“Buy Cheap Canvas Prints
- Cheap Wall Art - Discounted Canvas Prints - Best Prices Online”
Oh no, please tell me you didn’t did you? Seriously? You
searched for “buy cheap canvas prints” - what
are you thinking??? Nobody minds “inexpensive canvas prints” as this means
you are matching similar quality at a better price but “cheap” says it all -
you’re not even expecting it to be good quality! Just cheap.
This is a gift for someone, right? Oh dear (forgive the pun)
- I’m assuming you either don’t like them or you certainly don’t care about the
quality. Oh, oh, insult = browser back button pressed in 3….2….1 - Wait!!! At
least read some of this and then make
your mind up.
Well you’re still reading this, so allow me to continue -
not all canvas prints are the same quality. Saaaay Whaaaat? Yes, it’s true that
there are cheaper alternatives but it’s a bit like comparing branded baked
beans with the supermarkets own brand. Technically one is cheaper but you just
know you’re taste buds are in for a disappointment…. Q: “Why do you keep buying
them if you don’t like them?”. A: “Cause they’re cheap”. It doesn’t make them
better though, does it? Think about it - if they were actually as good as the
branded beans then nobody would buy the branded beans that cost more. “Dinner’s
ready - it’s that runny, lumpy, flavourless no brand from the cheapo-market”….
“What do you mean you’re goin’ down the chippy?”.
Hand Made is Best
I can give you a lot of reasons why hand made is better, and
I’m sure you can too, but the fact is we all know that “hand made” is a phrase
that all marketing people will try to foist on you when they want you to cough
up more money for something - right? Not always it isn’t - it’s also a sign of
quality as a real person has been involved in making your canvas and your
friends and family will appreciate this too. People, by far, appreciate hand
made more because you can customise your order uniquely to the person that you
are buying it for. “Could you do it like
this?” or “Is it possible to?” or “Can I have?” are what people want rather
than “Computer says no!”
To illustrate, imagine you call a company to speak to
someone - would you prefer to speak to somebody or would you prefer the
touchtone maze “press 1 to be disconnected, press 2 for a long hold, press 3
for more options”? I know what my choice would be - the real person. “What’s
that got to do with canvas prints?” I can hear you all saying. Well, imagine
you sent a photo that wasn’t quite the right shape to print on the size you are
looking for - would you prefer someone to contact you who had looked at it and
suggest a better size for the canvas or would you prefer an automated printer
to just go ahead and print it and perhaps crop someone’s head off? What if the
colours were not quite right - would you prefer them to be colour balanced
correctly or not? Perhaps your photo even requires some retouching. Maybe to
remove that horrible spot that would just have to happen right before the
wedding…. Or perhaps that wine stain on the dress…. Or perhaps that annoying
background object (now, now that’s no way to talk about your mother-in-law!)
Wouldn’t it be better for a person to evaluate your canvas prior to printing it
rather than having the uploaded photo regurgitated on the canvas? Of course you
could always take a chance and if doesn’t match your expectation then you could
try giving them a call: “press 1 to be
disconnected, press 2 for a long hold, press 3 for more options”…. “Guten Tag,
wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?”…. “Errrmm”.
“Okay I can see your point of view but they’re just sooo cheap, what would it matter if it
wasn’t printed as good as it could be - I could always blame it on my
photography or the camera?” Well, have you considered the materials that are
used in production?
Quality Matters
As with everything there are different grades of canvas,
stretcher bars, inks and varnish that go into making a canvas.
For starters is the canvas going to discolour over the
years? You know when you paint your house and a few years down the line it
starts to go an off shade white, well do you think your canvas might do the
same? Would you prefer it to stay white? Well proper artists canvas won’t
discolour with time. What about edge cracking - do you think a person or a
machine can gauge more accurately the amount of tension to apply so that the
canvas is taught but not cracking around the edges? Then there is the type of
canvas - is it synthetic or cotton canvas? Both are good, but what do you prefer? Are your canvas prints glued
to the frame or have they been stapled in? Do you think the glue might come
unstuck in the years to come?
What about the stretcher bars - they are using stretcher
bars aren’t they, or is it something from the local DIY store? “What’s the
difference?” I hear you ask. Well proper stretcher bars come with wedges so
that you can re-tension them with time. All canvas prints will change tension
with time due to changes in temperature and without wedges how can you possibly
adjust this and stop them from sagging? What about warping - will they warp or
twist over time because they have used kiln dried wood? How about the source
where the wood has been harvested - has it been well managed allowing for
regeneration or do you think it was just chopped down with little thought for
the environmental impact? Do they come with FSC certification which guarantees
the forest has been managed in an ethical manner or are you going to just take
their word for them replanting the trees? You can find more information on FSC stretcher bars here.
Will the inks stand the test of time or fade with age? Are
they using genuine manufacturers ink or a cheaper alternative ink? Has it been
tested so that it won’t fade? Will they still be around to complain to when it
does start fading? Then there is the printing process - is it properly
calibrated using a RIP (Raster Image Processor). A RIP allows proper profiling
of the media that enables you to get the best possible colour reproduction of
your canvas and without one there is no guarantee that your prints will be
colour accurate or even using the full colour gamut available for printing.
Varnish is essential for the canvas - it seals it protecting
the canvas from U.V. damage and any abrasions (like when you are re-decorating
and accidentally rub it against something). It also allows you to clean them
with a damp cloth when they become dusty. (Don’t try that on a canvas without
any varnish on it - you’ll mark it). The varnish also brings your canvases to
life - it enriches the colours making the blacks black and the colours lively
and vivid. Your canvas printer does use varnish to seal them, don’t they?
At the end of the day it’s up to you, but at least be aware
of what you are truly buying and why it’s cheaper - it’s because not all canvas
prints are made to the same quality.
“Your beans are ready!”
