5x7 Photo Cards from Scratch - ideas

[Robert Watcher]

Thought that I would assemble a little explanation about my process of creating my 5x7 photo cards with readily available and relatively inexpensive materials shipped to me from Amazon. This video shows the hand cut and folded process that I used for the initial 150 or so photo cards that I made available for retail shops. While I am totally happy with the Koala mat paper, I found out about Red River precut and prescored mat paper recently, and prefer it as it cuts down on a lot of work - plus I absolutely love the feel and tone of the cardstock for my photos.

 

[Robert Watcher]

This is the layout for using standard letter size card stock. I have the positioning markers (only visible on the screen) for aligning the image as well as the text. Also I include light reference marks for the score location as well as trimming to size

Here are the products that I have purchased from Amazon. These are Canadian prices, so USD will be much less.

I make a lot of use of the little 12x12 inch paper cutter and scoring board.

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Rob,

Thanks so much for all that.

That is a good idea: putting a folded piece of paper over the fold before ironing it with the bone creaser.

That trimmer and scoring board looks very nice. We may get one.

I like the idea of printing on the full size paper and trimming the open end of the card after folding. That should give a nice alignment of the open ends.

Your work is, as always, very insightful!

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Robert,

So generous for you to share these details.

Also I so impressed that your hard work has paid off not only for you but now allows Doug’s wife, Carla, herself a talented and regularly exhibited artist, to have another avenue for her work to spread!

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

I like the idea of printing on the full size paper and trimming the open end of the card after folding. That should give a nice alignment of the open ends.

Definitely not difficult to do on standard Letter size card stock / paper. I find the math for grid line markers in the layout software to be very straight forward, keeping everything 1/2” from the edges, and don’t have to worry about paper setting margins in the printer misaligning things.

All the best with your project.

 

[Robert Watcher]

not only for you but now allows Doug’s wife, Carla, herself a talented and regularly exhibited artist, to have another avenue for her work to spread!

If others find some benefit from my experiences, that is a bonus —— and the reason I make the effort to post.

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[Robert Watcher]

What I am about to share has nothing to do with photography, but it is related to recent activity around our home based on both Anne and I being creatives in different fields —— and finding it very challenging to find people willing to invest in our larger more expensive creations.

Except for my portrait work when I was active in it up until 15 years ago, I have never been able to find anyone willing to purchase large wall prints that need to be compensated with a cost of hundreds or thousands of dollars. Similarly my wife Anne - who has been an amazing quilt maker for longer than the 49 years that we have been married —- has managed to sell one handmade quilt each year on average, but at cost to the customer that equates to less than a dollar on hour, instead of the thousands of dollars to compensate for the months that it takes to make one.

So it has been refreshing for me to conceive this notion of making photo cards at a price and appreciation of my work, that has gotten many into people’s hands each week from our daughter’s store, and getting the wonderful feedback from those ones.

Anne likewise has taken a page from my experience and has recently diversified into providing journal covers (soon adding iPad covers at the request of buying customers) to sell at our daughter’s store, that allow her to be creative with colours and stitching patterns. Every cover is different that the other. She is loving it. And being able to make several in a period of an hour, she is making far more than a dollar an hour for her time. And the thing is that they are selling like crazy.

We aren’t concerned with making a living from what we are doing, and it would be so much more satisfying to know someone has invested in us by purchasing a large piece of our artwork —— but that has been more a dream than a reality. What we do find much satisfaction in with these simpler lower cost creations, is that many many people are now exposed to and enjoying our creativity.

And of course our daughter has a few samples of our wall prints and artistic quilts on her store walls for people to enjoy and possibly invest in at some point in time.


Here is a little video I assembled of Anne creating her popular Comfort Covers.

And this is an example of what she is capable of artistically, each of what has to be valued in the thousands of dollars

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