It is much nicer (and cheaper in the long run) to do the printing yourself, if you're willing to go through the initial investment to buy all of the equipment and materials, and do some research, and maybe take a class or two on large format, high quality printing. We have owned a few printers since we've been in business. We used to print on the Epson Stylus Pro 9800. It was a great machine, but an old model. I think that model has been around for like 7 or 8 years now. I liked that printer, because you could pretty much feed anything into it, push the print button, and it would squirt ink onto it. Hopefully whatever you put in there was properly coated and ready for ink, but, the printer didn't care. Because of the age of the machine, though, it was alot of maintenance, and we just didn't want to keep up with it, since our business was growing and we needed more capacity anyway. Last year we upgraded to the much newer Canon IPF 8100. Boy, is that a machine! It prints approximately 4 times faster than the Epson did. It has nearly twice as many colors as the Epson, and you can REALLY see a difference in the print quality. This printer is amazing. Super rich, vibrant colors. Great, crisp detail. The only downside is the ink. $300/cartridge, and 12 cartridges adds up to large ink bill.
In short, if you have the start-up capitol to get a new printer, I definitely recommend the Canon IPF8100. Great machine. However, if you're a little strapped for cash, but you still really want to print your own stuff, instead of order the prints from a shop, I'd recommend checking out some local ads, maybe even check out craigslist for your area, and look up "giclee printer" or "large format printer" and see if someone in your area is selling a used machine. The art market has really diminished over the past few years, and there are quite a few print shops going out of business right now, and you may be able to pick up a great machine at a great price.
Once you do some looking, if you have any more questions about a certain type of printer, or about doing the printing yourself, please don't hesitate to give me a call, or shoot me an e-mail. Even if we're not doing your printing for you, we're still very happy to help anyone in the art community. And, now, for a quick shameless plug, if you try to do the printing yourself, but just decide that it isn't worth your time or trouble, check out our print shop. We offer some of the best prices on the net, and you're going to get personal 1-on-1 service from me (the owner).
Good luck in your search. I hope you're able to get your own printing going smoothly, and hope it works out for you. If you can do the prints yourself, it's always a benefit. Cut out the middle-man, and you're going to save a lot of money in the long run.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/40/40311-715dda8167abb793178d6abf7e8136fe.jpg?1734174718)
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/40/40288-4d5d7a8aa74ddfceb5fb82062d9b21be.jpg?1734174702)
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/38/38729-27329be54dcb93a3723bad97259e6428.jpg?1734172599)
