I’ve been making some art themed stationery sets from my paintings. For the first sets, I had to outsource the boxes, printed envelopes and stickers. I made the tablets, notecards, and gift tags.
Now that I have a template for making the envelopes, I’ll start making those too. If I can find a local sticker-maker that has die-cut stickers, I’ll use the local source if it doesn’t cause me to need to raise the prices on my end product.
At the moment, the notepad stationery set leaves very little profit margin, but making the envelopes myself will help with that. As much as I’d hate it, I won’t be able to afford adding locally produced stickers if no one is able to do it for the price I paid via mail-order.
Printing
If it’s a notepad stationery set, then I’ll print the pages and the cover. Then cut them to size and cut a backer board for size as well. For the notecard sets, I’ll print the notecards.
Whenever I print anything, there’s usually some blank space left in the layout. Instead of just scrapping that white space, I add smaller cards, 2 or 3″ size. Then punch a hole in the corners after folding, tie on some string, and voila! Gift tags! These go into the sets, as well. Sometimes I’ll add them to print orders, too.
Why not? It’s a nice little lagniappe.
Binding the Notepads
First the cover and pages are printed, then cut to size. The backer boards are cut to size. Then it all goes into a stack with multiple notepads, all in the correct order.
I’ll put a heavy stack of books on top of it, with the binding edge slightly overhanging the edge of the table or countertop. Usually I’ll also put a heavy pan of rocks on top of that. This compresses all of the layers together tightly.
Then rubber cement goes on the binding edge. It can take a few applications with dry time in between. Once there’s enough on it to keep the pages from falling out of the notepads I’ll separate them into individual notepads.
Next is the finishing strip over the top binding edge to make it all look nice and neat.
Assembling the Sets
Once all of the parts are made or have arrived, it’s time to put it all together to make the final art themed stationery product ready to ship.
I make labels for the boxes, so it’s easy to tell what’s inside. Whatever artwork is chosen for the set will be the image on the box.
What do you think? I like to make a nice presentation for when the recipient opens the box. There’s a coupon for future orders tucked beneath my business card. And a gentle request for reviews.
I hate asking for reviews, but they honestly do help small businesses get found online easier.
Considering a Subscription Service?
Get a new artwork theme every quarter at a discount when you sign up for annual billing. This will not automatically renew, but I’ll include a renewal form in the final shipment.
If you prefer one format over the other, let me know and I’ll make sure to only send it that that format.
How to Buy?
Want to Buy a Set of my art themed stationery? Here’s the link to it at my online shop. I hope to have some made ahead to bring to the Ponca Color Fest this year. But I’ll only be there on the Saturday this time.
Leave a Reply