I need some guidance. Please guide me.

[8ball]

I need some guidance,
I have been asked to display some of my photos for sale in a local Ale house.

Where I need guidance is how should I display them.
I dont want to loose money so I don't want to be spending $15 on a decent frame and only selling the photo for $20.

Do I sell the frame with the photo or just sell the photo and keep reusing the frame?

Also I was wondering should I just do a matte board style?
And this is kind of a stupid qustion but how do you hang that up if its just on matte board?

Has anyone done this and if so what did you do?

Thank you in advanced!

 

[mwcfarms]

When I figure out my prices I factor in the price for developing, the frame, the houses commision, and then I double that and round to the nearest dollar.

 

[ann]

There are several ways to do this, one is to sell just the print without a frame; which of course allows you to reuse the frame in the future. However even with a frame the photo needs to be protected from the glass which means a window, which then means a backboard. Doing this for $15 dollars is probably not realistic.

You could get some mat boards with a window at various art stores, and print the images to fit the pre-sized window. This does away with having custom cut windows made; however , the placement of the window is pre-determined for you as well as the size. You could hinge the photos on the board, placing the window over the print, use a piece of glass and use swiss clips to put it all together. The swiss clips will be cheaper than a frame and re-useable.

Here again, you could sell the image without the window and backboard or remove the glass and swiss clips leaving the customer with the rest . Swiss clips can be found a art stores, or framing centers.

I am a big believer in the way we present our work reflects our respect for the work and there is nothing like screaming cheap that sends folks away.

 

[tirediron]

When I figure out my prices I factor in the price for developing, the frame, the houses commision, and then I double that and round to the nearest dollar.

plus the cost of the image; I use a 40% mark-up.

For me: Basic image price $50 (8x10)
Matte: $12.50 (my cost ~$8.80)
Frane: $28 (my cost typically around $18-20 for a plain, black (or suitably coloured pre-made display frame)
Commission: $XX (typically around 25%; I don't mark this up)

Price on the image: ~$110

 

[mwcfarms]

Yes I forgot the picture itself in my prices but my pics are generally a bit bigger at an 11 x 14 or a 12 x 18 with either double matte white or double matte black frames I pick up at my developing place and they cost around 40 to 45 bucks. My prices for those sizes are inbetween 175 to 180 ish to 200. My canvas wraps are priced a bit different since they cost more to make up. I do however have a colleauge who makes his own frames, no glass and mounts his pics on gatorboard with a crystal liquid coating for protection as opposed to glass. That usually cuts down the price of his larger prints vs mine. If I only knew how to make frames.