We Begin our Photo Enterprise

Rich gets lots of compliments on his photos and we have often discussed the idea of matting them and/or making greeting cards for sale.   With the annual arts and crafts fair coming up, we finally got ourselves organized, ordered photo paper, ink, mattes, backing, clear bags to slide them into, card stock and envelopes, and set out to have a little photo business on the side.   We were completely shocked when we seemed to have no trouble whatsoever getting the photos to print out just the way we wanted them, as we tend to have issues with any kind of project we undertake.  We even started out in plenty of time so we would not be rushing at the last minute (hard to imagine, I know).  

We were working steadily when we had the first glitch: although I had ordered what I thought was LOTS of ink, we started getting low when producing 8x10's.   Putting those on hold, we commenced to finish up the 5x7's and what we are calling "trios," custom made mattes with openings for three 4x6's.   We then moved to the greeting cards, which did not seem to be printing out in the right dimensions and didn't fit on the paper properly.  Okay, we don't need greeting cards this time, let's just work on the rest of the photos.  

What's this?!  We are completely out of cyan ink?  I thought we still had another cartridge!   Big mistake #1 shut down the whole process as there is no one on the island who sells the kind of ink we need for our photo printer.

Luckily, we had plenty of photos already finished, so we just had to get them matted and would still be ready for the arts and crafts fair.    Matting is easy and no big deal, just a little time consuming.   Next we had to put backing on the mattes for a more professional look.   This turned into a major hassle as Rich had to go to the store two or three times in the wind and rain to find the right glue to hold the backs in place.  Meanwhile, we discovered that the backs that were sent with the "trios" were just a little bigger than the mattes. Big enough to be obvious but not big enough to make cutting them down an easy task.   Of course, we did not order any extras.   Rich finally had to go back out into the wind and rain to get a box cutter, which eventually did the trick.  Whew.   

Whose idea was this anyway?

Yesterday we made our debut at the arts and crafts fair.    It's always a fun event with local artists and crafters and bakers and jam makers and knitters and crocheters selling their wares. We  had a lot of fun chatting with people, Rich got many compliments on his work, and we even made some money!  A great day, all in all.   Now we have to get back to work on the greeting cards and reorder some supplies so we can set up for Midnight Madness at the hotel on Dec. 12!   

The top seller was the photo we call "Fireweed Mountain," the first one above.   I am including a few more that also garnered positive comments from the crowd of shoppers.     Rich had a little trepidation about putting himself out there for public review but was constantly validated and encouraged to continue with his venture.   Nice!    Look for us in our retirement years hawking photos at your local flea market.   :)