I am doing prints of my wife's fine art paintings for her to exhibit and sell.
I am printing with hp vivera ink and mostly Hahnemuhle papers.
I want, with each print, to include a little card with some handling instructions and information on the quality. Do any of you do this?
I can 'borrow' the handling/storage instructions from the Hahnemuhle paper's literature, but wondered if anyone has some thoughts on what to include to express the quality of the materials and how long they should last etc if looked after?
thanks
This isn't exactly an answer to your question, but "we", that is people who make prints, care about such things. The vast majority of those who buy prints do not. Including such a blurb obviously cannot hurt your sales. I'd like to think it may do something to reassure a purchaser that they made a good decision after they have purchased, but I seriously doubt it. My opinion is that it makes no difference.
For about seven years ending a few years ago I made prints for a few painters. I've also sold my own prints through a couple galleries and at arts festivals for about 9 years. Like you, I have always used high quality materials. None of the painters ever asked about anything but color matching and surface finish of the paper. In all cases I told them more about the quality materials but that was obviously not a big concern for them. Only three others have ever proactively asked me about the materials. One was by a woman whose job is making photographic reproductions to guide restoration of classic paintings at a major art museum. Another was a person who collects paintings, was not very familiar with photographic prints, but wanted to buy one. These two are the only people I think would not have purchased if I was using crappy materials. Everyone else makes a purchase if they "like the picture", or if the colors go with a couch (or in one case the toilet/bathtub/sink color in a remodeled bathroom). Regardless, I don't think most prints hang anywhere for more than a decade, give or take, before being relegated to a closet or attic. This is only opinion, but having made a point of trying to determine what does and does not matter to customers and potential customers for quite a few years, I think it's very close to true.
I stopped including anything about paper types, etc., long ago. Where my prints are displayed I usually have a short bio in a small frame hanging near them. At the bottom there is a two sentence paragraph describing the prints: "All prints are made with archival pigments on archival fine art papers and are hinge mounted to allow future re-mounting without damage to the print. Prints are signed on the mat and on the print border under the mat." Quite honestly, that's more information than most buyers care about.