Canvas Printing

[arith]

Just out of curiosity, and a keen interest in printing my own stuff some day, and because I like asking dumb questions; how much does it work out to print and stretch a canvas about 24" x 16" or A2 if you buy a roll about 25 metres long?

Assuming you use all the premium quality roll up and including ink price but that is about it, leave the £3000 initial outlay for a printer out of it.

I've seen some video's and it looks really easy and I'm guessing it is less than £15 $23 USD $35 NZD $23 CAD ect.

Just so I have an idea since wouldn't I need bigger than 24" to do 24" ect?

[Clactonian]

Are we to allow for waste in our calculations, and for depreciation over the years that you'll have 25m in stock?
M

[RichB]

Argh I came on here to avoid revising for an accounting exam tomorrow. Oh well if you need to include the cost of capital in your calculations I'm your man.

[arith]

Are we to allow for waste in our calculations, and for depreciation over the years that you'll have 25m in stock?
M

Yes but you have to assume I use the whole roll, it isn't that hard considering the number of people in the world to sell 50, or just do 50 for yourself.

[arith]

Argh I came on here to avoid revising for an accounting exam tomorrow. Oh well if you need to include the cost of capital in your calculations I'm your man.

That's cool. I hate number crunching and I could do with chaps that like you doing it; I got this irritating habit of starting fictitious businesses just for fun in a virtual way.

Non of my ideas are stupid, they can fly, but it is stupid I came up with them, funny even. This one isn't stupid and It possible to make money out of it. It is not art...

All I want to know is the unit cost, so I can see if it is stupid or not. The printer would have to be calculated on resale ect, looking in the short term of a 25 metre roll assumed using all of it how much. ?

[Colin Southern]

Just out of curiosity, and a keen interest in printing my own stuff some day, and because I like asking dumb questions; how much does it work out to print and stretch a canvas about 24" x 16" or A2 if you buy a roll about 25 metres long?

Assuming you use all the premium quality roll up and including ink price but that is about it, leave the £3000 initial outlay for a printer out of it.

I've seen some video's and it looks really easy and I'm guessing it is less than £15 $23 USD $35 NZD $23 CAD ect.

Just so I have an idea since wouldn't I need bigger than 24" to do 24" ect?

In NZ Prices ...

Canvas, $13.00
Ink, $1.50
Liquid Laminate, $1.50
Wooden frame, $1.50

Total, $17.50

8 pound, 26p

Excluding $10,000 for wood-working & sprayingequip, $10,000 for printer.

[arith]

That's cool. They charge a lot round here to do it for you and they don't even take the pic. It must be time consuming to stretch a canvas, how long does it take? I can't imagine It takes more than an hour and if your working for someone else I expect they would like a hundred an hour.

It is possible to hire printers at less than couple of hundred a week, the ink is like a hundred or so, the canvas is the biggest drawback since it comes in rolls of 25 metres or so; but if you wanted FOUR canvases of A2 size, if it wasn't for the fact that you had to buy 25m then it would be about the same price as having them done professionally.

Cor, amazing.

[Clactonian]

Just for starters you could try something like this ...
http://www.you-frame.com/

[arith]

That is a clever load of s**t in it, for those that can't make a bed or use a pair of scissors. Don't know about the printing on your own printer though, I was thinking more top quality fine art, in name only.

I've known a couple of entrepreneurs, and they wasn't artists but I know if you gave them a point and shoot they would make money out of it. I'm not going to do what one suggested with the fake old camera and zipped up old costumes for people at fairs to put on, but I bet it would make a lot of money.

I was thinking more of something popular but done extremely well, however I don't know how much they would pay for the best in what they like; an artist on the web says it is a dollar a square inch for oil but this is not oil and maybe £49 for an A2 might be asking a bit much of them. Of course it takes an hour to make the b***dy thing and you had to take the photo and pay travel ect ect so less than that is really making it not worthwhile, in which case they can just go and buy their own camera and do it themselves.

[Colin Southern]

That's cool. They charge a lot round here to do it for you and they don't even take the pic. It must be time consuming to stretch a canvas, how long does it take? I can't imagine It takes more than an hour and if your working for someone else I expect they would like a hundred an hour.

It is possible to hire printers at less than couple of hundred a week, the ink is like a hundred or so, the canvas is the biggest drawback since it comes in rolls of 25 metres or so; but if you wanted FOUR canvases of A2 size, if it wasn't for the fact that you had to buy 25m then it would be about the same price as having them done professionally.

Cor, amazing.

Hi Steve,

The total price is really a combination of things ...

Time wise, if I'm doing a batch of 22 x 44" canvases then total time to print / spray / make the frame / stretch the canvas is around 1 hour per canvas because I can overlap various stages of the operation (print the 2nd & spray the first, and then make the frame while the spray is drying etc - otherwise if someone comes in with a 1-off special then 2 hours if I work fast (which is still better than the 1 to 3 WEEKS that my preferred framing shop used to take!).

As with anything though, it's comes down to investing and looking for a return. In my case I was paying $70 to have a 22 x 44 framed (I did the printing & spraying) - now I can do it for under $10 - but - it still takes time (and my standard rate for IT work is $120 per hour) - and I've had to invest in De Walt thicknesser ($1300) - Drop Saw ($600) - Orbital Sander ($300) - Drill ($275) - HVLP Spray setup ($450) - then liquid laminate (about $225 per 4 litres) - canvas ($330 per 12m roll) (2 rolls arrived this morning) - then you've got the printer (wrote a cheque for just over $10,000, including spare carts and some media) - then you've got the PC to run it (that was another $10,000) (but it's a nice PC ) - then you've got the time and materials spent making jigs to speed up frame manufacture - then you've got the time and materials that you write off whilst we're in "learning mode" (anyone who thinks that you "just hit print" is dreaming) - oh - almost forgot - don't forget to buy a photospectrometer for profile creation and a colorimeter for monitor calibration ($1000). And that doesn't include other stuff like designing and manufacturing systems to trap the chips and sawdust from the wood processing. And quite a bit more stuff that I've probably forgotten.

So if you're gearing up to do canvas processing / printing / framing and you can get the business then it's POSSIBLY a worthwhile investment - otherwise it's a LOT of money to tie up for the occasional print (and if you're just doing them for yourself then you'll quickly run out of wall space to hang them).

Hope this helps

[arith]

I like investigating business ideas I even investigated a helicopter intercity service running from top floor city car parks and decided that is heart attack country, gear boxes cost a lot but I got a bank and a city council interested before I jumped overboard, I should have been a con man but it proves I'm nuts.

This looks like the sort of thing you would do in a club, a printing club, where all sorts of people who require the occasional use of a printer could share one. A bit like a fitness club where people would go to chat, have a cuppa and print something for a monthly fee.

ps I already have run out of wall space

[arith]

Just had a look on the internet phew non there but it isn't a new idea.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmaking_society

I wonder if any printers have thought of it.

[Colin Southern]

Just had a look on the internet phew non there but it isn't a new idea.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmaking_society

I wonder if any printers have thought of it.

Perhaps the plan might be for you to buy it all, and then charge other to do prints for them

[arith]

That is a bit like a printer, the unique selling point here is that they are all clubs. I wonder if camera clubs do something similar, I heard my local one which is not local nor made up of locals get special deals for printing, but that is not doing it yourself.

Anyway I found a printer who is sending me a sample but he is a bit more expensive than the other one who after I complained offered to do it again if I return the old print which I can't because I did things with it.

[Colin Southern]

That is a bit like a printer

No ... that is EXACTLY like a printer!

[RichardMoore]

If you had problem spending time for calculations regarding your concerns on 24" x 16" canvas, then maybe I could suggest this one. 10x14 canvas print it cost very less rather than you were expecting. same result and less expenses.

[Steaphany]

Just had a look on the internet phew non there but it isn't a new idea.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmaking_society

I wonder if any printers have thought of it.

Yup, it's being done ! and it's not just stretched framed canvas prints !

Just take a look at:

http://www.imagekind.com/

http://imagewizards.net/

http://www.bayphoto.com/

http://www.blackriverimaging.com/index.asp

http://www.coloradotimberline.com/

http://simplycolorlab.com/index.php

http://millerslab.com/

http://whcc.com/

http://mpixpro.com/

http://acilab.com/

http://meridianpro.com/

https://www.pwdlabs.com/

Plus, They all offer international shipping. They aren't all "clubs", but they do allow photographers to put their effort into their photography and not worry about print production.