Wow, Brenda that’s amazing! Though as your handpainted original cards cost 2/3 of the price of my reproduced ones, they are such a bargain I’m not at all surprised! Your business model is working well for you.
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Good going; Brenda, do you ever sleep…?
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I too have wondered about prints as I don’t offer any and it does seem that Folksy buyers are more likely to buy ‘cheaper’ (again with respect, well I don’t seem to attract buyers that are looking for original paintings anyway). I prefer to sell originals personally but may have to change that. I will be interested to see how it goes for you.
I tend to use other online galleries for selling larger original artwork (or trying to); however I do like making smaller pieces, which usually don’t fit well with the upmarket galleries but are likely to be more at home on a site like Folksy. I’ll be looking at some images today for possible cards; a little speculative outlay can’t hurt.
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Yes, I use other online galleries too, but thought I would try Folksy for my art; I do have a few smaller artworks listed here, perhaps I will add some more and hope it helps. I will also consider prints, but I am a bit unsure about this. I get the impression buyers on Folksy are looking for the lower priced items so maybe cards etc do better
As a customer, I would LOVE to buy originals but often can’t afford to. I recently took my Dad to an event where the originals were priced at £500 - £1500. There were many beautiful works that I would have taken home, given a lottery win!
Almost every artist had cards and/or small mounted prints for sale too, that were as close as most of us would get to owning the pieces we coveted. But I doubt that so many of them would be sold without the large originals on display.
Yes that’s a very good point James - I suppose that in a way you can roughly divide ‘prints’ (note the inverted commas) into two sorts - Art prints and Fun prints.
Art Prints - This is using printing as art form employing various skills and techniques such as lithography, silk screen, etchings, linocut etc. It is the serious end of the business and should be regarded as such. The printer is an artist in his own right and uses considerable skill and experience to produce a genuine ‘fine art’ print.
Then there are Fun prints or reproductions often using home printers to make cards, and cheap and cheerful reproductions with little direct intervention in print process. Existing artworks are photographed or scanned and then reproduced digitally on a printer. Fun prints should be inexpensive and are quite different to a genuine ‘fine art’ print - they are a good way to have something attractive on display for a comparatively low price.
There is a world of difference between the two. Personally I think there is room for both art and fun prints - inexpensive fun prints make art accessible to all (entry level art) while art prints can be seen as more of an investment and something to be appreciated and loved by more experienced art buyers.
I’m not at all keen on the term fun prints. Professionally printed giclee prints use high quality pigment inks on high quality paper for long lightfastness and excellent reproduction. It’s not like using your own printer at home (though of course some people do have the expensive kit to use themselves.) My cards are also professionally printed and exceptionally high quality.
So thr accepted terms are indeed Original Prints (lino cuts etchings etc) and Fine Art Prints ( high quality reproductions) . If you wang to use Fun prints for home productions you could but it might not find favour with those who produce high quality product from home
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I am sorry Helen you are right - I should have made it explicitly clear that by ‘home printers’ I was referring to ‘printers attached to home computers’ and not small artisan set ups producing ‘original prints’ from home.
More properly I should have stressed that we are talking about reproductions (I rather dislike the term ‘fine art prints’ because it is open to misrepresentation).
I sell ‘fun prints’ - actually they are very good quality home printed reproductions using my home computer with good quality inks and high quality card or watercolour paper - they look very good and with care will last for years if not decades BUT they are not Fine Art Prints and should be priced accordingly.
I also agree Giclée prints are different in the sense that they are professional reproductions produced to a higher standard - they are expensive to produce and should be offered at a higher price.
I still think the term ‘fun print’ is valid and helps customers understand that they are not buying a ‘true print’ but are buying a simple home computer printed reproduction of an artwork originally made in a different medium.
Quite honestly most people will not know the distinctions between ‘fine art prints’ and ‘original prints’ but if you say ‘fun prints’ they instantly know they are buying something ‘cheap and cheerful’.
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Hello Anna
I realy hopefully would like to think most people do know the difference.
As James and Helen have explained
An Original Print is an artwork made using one or a combination of printmaking methods and can be a limited or open edition and is an accessible form of art.
A Fine Art or giclee print is a reproduction of an original art form and can also be a limited edition and often a smaller scale than the original.
My understanding of a Digital Print is artwork created on a Computer.
I have not heard the term Fun Print used as an economical way of reproducing art.
Fun print makes me think of potato and sponge printing, a print made in a fun way.
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Of course you are right Christine that some discerning customers will be well informed when buying prints - but the point I am trying to make is that a significant number of Folksy customers don’t have extensive knowledge about prints and do not understand the terms associated with prints.
I think customers can be confused by terms such as ‘open editions’ or ‘giclée prints’ etc. and easily misled.
I hate to think of people being ripped off by misunderstanding what they are buying - using the term ‘fun prints’ for reproductions produced on a home computer/printer helps establish that what they are buying is not of the first order.
I suppose we could argue semantics all day! The original point of the thread was assessing the popularity of prints (reproductions) over originals - is it worth an artist giving customers a range of reproductions and greetings cards at a lower price range. I would say yes it is.
If they are produced at home using an ordinary home computer and printer they should be priced accordingly and identified as cheap and cheerful reproductions.
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This morning I had an order from a lady who had bought some of my ‘Fallen Leaves’ cards way back in 2020. She had spotted that I had listed the originals for sale as part of the recent Craft Drop, and has now purchased not one but two of them! So my thought that greetings cards may be a stepping stone to purchase of an original has finally paid off.
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Congratulations !
So nice to read some positive news.
Hope the Exhibition event brings more sales your way too.
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That’s great! I’m absolutely sure you’re right about the card to print / original - I often buy just a card and then dream about having the print or original when money allows, or when birthdays or Christmas come around and hubby can buy them from my gift wish list!
Your fallen leaves pictures are so beautiful 
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Interesting as I didn’t know the difference between prints and thought a print was a …erm. . print taken from an original piece.
So a question for you lovely artists, I have had a few comments from people asking if I sell my bear cards on their own, the ones from my letterbox gifts, as a bear artist do you think I should put some printed cards from photos of my work into my shop or do you think I should keep it as the physical bears only? I did have a lot of Evergreen bear, ‘ sending bear hugs’printed at Christmas but then never listed them as I didn’t want my shop having too many different items in it, I am thinking of having my exhibition entry pieces made into cards, I want my shop to say ‘bears’ would they work or am I better leaving it as it is, honest opinions please … thank you x
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Cards featuring your bears would be gorgeous, and might attract even more visitors to your shop. Every one someone buys and sends, is a little bit more marketing which you haven’t had to do yourself. Arguably they would be more in keeping with the rest of your shop than the embroidered items, though you know how much I love your pincushions. I’d give them a try.
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Thank you very much Helen. Recently I have looked at my shop and thought perhaps I shouldn’t add anymore pincushions as everything else marries well, I havn’t made any this year but they were always popular, it’s so hard deciding which way to go forward sometimes. After making a bear for the exhibition I would like to make more high end ones, she sold very quickly but I flit from one idea or pathway back to another. I do agree though that bear cards might be better in my shop than other embroidered items. I would like to do all high end bears but think having various price points works well as people often buy the more affordable items for gifts and it’s only collectors who buy high end.
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Why not give it a go, your bears have the most adorable expressions and your product photos are so well set up. Seems a shame not to see how the cards would do. I think they would be a success 
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Thank you very much, I will definitely give it more thought, I do have some that I had printed for my letterbox bears, the photos are not the best but could test the water with them then perhaps get some decent photos for next year.
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I think cards would be a fab addition Debby, if I were buying a bear as a gift I’d love to add a matching card to the order. Or simply send to a bear loving friend and as @HelenCliffordArt said it’s a brilliant extra marketing tool too.