greatings cards

[IFGL]

We have a couple of wide format Epson inkjet printers, a vacuum cmc with creasing tool (roller) with the ability to see crop marks and cut to them.
What I want to do is print large sheets of greeting cards, then get the cmc to crease and cut them, what I can't seem to find is big flat sheets of card suitable, my printer will take a full sheet of jumbo mount card.

Does anyone know of anything suitable?

[stcstc]

the issue you going to have is you printer wants coated media

which firstly is expensive, secondly not designed for what you want

how many are you thinking about doing of any 1 card in a run

or how many cards in total all the same size

i would thing your cmc is NOT the best thing for doing the creasing either

you can buy a proper creaser for 2 or 300 which will be quicker and more accurate than you val will be

the cost per print on coated media will be to much
i would either sub out to local digital press printer, on a2 or a1 stock and then trim etc yourself

or buy a sra3 oki and print, the cost per print on an sra3 oke is about 10p+stock ish

[IFGL]

so long as the designs are the same size, I can tell the rip to print however many of whatever design on a page, the creaser is not a drag type like a debosser, it rolls, so won't damage the paper.
you are right about the cost though, any paper I have found so far is expensive.

might have to look at buying a different printer like you suggested, the print side of the business seems to be growing very fast.

[Glimpse]

I'd sub the lot to a printer who will print, guillotine and score the cards to a high standard. Any printer would be able to do this cheaper and to a better standard than your equipment will allow.
I run a print and design business and farm out loads of this type of work, it's just not worth investing in the equipment if you can buy the work in cheap and still retain good margins.
I do a lot of greetings cards - particularly at Christmas. Bigger runs (say 500 plus) tend to be litho, and short runs are digital. Quality is superb and a gloss laminate can be applied to increase quality/feel. I tend to use 350gsm silk artboard for cards.
The beauty of digi is that you can have a run of say 500 units, split 20, 30, 40 or 50 sorts without affecting the costs.
Pm me if you want me to out you in touch with the guy I use, quick turnaround and they only charge 5 or 6 quid for corier delivery...

[Abacus]

Ifgl, what sort of printing are you doing? I've never done printing, and I'm seldom asked for it, but I'd like a sideline to framing and I've got a few quid to invest, and I'm a quick learner so it could be an income generator.

[IFGL]

It's big inkjet printers or giclee as it's known. We get a lot of local artists and photographers and some not so local, we try to sell the images as mounted, backed and bagged prints, we also get plenty of extra framing from it too.