Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: cottagehunter on February 07, 2012, 04:45:51 pm
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I was wondering which paper is recommended for printing post card size and note size for sale items at a craft fair. Do you do anything to the final print to stiffen it or not :-\
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This will get you started:
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/cardshop/inkjet_post_cards/
Do a search on line. Lots of resources.
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I use the Red River Polar Matte 60lb for note cards. Excellent!
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I am a huge fan of the Museo Artist Cards.
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I am a huge fan of the Museo Artist Cards.
+1 but be forewarned, you are not going to get rich doing this since the price point is pretty low for cards (plus the fact that people are not using the mail system as much anymore.
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Alan: I do not intend to get rich doing this but am contemplating entering several art shows this Spring / Summer and thought that this would be another sale item. As I have not sold photos before I have no idea wheather this will work or not but thought I would try 3 shows to see if I can at least recoup my costs if not I'll cry and try somethng else.
I have done many trade shows over my past professions both as a Real Estate Agent and as a Manuacturers agent for different industrial products.
I have no idea of what price I should put on any of my offerings so I am trying to do some research well before the time these shows would take place. The town I'm located in does a big show for the July long weekend with both the Lions ans the Rotary clubs having tents. The Lions do mostly art with 6-8 large exhibit tents and the Rotary has 4 tents but most of their displays are crafts. The Lions charge $300 for a 10x 10 booth and 10% of the sales.
Is anyone willing to offer me suggestions on pricing of Post Cards , Notecards.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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+1 but be forewarned, you are not going to get rich doing this since the price point is pretty low for cards (plus the fact that people are not using the mail system as much anymore.
Check prices on Etsy for some current thinking on what to charge. Hand made cards go for anything from $2-5 each, or maybe 8 cards for $12-20. A lot depends on how artsy they appear to be. I did all the math on a spreadsheet last fall, trying to figure out if it was worth trying to sell cards at a local artisan show held on my campus. Short answer: No. Longer answer: I would have to spend a lot of money on materials to get the per-item cost down to a reasonable level, meaning I would have to sell a LOT of cards to make any sort of decent money. Hundreds of cards, at minimum. The printing and packaging time would have been prohibitive.
You'll likely want individual plastic sleeves for each card, or small clear plastic boxes for sets. Clearbags.com supplies these. Don't forget to factor the shipping costs into the per-unit cost of the materials - I was surprised to see how much that mattered, and it has an impact on how large an order becomes cost effective. (Larger order = lower per-unit shipping costs.)
That said, I do like the Polar Matte cards from Red River. We use them for holiday cards, and small gifts, and I print personal work to send them as thank-you notes, etc. It's cool to see the cards displayed on people's desks or hanging on their bulletin boards.
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I price my notecards at $15 for a box of 5 (this is a good mark up given the time and effort needed to print cards; cost of materials is just under $4). I use these (http://www.jcdanczak.com/our_products/cat_17.html) stationary boxes. It was nice when Crane Paper Co still owned Museo because the blank cards came packed in Crane boxes which gave it a higher end look. The Danczak boxes are OK and have a clear top so that a card image is visible.
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I am a huge fan of the Museo Artist Cards.
I like the Museo as well, but it is the only card stock that I have tried. So far, I have only used it for B&W, and the results are outstanding. A friend has used the Museo for color, and they look very nice as well. I have not been actively selling them, but a different friend bought 8 cards for $5 each. As they are truly fine art prints, I think that is a fair price, but I do not expect many people would be willing to pay that much. Selling fine art cards is a low volume business, unless you have a busy gallery or store that displays them, but then the store will keep 40-50% of the revenue.
Rob