up front so I can factor in the cost (loss) to my manufacturing cost. I think for the relationship between the artist and the shop to survive a written agreement must be put in place before placing the cards. I tried to upload a card that I just did for a friend but it did not attach to the posting. I will try again.
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