Limited Edition Prints

[avantime]

After closing my business over 18 months ago I have been doing my own painting / drawing again - working in pencil / graphite, oil and varnish. The drawings are on A3 paper and the originals are mounted up to about 22x18". The subject matter is architecture and landscape. My main question is what size signed edition you think I should do - I was thinking 50 per piece.

I am working out the costings to the trade - Signed print, mount and backing @c.£50 each (based on sale or return) and c.£75 each in a solid 40mm wide solid oak frame (coloured in off white). Do galleries double and add VAT? Do these prices seem ok?


I have about 30 drawings I intend to start to edition over the next 6 months or so. Any suggestions would be great!

Many thanks!!

[Graysalchemy]

The trade is awash with Limited editions at the moment. The public just don't buy them like they once did. You will probably have more successe selling originals.

If you are going to do limited editions do no more than 50, make them exclusive. You also need to mount them similar to the market leaders IMHO ie Washington green and Demontford. I mount a lot of originals and LE's going to the trade and they all have 3500m mounts with a 1400m mount on the top, per washington green. The art work is hinged to a backing board all in conservation standard and wrapped in crystal wrap. We also give generous borders of at least 90mm and a drop on the bottom, however this is dependent on the size as we try and be economical in use of boards ie 18 x 12" print will fit into a half sheet of mount board.

I would try and avoid sale or return as you will be paying for all the framing and printing with no expense to them, they will double your price and add VAT so effectively make more than you and carry no risk.

Best of luck if you need any assistance don't hesitate to PM me.

Alistair

[avantime]

Alistair

Many thanks for your reply. My prices include a 4"/4.5" off white thick mount. I am looking at the printing costs at the moment as it is the area I have least experience of.

The materials for the actual frames are less than £5.00 each (frame, glass & MDF) as I machine my own mouldings on a friends 4 head moulder from sawn oak. I may scale down the print size slightly to maximise yield from a sheet of mountboard.

Where is the best place for the crystal wrap? I assume it comes on a roll?

Many thanks!

[Graysalchemy]

Lion sell crystal wrap. I would use a 1400m mount over the top as well, it just sets them off a bit more.

[Jonny2morsos]

If you are looking for someone to print your images I can recommend Steve Meadwell at Artworks Repro.

http://www.artworksrepro.co.uk/giclee-a ... ction.html

Regarding mounts why not go for something a little different maybe a double incorporating a subtle grey shade next to the image. Personally I have seen too much of the extra thick + standard in Arqadia Hayseed that is bought by the pallet load.

No offence Alastair! I know it works for you.

[Graysalchemy]

How dare you I made no mention of colour

However knowing this market quite well and the dificulty of getting into galleries which are used to Washington Green and demontford, I know what they want and they want extra thick hayseed with a 1400m on top. Don't try fixing whats not broke. Coloured mounts add a distraction and an unnecessary barrier to a sale, you have got to remember that you are framing for a wider art buying public with many varying tastes and not a bespoke customer who you can advise face to face.

Anyway if you don't like hayseed you could always have minuet (no don't go there it is a PITA to cut)

[Vince442]

I can agree to a certain extent with you Alistair.

The Limited Edition prints I frame at present used to be with 2000 Minuet. Having only been in framing for 2 months, I thought it was me that was cutting the mounts wrong when I couldn't seem to get it to cut straight. Then I saw a thread regarding different mountboards and the fact that you had trouble with the minuet as well. It was a relief to me to hear that it wasn't me at fault. However, client still wanted smooth and not textured so settled on double mount 1400 minuet.

In galleries where they are displayed and sold to order, clients don't ask for the thicker mount and a lot prefer just the single 1400 mount. I would agree not to distract with a colour mount as this does restrict what people want.

Personally, knowing the models of how certain publishing houses work, I would never buy a print from them but we are all different and freedom of choice and all that but it doesn't mean that we have to fall into the mould and not fix what isn't broken. Afterall, where would anyone be if no-one ever did something new?

I am currently framing watercolours without mounts (yes there's one to keep it away from the moulding etc, but its not seen). People love it! It's not new but it is against the convention. Example below.

As for a printer, I can highly recommend a member on the forum framerpicture. Get in touch with him.

As for your print model, I would fine a single gallery who will work for you and where you can print to order. Frame up several prints and mount the others. Display in the gallery and print to order. That way, clients will let you know how they want them mounted/framed without extra expense to you. Also, negotiate the commission rate for the unframed and framed prints separately. (up to 50% for the unframed / but only 25% for the difference between the framed and unframed print.)

[Graysalchemy]

Yes Minuet seems to have a very dense core at the moment making it very difficult even with a cmc to cut.

I like your frames Vince . The colours work well with the painting.

[Vince442]

Thanks....

I have managed to secure a framer in residence at one of the local galleries with these frames. The subtle silver leaf on the frame edge needs some refinement and I will probably get some training on gilding at some point.

Some more below:

[David McCormack]

Hi Vince,
I like those frames too.
Are they hand painted?

[prospero]

Can't fault the quality of the work. But what is a great original doesn't necessarily make a good print. You have to choose your images carefully.

Also monochrome images are hard to sell as prints (unless your name is Picasso). People perceive them as somehow inferior to anything with colour. Sad, but true.

As for edition sizes, it's better IMHO to keep the numbers low and crank the price up. If someone won't pay £100 for what they want, chances are they won't pay 50 either. As Alistair said, the l/e market went down tubes in the mid-nineties. Publishers twigged that most open editions only sell in relatively small numbers so why not call them limited and charge ten times as much. Instead of doing a couple of new ones a year they were knocking them out as fast as poss. The edition sizes crept up until they were basically meaningless. It was - not to put too fine a point on it - sheer greed. Killed the golden goose.

But don't let me put too much of a damper on things. Some people have taste. But you have to give a lot of thought to marketing and presentation.

[Vince442]

Hi Vince,
I like those frames too.
Are they hand painted?

Hi David,

Yes, they are. Some colours I am finding are better to work with than others and even from paint tin to paint tin it can vary! I'm enjoying the learning and keen to do more experimentation with different finishes.

[Nearlygotitright]

Hello Vince

Very interesting moulding - what is it? Is it one piece or is it made up from two mouldings? Also where is the glass? I can't quite see from the pics whether it is at the front or in front of the slip. My wife is a painter and turns out quite a few watercolours so I'm very interested in possible new approaches to framing them.

[Vince442]

Hello Vince

Very interesting moulding - what is it? Is it one piece or is it made up from two mouldings? Also where is the glass? I can't quite see from the pics whether it is at the front or in front of the slip. My wife is a painter and turns out quite a few watercolours so I'm very interested in possible new approaches to framing them.

Hi
Its 3 mouldings in total. One that contains the thin window mount in between the rebate and the watercolour. This is then sat into the rebate of the 2nd moulding which is where the glass is, and the 3rd moulding is the outer one attached to the second.

[Framerpicture]

Hi Vince

I like the way you've stacked those frames ( and finished them!) whose mouldings are they?

[David McCormack]

You won't have any time for framing other jobs with answering all these questions about your stacked mouldings but I have another one too

How did you join the mouldings together? I did something similar on this post http://theframersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=7950

Just interested in the different methods folk use to tackle the same problem

[Vince442]

Hi Will.....Thanks!

They are Rose & Hollis - Sw9504 / A309 / A45. I trim the A45 down by 20mm because I can't find one that is deep enough for the A309 moulding otherwise.

David, I use the multimaster to join the mouldings together.

[avantime]

Many thanks for your thoughts and ideas. I've now sorted 5 drawings to edition - the pictures I have taken on my new SLR are fine to print from too.

I shall reply to various PM's that have been sent about printing. I've attached a picture of the first couple of sample prints ready to go out!