Monday, December 8, 2008

Adding To The Shop

After a bit of research on archival quality printing, I've decided to add a couple more items to my shop today. I chose to go with a few of the more interesting Ttv photos and an unframed print of the Wishful Thinking illustration.

I wanted to make sure that any prints that were purchased from me would resist fading and look nice and sharp. I'm looking mostly for prints that are guaranteed for 70+ years. From the bit that I've read, it's important to print on acid free paper to prevent yellowing, and use pigmented/archival ink to resist fading. I found a few online options that look promising. It took me a bit of time to sniff out these printers, so I thought I'd share them here to save anyone conducting a similar search some time. Here are my findings:

http://www.mpix.com/
http://www.iprintfromhome.com/
http://www.imagekind.com/
http://finerworks.com/
http://www.giclee-factory.com

I have yet to use any of these printers so I can't vouch for them. If you have used any of these printers, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I would really love to find a local printer to work with, I just am not sure where to start, especially if I'm not printing in bulk. If you're in the Indianapolis area, and you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I'll be sure to post any findings and reviews once I've discovered a printer I like! Yay for learning about print! It's a wide wide world and it's SO not dead.

5 comments:

Jen said...

Hey Amy - I've ordered prints from mpix.com before. They're great quality. I found out about them from our wedding photographer Steph Carson. She highly recommended them and in fact I think she gets her prints from them too.

Amy Kingman said...

Oh awesome! Thanks for the recommendation, Jen! I think I'll need to go with an online printer, at least for a while until I can find out more about local shops. In the case of original illustrations done by hand especially, it will be nice to share the original with the printer for color matching and proofing. It will also be nice to avoid shipping costs. For now though, sounds like mpix.com would do a nice job! I've been loving your cookie posts! They all look REALLY delicious!

Ashley said...

i like the edgy banner. very cool!

NateG said...

I know this is an old post but I had to chime in.. I get a lot printed at mpix and they are great.. and shipping is super fast and cheap. Also, if you want great quality large format photo prints, google elco-color. Their pricing AND quality are fantastic, it's the best bang for the buck I've found anywhere, especially if you print multiple pictures on a 30x40, etc.

Amy Kingman said...

Thanks Nate! Those are great recommendations! Now I just have to decide on the next pieces to print! :) We should get together for a photo shoot sometime soon. Got any projects in the works?