Paper

[Martin Beacon]

I am trying to find a way to put photos on to a home printed calender.
Could someone help in finding the best way to do this and what sort of paper should I use.
I will probably be upgrading my printer soon and could use some guidance here too.
Tks kindly

[blackmarlin]

Hi Martin, I did the same thing last year, you can see some of my results in my gallery. All the shots were my own work and I put the calendar together in Photoshop. I used photo paper bought from Aldi for the sheets, good quality paper at a reasonable price ( 50 sheets for £4.99) It gives excellent results and is heavy enough to hang well. bought a budget binder from partners and my wire bindings also came from there. £20.00 for the binder and £20.00 for the wire bindings. The big expense came with the cutter used to cut out the half moon to allow the hanger to pass through the pages, I bought a Renz TC 120, not cheap at £80.00 aand a hundred hangers at £28.00. As you can see I have had lay out about £150.00 to get the equipment to make the calendar.
My printer is a canon IP 3000, this is very economical on ink, the three colour cartridges are £10.00 from Tesco and The black is £5.00, these lasted long enough to do 5 calendars on A4 sheets (14 sheets per calendar) using borderless printing. Oh and I made the calendar part of the print in Microsoft Excel. The good thing about this was the calendar sold very well, I printed 40 off and sold them all. I have already started work on 2008's calendar and I am already taking orders. If you wish to find out more pleas send me a message and I'll be glad to help.

Alan Holland

[Martin Beacon]

Tks Alan,
Great shots in your gallery, especialy your b&w work I would like to see how the calendar looks complete. Is it possible to do without the binder and go for a quality stapler?I'm sure I have seen some calendars with just staples.
Martin

[blackmarlin]

Hi Martin, A stapler will do if the calendar is for you, but if you are doing a few copies for other people then I would say it must be bound. The real problem with binding is cutting the half moon accurately and the punch that I have bought was really the only alternative. The Canon printer is the best choice on the market both for cost and quality, whichever one you go for you must make sure that the printer has seperate cartridges. This may seem expensive initially but works out a lot cheaper in the long run. By the way what subject matter were you going to use for your calendar.

Alan