I’m reaching out to everyone, but particularly those who reproduce their artwork. We are often asked if we produce Mark’s artwork on fabric and its something I have always wanted to do, especially as duvet covers and cushions.
Ideally we would like a company that print the orders as they come in and then post and package it, so that we dont have the initial outlay and a pile of stock waiting to be sold. So we would have a link on our website to their website for those that want to buy one.
Mark came across one company online that do do that service, but its in the US, ideally I would like someone in the UK. But I cant come up with the google search words that give me the correct search.
Also if anyone has any advice on realeasing your images to companies like this, it would be gratefully received, its a bit of a gamble weighing up paying for and selling the stock myself or relying on a company to be truthful in how much they are selling and giving us the correct commission on those sales…
I can’t help unfortunately but i would be interested in finding out. I did some research a couple of years ago and can’t find the notes but I remember I googled textile printing, if that helps. I know a few people who have accounts with red bubble and I was going to open an account with them but then got put off by the ts and cs (I seem to remember there was a clause about them being able to reproduce your artwork for any reason). The other company I remember was Spoonflower. At some point I will go back and revisit this but in the meantime good luck with your searches!
I know of Woven Monkey based here in the UK which is basically the same as Spoonflower. You have a shop and people buy the designs they like. It’s free to set up but it’s is just a fabric site, it doesn’t produce products as such, for that you need sites like Red Bubble, Zazzle or Society 6, but those are often US based.
Not much help I know, sorry! Hope you find somewhere though
I also found Citrus Rain and Print me Pretty. Citrus Rain said they can print and make cushions but their website was lacking prices.
None of them make and sell the complete product tho, like this company http://mnmldecor.com/pages/sell-with-mnml (this is the one Mark found, but it doesnt have a lot of information on the website for my liking. )
Threadless now do ‘Artist Shops’ which allow you to do your own t-shirts (and looking now, there’s also other garments/homewares there too) https://www.threadless.com/artist-shops/ - also we’ve not used them, but are seriously considering it for one off personal purchases: https://paom.com - we ordered their swatch and they do a HUGE range of fabrics - not sure we could make it cost effective enough, but we’re definitely keeping them bookmarked!
(as an aside, we constantly keep thinking that there’s a huge gap in the UK market for custom fabric printers, and if we could generate the capital to get started we’d branch into that as it could be huge! t-shirt orders alone, never mind larger swathes of fabric!)
Ok more help need please.
I have looked at several different companies and had a couple of samples made.
But I now need help!!
I’m a real dummy here so need step by step guides.
I want to print 10 of my husbands paintings onto a piece of fabric, with each image big enough to make a 14" square cushion - how hard can it be?
Well apparently really hard!!
All the printers are saying I need to produce a file, on something like photo shop, where all the images are together so they then just need to print it. I have asked for their help, but I am not really getting a dummy version!
I have no idea how to use photo shop, I have just been on there and I am totally lost and have no idea where to start!
Then I dont understand how to then put this into an order on a printers website.
Can anyone who has done something similar (one image per cushion, not a repeat pattern) help me with a step by step guide please?
I haven’t been through this process but I imagine they need a high resolution image suitable for print.
So, the quality/resolution of the image for print needs to be 300dpi. They have suggested Photoshop because the default file format (a .PSD file) will not compress the image and lose quality. If you gave them a JPG image this will compress the file and thus degrade the quality.
I know fine art America do this sort of thing - cushions,duvets etc. They have a printing house I the uk now so name is deceptive. You upload your joeg (which is fine as long as it is minimum 300dpi). Then the site produces mock ups for you if the item. They aren’t overly cheap however - probably as they are quite a slick operation. Hope that helps a bit.
With the photoshop - if you’ve not used it before - then you are better of buying photoshop elements as it is A LOT cheaper than the full version. I would either get a book or view some starter you tube videos as it is quite a sophisticated piece of software xxx
I use BeFab Be Creative to print my scarves (they also partner with Kalopsia who do small scale production, if you wanted cushions etc making)
When I send my files I open a new file in Photoshop to the size of the fabric that will be printed eg. 100cm by 130cm fabric width - this varies per fabric - the company you are using should be able to tell you this… I then copy and paste all the images I want printing into this file (make sure they are at least 150 DPI) and arrange them so they all fit nicely with a gap around each so I can cut them out easily!
I normally save as a high quality JPEG and upload straight to BeFab or alternatively you could save the file to disk and post to the company you are using.
Websites like Spoonflower allow you to upload the image you want printing and then choose single image or different kinds of repeat so they might be a good option for you?
Thanks @CraftyCowDesign
I spent all day yesterday on Fine Art America trying to work it out!!
It is the sort of thing we are looking for to move Mark’s art work further, so once I get set up, keep your fingers crossed for me!
One note tho their forums are no way as friendly as folksy’s!! I got slated for having my name on the account they said I was taking the credit for Mark’s work even tho I explained I sell it for him, so I have had to change it and will now be pretending to be him, to keep them all happy!
As I understand it when you get an order for an item through your shop. You then place an order with faa bit give your customers shipping address. So you are effectively using them as a drop shipper. You don’t get to see the item but unless you can find somewhere locally to you that would offer this service then you have little choice. I do this with my prints - though not through far yet. It works quite well xx
There are lots of people on here that digitally make and sell things like Folksy shop banners, they must use something like photoshop.
MAybe you could email your pics to them and ask them to put it all in 1 jpeg file for you.
This maybe advertising another “dark side” but my new fine art america shop is now up and running (in Mark’s name), so hopefully it will help me to gain some more international fans.
)
