Card Printing - Photo Printer or Not?!

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 :blush:.strong text

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 :blush:

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Thanks for that, it’s very interesting to hear :blush:

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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 :blush:

Its not easy choosing a new printer. I know it left my head spinning when I was choosing mine!

Tell me about it :joy:. 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 :thinking::woozy_face:

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. :blush:

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.