Hoping someone can help me… I seem to be going round in circles at the moment!
I want to print my own artwork - watercolour animal paintings - onto greetings cards. Worried about which printers would take a heavy card stock, I contacted two leading companies who both came back recommending their photo printer. They look impressive but I don’t want to waste money if I don’t need this level of printer.
Basically I would like to print on paper/card 250gsm, maybe 300gsm which gives good print/colour quality and doesn’t jam.
Any suggestions and advice regarding this and the best paper stock to use would be much appreciated 
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I have a Hp but does not do thick card. Ask the question what is the weight card that this printer can print on.
How many are you doing if a lot of one design a local printers may be better. My friends husband who was a photographer went to a local printer for cards as no printer he tried would print onto thicker card.
From speaking to a photographer home photo printers are ok for some things, however his view was that for really good work or anything photo quality for selling rather than buying a top of the range home printer you were was well to use a good printing company and his go to was Loxley. For cards he thought Moo.com were very good but should be wary of a lot of companies as their colours aren’t true.
I print my own greetings cards from my artwork. My printer is a canon pixma pro 10, which I cannot rate highly enough. I can match my own colours exactly as it has 10 separate ink cartridges. I use 230gsm double sided matt paper from Marrutt which is excellent. They do make thicker paper but I prefer the whiteness of the 230gsm for my cards. The canon has two different feeds according to the weight of the paper and will happily take the thicker ones, although I don’t know how thick it will go. Certainly 310gsm is no problem. Downsides are that the inks are quite expensive, although I don’t have experience of a similar quality printer. Upsides, you are in complete control and prints can be indistinguishable from the real thing. Hope this helps!
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Thanks for responding, it’s very helpful
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Thanks for that, it’s very interesting to hear
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That’s great, thanks. The Canon PixmaPro is one that’s been recommended, so it’s good to hear your experience has been so good
Its not easy choosing a new printer. I know it left my head spinning when I was choosing mine!
Tell me about it 
. I’ve just had a look at the paper and that looks perfect. Thanks so much
Hope you got on ok Debbie finding a new printer. I have just seen this thread so would have replied sooner. I use a Canon Pixma Pro 100S, which sounds similar to Chris @Chrishaywoodart, and the results are absolutely superb.
The paper I use comes from a company called Paper Spectrum, and I use their Etching 310gsm card which is also outstanding. The colours are beautiful, and I have had such good feedback from my customers. As Chris has said, you are in complete control over what happens (and the mistakes - ha ha ha!!!), but at least I know what I am printing.
SallyAnn
Oh, thanks SallyAnn, it’s good to know. Yes I’ve been checking out a Canon Pixma Pro, but, I’ve just been recommended a local company to print for me and the quality is excellent and the prices are VERY good. They also seem to be very efficient, unlike the previous company I used. So now I’m weighing up the pros and cons and which way to go 
Another thing to consider is time. Do you actually want to spend your time printing or painting! Do you enjoy the printing process. For me I love the actual making of the cards, but not everyone does!
So true. I think I’ll be getting them printed, at least for the time being. But it’s been good to find out other people’s views and experiences as it’s such a tricky area to navigate!
I have a Canon Pro A3 printer for printing my own work and all I would say is prepare for a lot of waste and expense. It takes a while to get the set up right. I would really calculate your time and effort versus a good printing company.Heres a couple I have used: High Quality Greeting Card Printing Specialists in the UK
https://www.redcliffeprint.co.uk/greeting-cards.html
If you do still want to print your own then I would recommend Paper Spectrum for cards as they are really good value. https://www.paperspectrum.co.uk/
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I can recommend a company called Love From The Artist, they are non-profit . You get a page on their site which sells to retailers as well and you don’t have to have big print runs.
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Thank you. I think, for now anyway, I’ll use a professional company. As you say, it can be very time consuming
Apologies for not replying sooner but I have been unwell. Good luck with your printing ventures.
Hi Debbie, I both print my own images and have them printed by a specialist card printing company.
Although it can sound very daunting I have found The Imaging Centre based in Kent, to be a great company and really, really friendly and helpful.
They have a system that allows you to upload and design your card online and best of all because they are digital printers you can order a tiny number of cards (min 1 I think!) to see how you get on.
I would recommend you at least visit their website but don’t be afraid to talk to them if you have any questions.
Hope this helps.