It’s nearly Halloween here in the USA, which means the Christmas merchandise has been in the stores for at least a few weeks now… I am a bit tarnished when it comes to the commercial element of the holidays, mainly caused by the years and years of working in retail and in malls, it tends to bring out the best, and unfortunately the worst in people.
I prefer doing something a little more personal for gift giving, in the past I have created my own Christmas cards for my friends and family, hand drawing and painting each separate one then giving them out, I never had a specific number of them to make, I would just make as many as I could and hand them out to ever increasing circles of friends until I didn’t have anymore to give away.
I think this year I’m going to do something with my photos that I have worked on for the last couple of years. I have been picking the best scenic photos, editing them and uploading them to a printing service (https://www.moo.com) to print out as post cards. I decided on them because I can do small runs, and can even do multiple images per pack, all the others that I have found require one image per pack and for now, I don’t need 100+ of the same post card, at least not yet.
I am pretty excited about this, not only to give out as Christmas cards, but to sell in town. I live near 3 different towns that rely on tourist dollars, there seems to be a great need for inexpensive souvenirs for the tourists, something they can pick up for their friends and family back home that will remind them of their trip to the towns here. I have seen a few attempts by the locals here to print and sell post cards, when I look at what has been available at random times (nothing consistent), I believe I have a real opportunity. I just need to get this off the ground before it gets much closer to the holidays, that’s when the gift shops in town will be looking to buy from local artists.
I am including some samples of my photography here, they are lower quality than the originals and they have a watermark, some are not fully edited and ready for production. Once I get my first run printed, I’ll post images here of those cards.
If anyone reading this has had any experience with this print company (moo.com), or another print company, I would love to hear your experiences.
What are you doing to celebrate the holidays? Do you create gifts or do you buy them?