Printer suggestions, and wandering buttons?

[Former_Member]

Hi, all! My name's Summer, and my mom and I are teaming up to start a buttonmaking business here in Alaska. I have two questions I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me with.

First: We initially thought we'd stick with taking our button designs to a print shop to have them printed up, but we're beginning to think it would be more convenient/useful to print them at home. I'm not really sure what to look for in a printer, though. Printing the button designs would be the primary use. If it could also print everyday black & white documents, that'd be a nice bonus, but it's not required, as we can always get an inexpensive no-frills printer for that stuff if we need to. Both of our computers use Windows, if that's helpful. Do any of you have any recommendations for what I should ask the salesperson to help me find, or any specific printer recs?

Second: We're planning to primarily sell our buttons at craft shows and events, and my mom is really concerned about how to display our buttons in such a way that they won't "wander away" in people's pockets. I've found a lot of neat button display options from looking through this group, poking around on Pinterest, and just searching online, but I'm not really sure what might be the best direction to head in to make sure both that our buttons are displayed nicely and appealingly, and that the risk for button theft is minimized. What are your thoughts? Mom likes the idea of glass cases, which is fine with me, but I also know that as a buyer I'm more drawn to three dimensional displays where I can get up close & personal with the product.

Thanks so much for any wisdom/experience you can share. :)

Sincerely,
Summer

[Former_Member]

Meant to add: Price range on the printer is "within reason." Which is not super clear, I know, I apologize. Basically, we're willing to invest what we need to to get a quality printer that will suit our purpose. I think we're expecting around $200-maybe $300, but neither of us really know what the price range for a printer for buttonmaking would be.

[gollywollypodss]

Here is a fantastic group of articles on the pros and cons of different printer set ups, paper, and such for button making (and lots of other information and resources for button makers in general on the rest of the site). It won't tell you what to use, but it will make you a more informed buyer and it is great because it is from the unique perspective of a button maker with a physical store who has been doing this for many years.

http://buttonmakers.net/blog/category/paper-and-printers/

As for myself, I am looking to upgrade my printer, however I am currently using an HP Photosmart C4650 to print my images. It's not perfect but it was under 100 dollars and it was what I could afford to start up. I think my buttons come out great, and I have heard good things from sellers as well. What you /will/ want to invest in for sure is very bright, high quality paper made specifically for your printer. I invested in some HP Bright White InkJet Printer Paper (And I used the matching color profile setting on my printer when printing) and I noticed an immediate improvement in the crispness, brightness and color value of my buttons. Paper really makes the graphic stunning, not just the printer! ^_^

To answer your question about displays, I have seen several methods uses, but what I plan to use (because as a buyer I like it best) is to make a stand up board out of cardboard, cover it/ (or pad it and then cover it) with fabric and on there you put one of each of your buttons so people can see clearly each design and can decide which they want to look for in the bins beneath. In front of the board at the bottom you keep one (or several) of those clear plastic bead separating trays with 32ish small compartments and in each one store one design of button. Just cut off the top. You can still close it after, just cut the hinge to make it easier to use the bottom tray for display.

http://thinkcrafts.com/files/2008/09/zen1.jpg

You can get these from the craft section of walmart. The trays only hold about 5 buttons or so in each small compartment (leaving finger room for people to grab them out) so you will have to replenish them as you sell them, BUT it makes them available to customers to select themselves (I for one am too shy to ask to buy stuff out of cases and will walk past such items). This method also keeps you from putting large amounts of buttons out at once, without it looking like you are /trying/ to keep minimal amounts of stuff on the table (since people can clearly see that the compartments do not hold very much and thus look "full"). It also makes it look like you have a lot of designs available because the trays spread your buttons out over the table.
I've only been doing this for about 5 months, but I really hope I was able to help you ladies out! ^_^

[Former_Member]

Ooh thank you! Heading over to look at those links now! :)

[DorkyDino]

I currently don't print my own buttons, but I use my friend's printer and button maker and she has a nice laserjet printer. The images don't usually bleed if they get wet like they do with some other printers, so I'd definitely recommend that. I don't know any specifics on brand or model, though.

As for displays, I currently sell one-inch buttons and I use a craft sorting box like this: http://imgc.classistatic.com/cps/blnc/130201/812r1/6557h8n_20.jpeg
I'm not super concerned with people walking away with buttons because they are my cheapest product. (That being said, I'd still be very upset if someone did, but I keep an eye on my products while I'm at my booth.) I'm of the belief that if people can touch a product, they are more likely to want to purchase it.

My friend who I talked about earlier has a neat way to display her larger buttons. She cuts long pieces of ribbon and pins the buttons to the ribbon, then either hangs them or lays them across the table. It works really well!

[DorkyDino]

Like Laura said, I'm also usually too scared to ask for things out of a case, so it could lose you potential customers, especially on impulse buys. (Which all button purchases are, right?)

[Former_Member]

I have a Xerox Phaser 6010 and I LOVE it. It's a color laser printer. The colors are so vibrant! I could tell the difference between my HP Officejet Pro and this printer immediately.

[PandaLoveShop]

I have a color laser printer, HP 1525nw, that I use with premium bright white paper. The expensive part is refilling the toners but it's been a great investment.

[Former_Member]

I just have an Epson CX series 3-in-1 laser printer-scanner-copier, and I got it for under $100 about five years ago. The only problems I've had with printing out badgesvon this have been traced back to my own slacker work, on occasion --most of the time, though, I can be a perfectionist. The resolution for scanning things in has been a guessing game, until recently, and some of my scans fro. Last year has been big enough that things actually look blurry, or you can suddenly see printer lines on there when the badge looks fine.

As for displays, I go to music festivals a lot, to sell mine, and what works best for me is to stick single badges of each design into a large corkboard (add more boards if you have more designs) and keep the stock in a tacklebox or two. It can be a bit of a task, at first, but after I get settled in and into a rhythm for it, no-one seems to notice. I got the idea from a punk boutique I used to work at, which had all their badges under the glass case by the register.

[Former_Member]

Two valid questions, but the best answer is whatever works for you. However, you want to make sure that the buttons are quality buttons. In this business the only thing that makes a quality button is the quality of your printed image. So If you are a start up and you are tight on funds just take the time and go to a print shop. Why? Because you'll want to familiarize yourself with the new venture; you don't want to invest so much money and it doesn't work out for some reason or another. You should make your button images in such a way that maximizes your print outs. Depending on the button size[i.e 2-1/4"] your making you can lay out the images on a 8.5x14(legal size)paper maybe 3 columns by 5 rows of different designs and go to a place like Office Depot and print one sheet @ 59 cents each that will give a button print for only 4 cents per button. Not bad at all when you factor that into your profit margin.

And as far as displaying in a craft show, for security since it's you and mom just cover each other's back while one is addressing customers the other is providing surveillance. A simple ideal is to lay your buttons down on some construction paper, use different colors for different themes.

As you get more and more familiar with the biz, you will improve on those things that works for you and learn from those that didn't. But the general rule of thumb I like to use is keep it simple and/or cheap and use and/or re-purpose what I already have at home.