Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
I've been folding my greeting cards by squashing them down with a ruler. This was ok until I changed papers recently; I am sure that there is a better - a quicker and cleaner way - to fold them.

I found this page on scoring the cards: http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/greeting-card.html - but if you are making a lot, it will be too time-consuming - so I wondered if anyone had improvised a device to speed up the process and make a clean, professional-looking fold. I'm thinking about what sort of design would work and be feasible to make at home.

thanks,
Richard

____________
www.richardsmallfield.com 

   "The ark was built by amateurs;
   the Titanic was built by professionals."

I use a 'bone' tool (a tip from Martha Stewart). I couldn't find one 
locally, so found it on the internet a couple of years back. They 
work great.
Debbi

>Hi,
>I've been folding my greeting cards by squashing them down with a 
>ruler. This was ok until I changed papers recently; I am sure that 
>there is a better - a quicker and cleaner way - to fold them.
>
>I found this page on scoring the cards: 
>http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/greeting-card.html - but if you are 
>making a lot, it will be too time-consuming - so I wondered if 
>anyone had improvised a device to speed up the process and make a 
>clean, professional-looking fold. I'm thinking about what sort of 
>design would work and be feasible to make at home.
>
>thanks,
>Richard

Richard,

 

I don’t know how many you want to make in a given period of time but I have
a process I use to make a very professional looking fold that works with any
kind of paper. I used mostly gloss papers similar to the Epson Premium
Glossy Photo paper. My technique is as follows:

 

My card size is 8.5 x 6 inches which when folded is 4.25 x 6. Rather than
waste the remainder of the sheet, I use the remainder of the 8.5 x 11 sheet
of photo paper for printing business cards. After printing I cut the card
using a clean and sharp paper cutter. Folding the card is accomplished by
clamping a clean, straight piece of material (I use a piece 4 x 6 x ¾ inch
MDF) on a table with a piece of clean paper beneath it covering the working
surface of the table. I place the card with the image side down on the paper
with the short edge firmly against the block of MDF. Holding the card in
place with my left hand I use my right hand to curve the other edge of the
card so it contacts the block of MDF with the sides even to the rest of the
card and use my left hand to hold both edges in place. When it is perfectly
aligned I crease the card gently with the index finger of my right hand and
finalize the crease by running the metal portion of a Parker ball point pen
along the crease. This will take a bit of practice but it works well once
mastered. Although I’ve never timed it I’m sure that I can easily do 15-20
cards in about 10 minutes or so.

 

I hope that this is descriptive enough for you. If not let me know and I’ll
try to do better.

 

Regards,

Tom Maugham 

 

  _____  

From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard
Smallfield
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 4:01 PM
To: Digital BW Print
Subject: [Digital BW] Folding greeting cards

 

Hi,
I've been folding my greeting cards by squashing them down with a ruler.
This was ok until I changed papers recently; I am sure that there is a
better - a quicker and cleaner way - to fold them.

I found this page on scoring the cards: http://www.theartfu
<http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/greeting-card.html>
lcrafter.com/greeting-card.html - but if you are making a lot, it will be
too time-consuming - so I wondered if anyone had improvised a device to
speed up the process and make a clean, professional-looking fold. I'm
thinking about what sort of design would work and be feasible to make at
home.

thanks,
Richard

____________
www.richardsmallfield.com 

"The ark was built by amateurs;
the Titanic was built by professionals." 





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Tom,
thanks a lot for that. I'll re-read it later when I have a clearer head - but you've given me another idea that might work, too. 

thanks,
Richard

At 12:02 p.m. Thursday 26/03/2009, you wrote:

>Richard,
>
>I don’t know how many you want to make in a given period of time but I have
>a process I use to make a very professional looking fold that works with any
>kind of paper. I used mostly gloss papers similar to the Epson Premium
>Glossy Photo paper. My technique is as follows:
>
>My card size is 8.5 x 6 inches which when folded is 4.25 x 6. Rather than
>waste the remainder of the sheet, I use the remainder of the 8.5 x 11 sheet
>of photo paper for printing business cards. After printing I cut the card
>using a clean and sharp paper cutter. Folding the card is accomplished by
>clamping a clean, straight piece of material (I use a piece 4 x 6 x ¾ inch
>MDF) on a table with a piece of clean paper beneath it covering the working
>surface of the table. I place the card with the image side down on the paper
>with the short edge firmly against the block of MDF. Holding the card in
>place with my left hand I use my right hand to curve the other edge of the
>card so it contacts the block of MDF with the sides even to the rest of the
>card and use my left hand to hold both edges in place. When it is perfectly
>aligned I crease the card gently with the index finger of my right hand and
>finalize the crease by running the metal portion of a Parker ball point pen
>along the crease. This will take a bit of practice but it works well once
>mastered. Although I’ve never timed it I’m sure that I can easily do 15-20
>cards in about 10 minutes or so.
>
>I hope that this is descriptive enough for you. If not let me know and I’ll
>try to do better.
>
>Regards,
>
>Tom Maugham 
>
>_____ 
>
>From: <mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint%40yahoogroups.com>DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
>[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard
>Smallfield
>Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 4:01 PM
>To: Digital BW Print
>Subject: [Digital BW] Folding greeting cards
>
>Hi,
>I've been folding my greeting cards by squashing them down with a ruler.
>This was ok until I changed papers recently; I am sure that there is a
>better - a quicker and cleaner way - to fold them.
>
>I found this page on scoring the cards: <http://www.theartfu>http://www.theartfu
><http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/greeting-card.html>
>lcrafter.com/greeting-card.html - but if you are making a lot, it will be
>too time-consuming - so I wondered if anyone had improvised a device to
>speed up the process and make a clean, professional-looking fold. I'm
>thinking about what sort of design would work and be feasible to make at
>home.
>
>thanks,
>Richard
>
>____________
>www.richardsmallfield.com 
>
>"The ark was built by amateurs;
>the Titanic was built by professionals." 
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

____________
www.richardsmallfield.com 

   "Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close 
   they were to success when they gave up."
   --Thomas Edison


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Richard -- Yeah, the folding bone (e.g. http://www.custompaper.com/Shop/Tools/bonefolder.html) to make a crease on the inside of the fold and to press it down after is the artist's way to do it by hand (or find a paper with the fibers running parallel to the fold so you don't have to crease it). Not fast, but it makes a fine fold. For fast and easy, take them to a print shop to be folded. Or tear the edges and go with a ratty fold ;}

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Richard Smallfield <r.smallfield@...> wrote:
>Richard,

I use a matte cutter.  On mine I can set the cutting blade depth to just score the paper about half way thru.  I don't use less than a 215gr. paper.  This scoring should be on the outside fold side.  Once the paper is scored,  it will easily fold with a clean fold.  if the matte cutter has production stops  you can preset those and score a whole batch very effecintly.  I've compared the fold to pre folded cards such as Crane or Hahnemule and it appears to be identical. 

Cheers,
Mark

> Hi Tom,
> thanks a lot for that. I'll re-read it later when I have a clearer head - but you've given me another idea that might work, too. 
> 
> thanks,
> Richard
> 
> At 12:02 p.m. Thursday 26/03/2009, you wrote:
> 
> >Richard,
> >
> >I don't know how many you want to make in a given period of time but I have
> >a process I use to make a very professional looking fold that works with any
> >kind of paper. I used mostly gloss papers similar to the Epson Premium
> >Glossy Photo paper. My technique is as follows:
> >
> >My card size is 8.5 x 6 inches which when folded is 4.25 x 6. Rather than
> >waste the remainder of the sheet, I use the remainder of the 8.5 x 11 sheet
> >of photo paper for printing business cards. After printing I cut the card
> >using a clean and sharp paper cutter. Folding the card is accomplished by
> >clamping a clean, straight piece of material (I use a piece 4 x 6 x ¾ inch
> >MDF) on a table with a piece of clean paper beneath it covering the working
> >surface of the table. I place the card with the image side down on the paper
> >with the short edge firmly against the block of MDF. Holding the card in
> >place with my left hand I use my right hand to curve the other edge of the
> >card so it contacts the block of MDF with the sides even to the rest of the
> >card and use my left hand to hold both edges in place. When it is perfectly
> >aligned I crease the card gently with the index finger of my right hand and
> >finalize the crease by running the metal portion of a Parker ball point pen
> >along the crease. This will take a bit of practice but it works well once
> >mastered. Although I've never timed it I'm sure that I can easily do 15-20
> >cards in about 10 minutes or so.
> >
> >I hope that this is descriptive enough for you. If not let me know and I'll
> >try to do better.
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Tom Maugham 
> >
> >_____ 
> >
> >From: <mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint%40yahoogroups.com>DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> >[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard
> >Smallfield
> >Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 4:01 PM
> >To: Digital BW Print
> >Subject: [Digital BW] Folding greeting cards
> >
> >Hi,
> >I've been folding my greeting cards by squashing them down with a ruler.
> >This was ok until I changed papers recently; I am sure that there is a
> >better - a quicker and cleaner way - to fold them.
> >
> >I found this page on scoring the cards: <http://www.theartfu>http://www.theartfu
> ><http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/greeting-card.html>
> >lcrafter.com/greeting-card.html - but if you are making a lot, it will be
> >too time-consuming - so I wondered if anyone had improvised a device to
> >speed up the process and make a clean, professional-looking fold. I'm
> >thinking about what sort of design would work and be feasible to make at
> >home.
> >
> >thanks,
> >Richard
> >
> >____________
> >www.richardsmallfield.com 
> >
> >"The ark was built by amateurs;
> >the Titanic was built by professionals." 
> >
> >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> 
> ____________
> www.richardsmallfield.com 
> 
>    "Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close 
>    they were to success when they gave up."
>    --Thomas Edison
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

When AAubreyBodine.com started selling note cards, I made a "folding machine" that Jennifer called "the clapper".  I took two clip boards.  I cut the clip off one of the boards and then hinged the bottoms of the boards together.  

For folding a card, I would fold over the ends of the card to met, tuck them under the remaining clip, and whack the hinged part over onto the card to flatten the fold, all at once.  Then I used a "Martha Stuart" bone to tighten the fold.

After doing that 22,000 times, we got a Martin-Yale 929 folding machine.  (Which I still use for scoring.)

I had the paper stock precut to 10"x7" (grain short) to feed into my fleet of four CIS-equipped Epson 890s.  Two and a half minutes to print a card - 2 dozen per hour, times 4 for about 100 cards per hour production rate. Ink cost per card of about a half of a cent.

I do it all differently now - Xerox Laser print engine, electric paper cutter, Morgana folding machine - to produce 1200 to 2000 cards per month.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Richard Smallfield <r.smallfield@...> wrote:

>
> Hi,
> I've been folding my greeting cards by squashing them down with a ruler. This was ok until I changed papers recently; I am sure that there is a better - a quicker and cleaner way - to fold them.
> 
> I found this page on scoring the cards: http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/greeting-card.html - but if you are making a lot, it will be too time-consuming - so I wondered if anyone had improvised a device to speed up the process and make a clean, professional-looking fold. I'm thinking about what sort of design would work and be feasible to make at home.
> 
> thanks,
> Richard
> 
> ____________
> www.richardsmallfield.com 
> 
>    "The ark was built by amateurs;
>    the Titanic was built by professionals."
>

Richard:

I recommend a commercial product called "Score it" board. It could be  
made at home though.

It is a foot square board with a ruler on one side. In the middle of  
the board at 90 degrees to the ruler, it has a metal rule embedded in  
the board and about one sixteenth of an inch high above the board. It  
comes with a scoring rule and a stop guide. The rule is a wooden stick  
with a concave end that shapes the score. You position the card so  
that the metal rule is where you want the score, make sure it's  
straight, and run the scoring rule against the card, impressing the  
card into the metal rule. This is identical to the way scores are made  
in print shops ( I know, that's where I work).

Leslie Otterbein

On Mar 25, 2009, at 2:01 PM, Richard Smallfield wrote:

> Hi,
> I've been folding my greeting cards by squashing them down with a  
> ruler. This was ok until I changed papers recently; I am sure that  
> there is a better - a quicker and cleaner way - to fold them.
>
> I found this page on scoring the cards: http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/greeting-card.html 
>  - but if you are making a lot, it will be too time-consuming - so I  
> wondered if anyone had improvised a device to speed up the process  
> and make a clean, professional-looking fold. I'm thinking about what  
> sort of design would work and be feasible to make at home.
>
> thanks,
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Interesting to see how people have coped with the problem. It only seems to "become" a problem if you are dealing with more than a dozen or so at a time.

Of course you can buy the pre-scored greeting card papers from Red River, but when you discover that over 30 cents a card for paper is too much to handle at the volume you want to make them, then it's time to move from ink jet printing to color laser printing.

I've had great success with the Konica Minolta 2350 and 2550 printers. You can buy them for under $500 with a full set of toner carts (4,500 10% coverage)(the 2350 has been discontinued). Then experiment and find the paper that delivers the results you like the best. I then order the paper through a printer that has a scoring machine, cut and scored to my specifications. Costs me about 10 cents for a 7x10 sheet.

The 2550 laser printer cranks out about 4 cards every two minutes with the "heavy paper setting'.

I did make a custom printer profile with Spyder3 Print, and use Adobe Indesign.

John Nollendorfs

RE: using a laser printer

I have found the toner cost to be the least significant cost - the consumables include:
(1) transfer roller
(2) fuser
(3) imaging unit
(4) transfer belt
(5) belt cleaner

3,000 to 5,000 cards is enough to chew up a transfer roller and fuser.  Figure on adding about $0.15 cost per card for all these components.  Toner is only about $0.03 per card.

Also, I find the per cent coverage should be considered to be 100% over 50% of the paper.  Thus, the faster churn of the consumables than is typically quoted (5% for office documents with trival graphics).

The Xerox 7760DN can do 12 cards per minute.  But some lighter grays don't print as well - streaking, for example - but most B&W images look pretty good on a high gloss card stock like 10pt KromeKote Plus.



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "sinar001" <jnolly@...> wrote:

>
> Interesting to see how people have coped with the problem. It only seems to "become" a problem if you are dealing with more than a dozen or so at a time.
> 
> Of course you can buy the pre-scored greeting card papers from Red River, but when you discover that over 30 cents a card for paper is too much to handle at the volume you want to make them, then it's time to move from ink jet printing to color laser printing.
> 
> I've had great success with the Konica Minolta 2350 and 2550 printers. You can buy them for under $500 with a full set of toner carts (4,500 10% coverage)(the 2350 has been discontinued). Then experiment and find the paper that delivers the results you like the best. I then order the paper through a printer that has a scoring machine, cut and scored to my specifications. Costs me about 10 cents for a 7x10 sheet.
> 
> The 2550 laser printer cranks out about 4 cards every two minutes with the "heavy paper setting'.
> 
> I did make a custom printer profile with Spyder3 Print, and use Adobe Indesign.
> 
> John Nollendorfs
>