Printing Bookmarks (lots of problems)

[flawless surface]

I sell my art at conventions, and I wanna make bookmarks and sell those too, but I have loads of problems.

1) I want to print them so that there's a picture on the front and the back, but I don't know how to work the computer so that it'll print aligned. Help?

2) I want to print them on card stock but my printer leaves white blotches and the ink bleeds a bit when it prints on card stock. Can this be fixed or does my printer just suck and I can't do anything about it?

3) Concerning #2, if I printed them on printing paper and then got them laminated, would that be a pretty good thickness, and would it look professional or would it be tacky...?

4) Is there a more professional way to make bookmarks in general...? I see some people getting their bookmarks made on leather and stuff. HOW...!?

5) How much would a bookmark cost? I'm thinking $2 each.

Thanks so much!

[Albino Sea Monkey]

1. There should be an option in the program your printer came with to print front and back aligned. Since I don't know what kind of printer you have, I can't look up the manual for you.

2. Sounds like you either have a crappy printer or you're buying the wrong kind of cardstock. Make sure your cardstock is compatible with the kind of printer you have (either laser or inkjet).

3. Eh. It depends on how well the laminate job is. I find that a lot of the time they look tacky. Laminated items remind me of gradeschool where things had to be easily cleaned and wiped off. haha

4. I think the most professional looking bookmarks for what you are putting on them are the ones printed on plastic. You know... the ones that feel like thin credit cards? Yeah. I have no idea where you could get those printed though.

5. Depends on how nice your art is and how much your supplies are. You obviously want to at least break even on what you spend. $2-$5 sounds reasonable to me, depending on the quality of both the art and the bookmarks themselves.

[flawless surface]

Albino Sea Monkey

1. There should be an option in the program your printer came with to print front and back aligned. Since I don't know what kind of printer you have, I can't look up the manual for you.

2. Sounds like you either have a crappy printer or you're buying the wrong kind of cardstock. Make sure your cardstock is compatible with the kind of printer you have (either laser or inkjet).

3. Eh. It depends on how well the laminate job is. I find that a lot of the time they look tacky. Laminated items remind me of gradeschool where things had to be easily cleaned and wiped off. haha

4. I think the most professional looking bookmarks for what you are putting on them are the ones printed on plastic. You know... the ones that feel like thin credit cards? Yeah. I have no idea where you could get those printed though.

5. Depends on how nice your art is and how much your supplies are. You obviously want to at least break even on what you spend. $2-$5 sounds reasonable to me, depending on the quality of both the art and the bookmarks themselves.

1. Well I know how to print on the front and back in general, but what I'm having trouble with is if I want 3 bookmarks on a sheet of paper, how could I arrange them on the document so that when they print on the front to back, I could cut them out and they wouldn't be shifted on one side.

2. Oh it might be that I got the wrong kind of cardstock. I didn't even check that when I bought it ._.

3. LOL Yeah it does look lame a lot of the time! But I saw some people do it so I wasn't sure if it was that bad.

4. OMG Yess I wish I could get my bookmarks on plastic like that. But yeah, no idea how to get that done.

5. Well it wouldn't be hard to break even. I mean what's a few card stock papers and some ink.

Anyway thanks :] You've been a huge help.

[kwahoo]

Sounds like you need to clean your printer head. You should be able to do this through your print utility. Also, with the bleeding issue, there is normally a way to tell your printer what kind of paper you are using. You might get better results if you set it to card stock.

The kind of bookmarks you see in places like bookstores are typically printed on a professional press and have a UV coating on them. This can get expensive for small batches though (like less then 1000).