How to Make Art Prints in Your Home Studio
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I have debated for quite some time if I wanted to reproduce my original paper quilts and what time and financial investment I wanted to make. Investing in a printer honestly felt daunting, and I wasn’t sure how to start. I looked at artist papers online and asked friends if they had printers. Most artists I know send their images out for print, but some home printers I saw online looked like they were printing high-quality work.
I took the plunge a few weeks ago and bought the EPSON ET-8550. I also bought several papers and found two that I will continue using for different goals. The printer can print up to 13” x 19” with no border, although my primary goal for art prints is to stay smaller (primarily for cost and shipping right now). My primary goal is to print smaller acid-free images of my large paper quilts. Purchase this printer through amazon here.
Epson printer in the art studio with printed marketing materials on matte presentation paper (see below).
For the artist prints, I wanted something specifically designed for art prints, matte in format with no gloss or shine and preferably with a slight texture. I stayed away from cardstock (for this purpose but also tested), avoided photo paper, and looked for acid-free or rag materials.
Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper
This paper is, so far, my front-runner for art prints. I went through a lot of color testing and wanted to get some color correction right (and also tried all the print and printer control options from photoshop). This paper has a nice texture on both sides. It was a bit hard to determine the “right” side of the paper, but I think I am printing correctly now :) The size I selected was 8-½” x 11,” and then I am cutting down to 8”x 8” for one of my square prints. I noticed amazon is now out of this paper, so I think purchasing directly through the EPSON paper store is the only option. Here is the EPSON shop. I bought mine on Amazon.
EPSON Velvet Fine Art Paper
Epson Matte Presentation Paper
This paper is more like smooth (but not shiny), thicker printer paper. It’s heavier than printer paper but not as heavy as card stock and very smooth. This paper is ideal for having nicer quality prints (not for sale) but for printed works highlighting new work. I plan to mail out info on new paper quilts to some of my mailing lists on this nicer paper. It’s not quite formal, but the quality is high enough to share (but I wouldn’t sell any of my work with it). It’s more like super-quality printer paper. I bought 100 sheets of this, which I will quickly go through. Purchase this paper on amazon here.
EPSON Presentation Matte Paper
I also tested a few cardstock options but didn’t like the first few I tried, so I’m not sure if I will select any more to test out. I did a LOT of testing, and getting a good color reproduction was worth the time and effort.
The first print of my “Fire and Earth” quilt is now available in my shop. I plan to slowly roll out additional prints as I test more colors and papers. I hope to find a long-term paper that’s easier to find and is less than $2 per sheet (because the cost of the printer and ink was a significant initial investment. I have a couple more papers coming this next week and will add those to the list once I do testing.
Print of “Fire & Earth”
Questions? Let me know in the comments. If you have paper recommendations, I would love to hear them!