I'm always on the lookout for new Print-On-Demand, or POD, companies. Cafepress is POD...you provide the artwork, they print your product. My watches and clocks and cigarette cases are made by ArtsNow, a print-on-demand company based in China. So POD plays a vital role in my income these days.
Today I discovered Snaptotes, a North Carolina company which takes your photo and puts it on a number of different style handbags, purses, totes, clutches, etc. Really nice looking product and at least from the web the finished products have a quality look. The user interface and art uploads are all very easy. Its a little pricey, purses are about $100. But right now there is nobody offering as large a product line or the quality.
I would really like to see Snaptotes adopt a user store model similar to Cafepress. Snaptotes would find a much broader market if they moved beyond the do-it-yourselfers and allowed the creative input of the web community. I know I could design some sweet bags...like the Mucha Clutch below that took me all of 3 minutes to put together on the Snaptotes site. Right now the only way to make a dime with Snaptotes is to join the affiliate program which has very little appeal to me.
If I were a pretty girl, I would so carry this clutch.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Print-On-Demand Purses, Handbags and Totes
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Clair de Lune by Alphonse Mucha

Often I feel like I'm creating product in a vacuum, just toss it out there and see if anybody likes it. That's why I love it when a customer requests that I work up a product with a certain graphic or piece of art. Then I know at least two people will be happy when I'm done with the work.
Had a request to put a work of Alphonse Mucha on a cigarette case. Clair de Lune was a print Mucha did in 1902 and she is absolutely wonderful.
The dimensions aren't quite right to drop it right onto a case and I didn't want to crop any of her. Plus the customer wanted the border dropped.
So I lifted Clair out of the view and then expanded the background, keeping Mucha's style. After getting the background to the right size I was able to drop Clair back into the scene, adding a little extra black outlining to make her stand out.
I think the finished cigarette case came out pretty nice. Of course, it helps when you start with beautiful art. Mucha's work is incredible and very popular these days. And most, if not all, of his work has gone into the public domain, at least in the US.