Printing line sheets

Jewelry Discussion
1

Does anyone know how to make line sheets? I have purchased two
programs similar to Photoshop, however you can only put 6 pictures
per page with text. Because I have over 200 peices in my line I need
to be able to put a MINIMUM of 12 pics. per page…ideally 16 to
24. I would REALLY appreciate any useful on this topic.
I contacted a company that does them professionally and they told me
I would have to order a minimum of 1000 copies for $2000…this is
way more than I need and WAY more than i wish to spend.

Laura J. Designs
Laura Jackson

2

Laura,

I have purchased two programs similar to Photoshop, however you can
only put 6 pictures per page with text.

Why is it you can only put 6 pictures per page? Is it part of the
program?

Because I have over 200 peices in my line I need to be able to put
a MINIMUM of 12 pics. per page.....ideally 16 to 24.

If you used Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign (all Adobe), you
could put as many per page as you like. There would be a learning
curve with any of these programs, but once you learn them they are so
easy to use. You could check out any community college or adult
school in your area for classes. I’m about to do that for the
InDesign program.

I used to do all my line sheets in Photoshop or Illustrator, but
because my line sheets are about 30 pages long it was such a pain to
print. I had to open each page individually to print, and then
collate. What a pain! So, I imported all into InDesign, which is a
layout program. This way, I only have to open one file and print
once. However, InDesign is a little complicated, which is why I need
a class.

I contacted a company that does them professionally and they told
me I would have to order a minimum of 1000 copies for $2000...

I print my line sheets from my home printer. I looked into having
them professionally done, but like you, I discovered that it was
more than I wanted to spend and more than I needed. By printing them
myself, I have more freedom to change styles, prices, etc…
whenever I wanted. It is a little costly, but I only pay for them as
I need them, instead of a $2000 initial outlay. I also try to portray
my jewelry as actual size. I think it’s much more helpful for the
customers, they don’t have to try and figure out how big or small
something is.

I am also going to put these on the web as pdf files that they can
download, view and print on their own. This will hopefully save me
some printing $$ in the long run. I actually have one repeat
customer who has requested numerous copies from me and my rep. I
think we’ve sent her 5 copies over the past year, she keeps on losing
them! Hopefully, by having them on line it’ll help me to not send
multiple copies, we’ll see!

I hope this helps, let me know if you have other questions…

-Amery

3

Hi Laura- What program do you have and how large are the pictures
supposed to be-? Publisher or Photoshop should be able to do that for
you- at least 20 per page- 2x2.5 on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Maybe
find someone with access to the full version of Photoshop-maybe a
graphics art student or Kinkos. I think you should be able to find it
done for you for much less than $2000.

Good luck!
Margaret T.

4

A spreadsheet program such as Excell will work for a line sheet.

5

I wanted to get to the original message for this thread, to be sure
what you are asking. First off, there is no product “similar” to
photoshop. There’s Photoshop, and then there’s everything else. But
any art program will let you do what you want, if you know how. One
writer suggested InDesign, which I’m not qualified on, but it’s true
it’s made for what you want. Illustrator is, also. Paint Shop Pro and
Thumbsplus will let you print contact sheets. Even Dreamweaver or the
like could be used, in a pinch. All you do in photoshop is make a new
document, resize your pictures and copy and paste them into the new
document, and then add text labels. But Illustrator or InDesign is
more robust for the purpose - that’s what they’re made for…

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com

6 
I wanted to get to the original message for this thread, to be
sure what you are asking. First off, there is no product "similar"
to photoshop. There's Photoshop, and then there's everything else.

The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is in many respects
similar to photoshop, and it is open source and costs nothing. It is
what I use for all of my photo work and for designing graphics and
logos.

Lee

7

That’s not a bad looking program. However, I must reiterate - there’s
photoshop, and then there’s everything else. A good portion of why I,
and others, say that is because it is the industry standard. When a
professional graphics designer uses a 2d package, it is photoshop
first. And a good portion of that is so that everybody’s graphics
packages can talk to each other, and everybody understands each
other. I’ve used about 200 graphics programs over the years - no
exaggeration, all of them. I’m not so much enamored of photoshop as
realistic - it IS the standard by which all others are judged.

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com

8

Hi Lee:

Thanks (belatedly) for the on the rolling mill and maru
dai braids. I’m afraid I was given a little misin my
first metals class. Looking back, I should have just used my common
sense. Something softer than stainless steel won’t (can’t) leave an
impression in the rollers.

Anyway, my husband (a software engineer) downloaded GIMP for me. I
followed the tutorials but, can’t (for the life of me) figure out
how to make a gradated (sp?) background. We just got a great new
camera. It will take awesome shots of my jewelry and I would like to
add the fancy background that goes fades from gray to lighter,
lighter, lighter lighter. Any tips?

Thanks again
Kim

9 
It will take awesome shots of my jewelry and I would like to add
the fancy background that goes fades from gray to lighter,
lighter, lighter lighter. Any tips?

Many ways to skin this cat. Buy a piece of clay-coated
graduated-value paper from an art supply house, and shoot directly on
it. Or, buy a piece of non-glare glass, spray one side with flat
black paint, set up on the unpainted side, and bounce your overhead
light off the glass in a way which gives you the graduation (this is
what I do…you can check out examples on my website). Or, use the
same paint on a sheet of white paper and spray a graduating value by
decreasing the density of overlapped passes, put this sheet 6-8
inches under a clear piece of non-glare glass, and set up on the
glass, so that the paper is visible, but out of focal range (helps
to blur your graduation even more).

Gotta be more ways, these are the three I know will work. And for a
great article on jewelry photography, search the archives for a great
article by Charles Lewton-Brain on setting up an inexpensive photo
box.

Matthew Crawford
www.MatthewDesigns.com

10

Hi, Kim-

If you are going for that graduated shadow effect in your jewelry
photos, I think the best way to do it is with a drop shadow box a la
Charles Lewton Brain. I think it gives a depth that you won’t get any
other way. It’s the way I do my photos, and you can see them at

www.dosmanosjewelry.com

Setting up a drop shadow box does not need to be expensive or
complicated. Mr. Brain has published an excellent book and video on
the subject.

Doing a gradient is not difficult with the GIMP. The way I would do
it is to open your photo, and using the intelligent scissors tool,
select the background. Then delete the background. Open your layers
dialog, and create a new background layer beneath your photo. Working
on the new background layer, open your gradient fill dialog, select
the gradient you want, and select “linear.” Then place your mouse
arrow at the top of the background, and holding the left mouse button
down, drag it to the bottom of the background and release.

Feel free to e-mail me off-list if you want more info on either
drop-shadow photography or GIMP tricks.

Regards,
Lee

11

Hi, Kim,

I can’t tell you how to create a gradient in GIMP-- it is very easy
in Photoshop. In fact, if you want, I’ll email you a file. But–
no matter how nice the gradient looks on the screen, it doesn’t work
well for photgraphing, unless your pieces are a lot bigger than
mine, or you can put the background paper several inches away from
the piece. Otherwise, the little dots are visible.

You can buy a sheet of gradient background paper for $10-15 at any
of several on line photographis suppliers. Try
PHOTO TECH INC - VARITONE graduated backgrounds 1.800.525.6486 The sheets are 21x15 with
the gradient running the long way, but I cut them in half. They mar
easily, so they don’t last terribly long.

Last note-- for what it’s worth-- my photographer creates a gradient
by reflecting light off a sheet of plexi that the work sits on, with
a black cloth a foot or so below it. I’d love to try to set up
something like this, if I can ever clear out enough space for it…
(like that’s ever going to happen!)

Noel

12

Hi Kim,

followed the tutorials but, can't (for the life of me) figure out
how to make a gradated (sp?) background

…Also called a gradient. The gradient tool button looks like a
little box filled with a graduated tone. Here is a page on the GIMP
site that shows some gradients that come with the program–

http://www.gimp.org/resources/gradients/

But it looks like the default (black to white) will work for you. I
haven’t used this software program but assume you can adjust the
tones and the direction of the gradient however you like.

Another possibility is to purchase a preprinted graduated sheet,
such as the ones from TableTopStudio-store at

http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/clacri.html

C. Rose
Houston