ART SUPPLIER REVIEW - Canvas Champ

Convention season is in the air and that means many artists are looking for quality canvas printers to print their wares so that they have a nice premium option on offer for their customers that prefer something more substantial than a photo print.

Ordering Canvas Prints - A Brief History

However, printing can be tricky and it's difficult to know which online place to trust considering the massive amount of canvas printers out there!  One must also consider whether to buy unstretched rolled canvas prints (which is usually the cheaper option) that will need to be stretched over frames requiring you to buy the frame pieces separately OR pay the same printing service to stretch the print around a frame for you, which is usually the priciest option.

Personally, I do not like the tedium of having to stretch canvas across frames myself. That's time I'd rather spend painting, which is why I wanted to find a good source for stretched prints.  If you're into the rolled option, however, definitely check out this video tutorial that will teach you how to measure and stretch the canvas.  The source I use for stretcher bars was dickblick.com.

REVIEW: CanvasChamp.com

The Ordering Experience

I decided to take a chance on canvaschamp.com.  Their Amazon reviews were very positive and while I did not require the help of customer support, their reviewers talk highly of how fast they respond to inquiries.

Their interface for uploading work is top notch!  Their preview system allows you to easily add mirrored or solid edges for gallery wraps.  Lamination and multiple hanging options are offered at an additional cost, with the default option of metal hangers provided for free.  I recommend getting lamination wherever you order from since the corners of canvas wear away easily if they are not sealed.

The only red flag is that they accept refunds on a case by case basis and state in their Terms that they do not usually offer refunds if colors come out incorrectly because they have faith in their high quality equipment to produce the right colors.

UPDATE 6-22-2015 - The Refund Experience

There was a print with a damaged corner in my second batch of canvas prints.  I sent photos of the damage to customer service and they had replied and shipped out my replacement print within 24 hours!  They were courteous and fast and it was very easy to open a refund case by going to my order history and clicking a link on my order.

Also, I got to keep the damaged print instead of having to pay to send it back,which was a relief!  I was very impressed by the speed and effectiveness of their customer service.

The Product

I ordered an 18x24 inch pre-stretched canvas print of my Kushiel's Dart piece.  It arrived in a well packed box which I intend to re-use to send this looks like it will stand up to reuse.  The print is tidily stretched with a masonite board backing in addition to the standard wood frame.  They included screws and a guard to cover the hanging materials so as not to damage your walls.

Printing Quality

The printing quality is top notch!  I lightened my art in Photoshop using Levels as prints usually come out darker when printed and laminated.  My only complaint is the print seems less saturated than I would like, but I believe I can fix this by also upping the color saturation on my art the next time I order.  All in all, the printing is high quality and clear!

The Verdict = Highly Recommended!

Canvas Champ provides an affordable price with good quality printing and fast shipping.  My print was shipped from overseas via Next Day airmail and it was on my doorstep within 4 days.  Other services I have used include BestofMaineCorp, which was cheaper by comparison, but it doesn't measure up to the fast shipping, fast turnaround, responsive customer support, and intuitive interface of CanvasChamp.

Don't forget to sign up to the CanvasChamp newsletter as well where they frequently send out coupon codes. EDIT: Looks like Groupon has a promotion going on with Canvas Champ as well here! https://www.groupon.com/deals/canvas-champ

Referral Link

They've added the ability for users to refer others!  You can now try this service and get 85% off plus free shipping on your first order by using my referral link.  Happy printing, everyone!

REFERENCE SET - Seated Nouveau Lady PACK 1

More Art Nouveau themed stock for your classical portraits!

This is a stock reference photo resource available for FREE personal use or for commercial use for a minimal fee. Download the personal-use photos or purchase high res and commercial-use images at the links!

The image pack: 
http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/art/Seated-Nouveau-Lady-PACK-1-414411981 

The single images: 
http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/gallery/49441633/Seated-Nouveau-Lady

See my full gallery of reference photos here: 
http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/

Want to help me keep creating resources for artists? Donate over at my Patreon page!
www.patreon.com/themuseslibrary

REFERENCE SET - Seated Nouveau Lady PACK 3

This is a stock reference photo resource available for FREE personal use or for commercial use for a minimal fee. Purchase high res and commercial use images at the links!

The image pack: 
http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/art/Seated-Nouveau-Lady-PACK-3-461509409

The single images: 
http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/gallery/49441633/Seated-Nouveau-Lady


See my full gallery of reference photos here:
http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/

Want to help me keep creating resources for artists? Donate over at my Patreon page!

REFERENCE SET - Veiled Nouveau Lady PACK 2

This is a stock reference photo resource available for FREE personal use or for commercial use for a minimal fee. Purchase high res and commercial use images at the links!

The image pack: 
http://fav.me/d7n0tht

The single images: 
http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/gallery/49958371/Veiled-Nouveau-Lady

See my full gallery of reference photos here:http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/

Want to help me keep creating resources for artists? Donate over at my Patreon page!

REFERENCE SET - Veiled Nouveau Lady PACK 1

Veiled Nouveau Lady PACK 1 by themuseslibrary on DeviantArt

 

This is a stock reference photo resource available for FREE personal use or for commercial use for a minimal fee. Purchase high res and commercial use images at the links!

The image pack:
http://fav.me/d7mw5gp

The single images:

http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/gallery/49958371/Veiled-Nouveau-Lady

See my full gallery of reference photos here:

http://themuseslibrary.deviantart.com/
 

Want to help me keep creating resources for artists? Donate over at my Patreon page!
http://www.patreon.com/themuseslibrary

ART PRODUCT REVIEW - Etsy Card Reader

Etsy recently announced their own gadget for taking credit cards, but with a new twist from other card readers.  It's meant to sync with your Etsy shop and provide a branded smooth experience for your in-person sales.  I got mine in the mail yesterday (it's free if you request one) and put it through a quick test run.

Packaging

First off, their packaging was excellent, as I would expect from the premiere handmade marketplace.  I got a few ideas just from their clever and simple presentation.

Here's the envelope it came in.  I love the idea of a branded envelope sticker.

The reader itself came in a sturdy reusable custom cut box made of what looks like composite wood.  Again, I love the brand consistency of the reader and insert cards with the orange and white.

Extra bonus!  The box itself has a slot on the underside where you can place the card to make a stand up sign.  One side of the card shows that you take credit cards while the other side is a "I'll be right back." sign with a spot for you to write in shop's address.

The Nuts and Bolts

I ran two test transactions, one of an item which was already up in my online shop and another which was a new 'quick sale' item not already present in my online shop.

You will need to let the app access your location and your microphone.  Your location is recorded and inserted into the receipt e-mailed to the customer later on, should they elect to receive one.  The hub of the app looks like this on an iphone.

You can control your inventory from within the app, which connects to your online Etsy shop (ie. renewing listings, creating new listings, putting your shop on vacation, checking orders, etc.).  The app is available for both Android and iOS markets, but not for the iPad, oddly enough

Be aware that a minimum $1 transaction is required for a customer to use a credit card.  You can also set your sales tax rate in the Settings so that this is automatically calculated when making your sales.  The funds from your credit card are added to your Shop Payments account (the same place as your Direct Checkout funds), so you will need to wait the usual time for the money to be deposited after your sales.  This usually isn't more than a couple of days, in my experience.

When selling an item in-person that is also in your shop:

•  You choose the item in your online shop to sell in-person via a list.
•  The shipping fee is automatically waived when an item is sold in-person.
• The item is also removed from your online shop when it is sold, which will help save headaches on syncing inventory automatically instead of manually (ie. if you've ever had an item sell while you're out at an event and had to deal with the headache of explaining that it sold when you get back home).
• There is no Etsy transaction fee like there are for online sales, only the credit card processing fee, which is comparable to other readers (2.75%).

When selling an item in-person via a quick sale where you type in a brief description and cost:

• It is still counted towards your sold items stats, but only you as a seller can see those transactions in the Orders section of your shop.
• There is no transaction fee or listing fee, only the credit card processing fee.

Promotional Automation

Now here's the really powerful feature of this reader.  After you make your sale and get to the point at which you can offer your customer an e-mail receipt, there is a checkbox which is automatically selected (you have to manually deselect it). The checkbox says this:

After you make the sale and the customer elects to be e-mailed their receipt and is opted in to Etsy's updates about your shop, the customer will get an e-mail like this:

Location map blurred for privacy.

I've asked my test customer to let me know what kinds of e-mail he receives in the future so I can see just how often these e-mails are sent out and what kind of info they include.  I will edit this post with an update once I know more about these communications.

Why is this powerful, you ask?  The items suggested at the bottom of the e-mail offer the customer a tantalizing glimpse at your other items, some of which they might be interested in that you might not have had on display where they were shopping in-person.  Because these images actually link to the items, they encourage further purchases without the seller having to lift a finger.

This e-mail communication is a powerful addition to simply handing out a business card, since business cards are easily lost and most shoppers require repetition of information before they truly retain that information.  So far, this is the only e-mail my test customer has received, which gives me hope that these won't turn into spammy communications.

Also, Etsy's current online market doesn't have a function that lets you automatically add your past customers to a mailing list, which is a feature I've always wanted.  I currently have to first ask for the customer's permission to add them to my mailing list, then add them in mailchimp manually, which takes up valuable time I could be working instead.  My newsletter only goes out once every 3 months, so I am curious to see how often this Etsy-managed newsletter will be sent out and how they might mesh with the information I already send out in my newsletter.

Bottom Line

The Etsy card reader doesn't do anything vastly different from other card readers, but it does allow powerful synchronization options between your online Etsy shop and your physical inventory that could save you time if your Etsy shop is your main outlet for sales.

It also allows for promotional automation that doesn't require you to lift a finger, saving you time, especially if you do not yet send out your own newsletter yet.

More updates to follow when I have them!

Wordpress & Artists: My Favorite Plugins and Themes

EDIT:  I've updated this list on 2/17/2017!

A couple of years back, I did a series of posts on Wordpress and its value as a CMS (content management system) for artists wishing to create their own websites.  I am still using Wordpress to manage my site to this day and thought I'd share a few of my favorite plugins and themes!

Plugins

All In One SEO Pack - Lets you add custom tags and meta info to your pages very easily to make it more easily found by search engines.

Duplicator - Lets you copy your site and database so you can move your entire site from one location to another.  Handy if you've been building in a private test folder before moving it onto your main domain.  This plugin can also create a snapshot of your site at any time for backup purposes.

The Events Calendar - Great for adding your upcoming appearances into a calendar on your Sidebar.

Jetpack - This plugin combines a full suite of features for your Wordpress site, which I like to use the features that allow you to link to thumbnails of related posts, show my site stats in my Admin dash, and publicize each blog post to my favorite social networks.  The rest I don't use.

MailChimp by MailChimp and Crowd Favorite - Lets you add a widget with a customizable MailChimp sign up form into your site's Sidebar.

NextGen Gallery by Photocrati - A wonderful gallery management tool that lets you create taggable images with sleek layouts.  The pro version nets you extra layouts and social sharing links bundled in.  If you decide on the pro version, give me al ittle kickback by using my referral link!

WooCommerce - In the few years since I've originally tried this plugin, it's been much improved and stabilized.  Stripe and Paypal integration come right out of the box and it provides a sleek, professional looking shop.  The new shipping classes are much improved and easier to understand than they were a couple of years ago as well!

WP Hide Post - I use this plugin to hide Pages and/or Posts from my site's search and navigation function.  This is handy when you're linking people (ie. Patreon Patrons) to exclusive content.

WP-Spamshield - I get an insane amount of spam on my Wordpress based blog and this plugin helped me keep most of the bots out.  When it had conflicts with another plugin (namely that troublemaker NextGen), the creator of the plugin was friendly and responsive to help me sort out the problems and even helped me to make my site run faster.  The conflicts have since been resolved as of this writing and this plugin continues to be my site's spam blocking warrior.

Themes

All of the themes mentioned here are mobile phone friendly.

Make - What I'm currently using on my latest site.  Make comes with a free version you can use as-is.  I love the integrated social icons bar (I was hard coding them all before into a Sidebar widget) and it's very sleek looking.  The packaged Builder templates for creating Pages on your site allows you to do Pages with columns, image sliders, galleries, etc. very easily without requiring a lot of coding knowledge. It is e-commerce ready with WooCommerce integration in mind.

The Pro version lets you get rid of the template tag on the bottom as well as opens up extra Page layouts and pre-made templates where you can toggle Sidebars on and off and auto-populate Pages based on their intended use for quick Page building.  You also get access to more type kits that let you change the font style of your whole website at once.

The free and pro versions both have a ton of customizable Widget areas such as multiple Footers and Menu locations.  Buying the Pro version also lets me use this theme on all of the sites I own.

Virtue - Has a free and pro version.  The free version lets you create grids using Portfolio items.  I almost went with this one for my site, but I found the Portfolio setup a little confusing.  If you can manage it though, it seems like a pretty versatile theme.  Just like Make, you get tons of customizable Widget areas, such as multiple Footers and Menu locations.  It is also e-commerce ready with WooCommerce integration in mind.

Wave - I never got to test this one out on my own, but the demo site looks good and it's also e-commerce ready.  I'm including it here as an option because it was reviewed highly, is a decent price, and might be an option others might want to try.

So what are some of your favorite plugins and themes?  Share in comments!