Hello everyone!
Hope your Holidays are going well! In looking toward the New
Year I have been trying to come up with some different ways to
make up some earring and hanging tags for jewelry. Currently I
have been making them up on my computer, however, I would love to
have a little more of a professional edge. Any leads?
Much Thanks
Kat
Kat, I don’t know how “professional” it is, but I make my earing
cards out of water color paper that I paint on. I paint on the
whole sheet first and then cut into the cards. I then sign each
card. Maybe not professional, but definately attractive.
***Kirsten in PA
Hi Kat: Try Rio Grande they have some nice Deco looking earring
cards , they are genereric so you might have to cut them in 1/2
as they can be used for pins also, they probably have others in
their catalog. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I’ve been thinking along the same lines. Currently I have pin
and earring cards which I’ve laser printed onto colored paper
and glued to a heavier bristol board. (I’ve thought about doing
coklor printing on the inkjet, but the ink is definitely not
lightfast or water resistant.) I pin them to a display backed
with fabric covered foamcore. I’ve been looking at the
commercial cards with the curled edges which hook onto a
display; perhaps even a space-saving rotating one. I figure I
could print a facing card and glue it onto these just as well.
But they seem easily jostled and spilled. On the other hand I
get sick of all the pinning and unpinning customers do. Makes
holes; looks sloppy.
Just musings from someome thinkng about the same problem.
Janet Kofoed
I have an excellent method of making professional quality, color
earring cards. First, buy your choice of die cut earring cards
from Rio or wherever you like.
Next, buy the Riso Print Goco. This is a Japanese “toy” made
for printing your own cards, T-shirts, etc. It’s basically a
silkscreener that makes screens using flashbulbs instead of an
emulsion process. It costs about $88.00 plus supplies. You can
buy it at Pearl Art and Craft in the states, they have a catalog
and locations in many cities. I have also seen it in large
Japanese grocery stores/mini-malls. Rio used to sell it – oh,
they still might – in the tools catalog, as the “Rio Mulit
Etch.” Same thing.
The Print Goco allows you to print multiple colors all at the
same time. So your earring card can feature your name in one
color, your motto in another, etc. There’s a video available at
Pearl on how to use it, and Rio may still sell theirs too. It’s
very easy to use, I’ve even had groups of children use it.
It you want you can also use it for making T-shirts.
Supplies you need:
extra flash bulbs
ink for cloth
ink for paper
extra screens
tools for applying ink
paper towels
scrap paper
That’s it. I encourage everyone to buy the Print Goco. I’ve
had mine for 5 or 6 years. I’ve used it for making custom gifts,
with youth groups, for earring cards, pendant cards, and I’ve
even printed custom show postcards with it. Sure you could have
things professionally printed, but with this, you have complete
control and flexibility. Need new earring cards with product
info. for a new style of earring? No problem. You can print
them the night before the show.
You could buy color photograph postcards with your address on
back, then use the Print Goco to print show for a
specific show on the back. Cool, no?
Oh, the parent corp. is in Danvers, Mass., USA. They can refer
you to a local vendor, though they won’t sell to you. And
locally, one business machines store has added Riso’s line of big
office size stencil based “copiers.” They also sell Print Goco
and supplies, so there’s another lead for you.
Does anyone else use Print Goco?
Good luck, all.
Elaine
Chicago, Illinois, USA
where the salt trucks are turning all the cars into a horrid, dirty white
mess.
Greetings… I was wondering if anyone has tried the new high
quality ink jet printers such as the new HP 2000. Each ink color
is individual, so the cost is lower, plus one can use ink jet
business cards and fold them to use as display cards. I think the
cost will be low , but the main benefit is you control the
production, so you don’t make more cards than are needed.
Life is good!!!
Great Idea! Have you tried the Hyrus line of WC? They seem to be
more of an ink , and they come in a liquid form. The colors are
very very intense and vivid. Check them out.
First, as far as earring cards are concerned, I hand-printed a
logo for myself on just regular typing paper with a caligraphy
pen. Next, I took it to Office Depot (Office Max charges a setup
fee,Depot does not) and selected business card stock and had
standard size business cards made. You can get plain white with
black printing like I did, or fancier cards for a fancier price.
I had them print my logo across the card, at one end, so the
card is sideways. When you stand the card, long end up, your
logo is right across the top covering about the top 25%. The
rest of the card is blank. If this is tough to visualize, I can
send you a scan of one and send it e-mail if you are interested.
A thousand cards costs about $25. Then , to put the earrings on
the card, I took a push-pin(plastic) and lined up the bottom of
the earrings just above the bottom of the card. Then I pierced a
hole with the pin. The holes come out perfectly round. It
works for just about every kind of ear wire except hoops, but I
can help with attractive ways to put those on these cards also. As
far as the display, It can be done with these cards without
pinning them to a surface. We took a dry-erase board, or any
other sturdy baord or backed picture frame will do. We then took
plastic joiners for wood paneling. They have a ridge on top and
one below. You then cut them in strips the width of the board,
and hot glue or epoxy them on the board spacing them with a card
in between for proper height. the cards then slip in between the
plastic joiners holding them securely, yet they are easily
removed and put back. They look nice displayed this way too.
If by now you are totally lost, please e-mail me for a better
description.
God Bless,
the other Donna
Kat,
I’ve only recently taken up earrings again, and needed to
display them, so what I did was to glue velvet cloth to some
stiff paper, then make a couple of loops for the wires to hook
to.
It’s a nice background for my knots, and while it is simple, it
doesn’t look plain at all. I write details on the back of the
paper and leave the front entirely to the jewelry.
Loren Damewood
Something I’ve done for earring cards–I had a rubberstamp made
of my logo. I cut the cards (with a paper cutter) out of heavy
art paper (I like cream color), stamp the logo on and emboss it
with embossing powder (available in every color and in glitters)
and a heat gun. I personally like brown or gold embossing powder.
You can also emboss with special pens. All craft stores seem to
have sections with supplies for scrapbooks. They have scissors
with fancy cuts, fancy punches and corner rounders (some of which
punch decorative corners), unusual papers, rubber stamps, stamp
pads and embossing powders. The sky is the limit for coming up
with an idea once you check out what is available. I also emboss
my logo on square stickers which I place on gift boxes for my
jewelry. Good luck!
Quick question for you. Where did you have your stamp made with
your logo? I love the look of embosing! Sounds like a very
creative presentaion!
Kat
My business card is a fold-over card printed with my colors and
logo on the outside and a line of print (whatever I want it to
say) on the inside. I have a tiny hole punch, and on the inside
I punch the two holes near the top for dangles and more to the
center for smaller earrings. I can use them with the card opened
in a display, or closed for wrapping or shipping. I also have a
tiny replica (21mm X 26mm) of the same fold-over card that I
attach to a gold thread and use as price tags and for
other pieces (necklaces, bracelets, pendants, etc.). Using these
cards for multiple purposes works quite well for me.
Trudy
Here are more ideas on earring cards and displays:
I use a divider to poke holes on the cards for the earring.
That way I can easily measure the distance I need between the
earrings so they don’t overlap on the card, and then (working on
a piece on foam core board) I poke both holes and several cards
at once.
To display your carded earrings, cover your board with a
velcro-type “loop” fabric and paste a velcro-type “hook” dot or
strip on the back of the card (preferably at the top). Rio sells
7 X 14 loop-side pads and self-adhesive hook-side dots or strips
(which you can cut to the size you prefer) which work great for
displays or sample trays.
Lastly, I, too, used a Print Gocco for years until production
warranted I spend more time making earrings. It worked great.
Okay, as a brush artist who dabbles in metal and stones:
instead of watercolor, try using water-thinned acrylic paint.
You can thin it down to the consistency of water color or
transparency, or use it almost as it comes from the tube or jar
for opaque color. Advantage? It does NOT run if it gets wet
(like at an outdoor show with tables, no shelters). Try it; bet
you’ll like it…you can do everything with it you can do with
watercolor, with the added plus of no running/smearing from damp
hands, rain etc. Sharon Holt aka @bootsie
You can get custom made rubber stamps at business supply stores.
I went to a small independently owned one in my area. People
often get signature stamps made at these places. They require a
camera-ready copy which is basically a good, high contrast black
and white drawing. I drew and lettered my logo freehand. The
stamp cost $20 - $25. I’ve gotten alot of mileage from
it–jewelry cards, stickers for boxes, return addresses on
envelopes etc. I would look in the yellow pages under stationary
or business supplies (possibly even under rubber stamps) and make
a few calls. Good luck!