I think this is my third ride with CatPrint, so once again, I ask you politely to check out my previous old CatPrint post. Also, if you are considering buying prints based on my documentation, use my CatPrint referral link. Today is all about regular and holographic prints, with a hint of sprinkles, such as mistakes, and a cherry on top of accountability.
Last year I bought a huge ass expensive printer to control quality and obtain more crisp colors. The thing is I realized that by buying this printer, a huge investment for life would be inevitable, not just for the machine, but also for the inks and maintenance. If I need to regularly print my work, I would have to rely on a company rather than buying the complete ink cartridge monthly, which is about $100. So for massive orders with prints, I decided to stay with Catprint. For high-quality, limited exclusive shit (like my special NSFW merch for my secret club) I would use my printer.
I really like how the company encourages its clients to set up their prints in bigger formats like 12×18 or 11×17 to obtain special offers on types of finishes, one of them holographic. Of course, the cost would be a little higher if they are expected to cut each print individually for you. For example, bigger artists who are extremely busy and don’t have the right sources to cut their prints would much rather let the company handle their orders entirely.
On the other hand, I would rather save a few bucks, put some 8 designs on an 11×17, and simply cut them manually at home. It keeps me busy shifting between my paper cutter and scissors, kind of relaxing and working out some muscle hands. However, I might have to keep buying new blades whenever they get dull with time.
The 3 times I did order from them, all packages came with minor issues. The best part was that their staff took this shit seriously, and they were always happy to respond with the fixes.
On this particular order, my package came with a crafting paper tape ripped off in the middle and one print got smears of black ink and misprint. My package was in the postal office since I don’t have an appropriate mailbox, so I believe that a machine tore the tape apart. The ink smudges do happen to me on rare occasions with my printer.
Some prints came a little off with the vibrant colors (less saturation), though the ones with darker tones looked great on holographic. I also ordered some “glossy” prints, but didn’t look glossy enough compared to the ones printed at home. Also, do you see the contrasting colors between the yellow design? I didn’t say anything because I forgot to mention it in the email before, and CatPrint already sent a replacement for the damaged one.
I have noticed that whenever I print my stuff from home, I get super accurate crispy colors with high quality. On the contrary, CatPrint’s prints aren’t bad quality, but you can see those details downgraded just a bit. I can’t show it here because my camera barely takes a close-up, but if you have a printer for fine art, do the comparison. Does this mean I will no longer print with them? No, but it is worth noting whenever you are deciding what to print at home, and what to print outside.
When you order prints with a company that is not local (I live on an Island), at times there is a 50% you might not have full control, because you don’t own their machines or decide the printer’s settings. And no matter the back and forth the communication goes, fixing issues while in different locations can consume your energy and time.
You are going to encounter some technical problems when it comes to stains and misprints, regardless if you do it yourself or with a manufacturer. As long as you inspect the products carefully and the staff takes care of the situation, everything should be fine.
If you are very demanding with the smallest details, I suggest you buy your own printer or find a company that specializes in fine art printing services. I would like to clarify that I’m clueless if CatPrint does offer “fine-art” quality print services like photography, since I didn’t see that.
Because I don’t have the ability to make holographic prints, and even if I did, the investment is not worth it in my circumstances. Owning machines means fixing and doing maintenance, besides buying the materials to operate one in the first place. Can you imagine how much the shipment would cost to deliver to Puerto Rico? There are a lot of misconceptions about whether we are considered part of the USA since, in my personal experience, a lot of sellers had canceled my orders previously for having an issue with my “faulty address”. And, unfortunately, other times I get charged triple for shipping because they think P.R. is an international location when it is not.
I remember that CatPrint sent a newsletter about the announcement of raising the prices of their services, and to be honest it is understandable. The prices for the holographic prints were affordable, but the shipping caught me off guard. It started around $10 to ship a single 11×17 (if I remember correctly) to P.R. and ended around $13-ish when I added a few more prints.
The quality may depend on the type of paper and the type of finish, I love the holographic finish and the details of the image quality of the prints is decent, colors may differ if you do the comparison with your fine art printer. For glossy prints, I rather do them at home.
I don’t think they don’t have MOQ and that’s great!
As always, their staff is super detailed and responds promptly to any concern with the appropriate fixes.
If you are overwhelmed and don’t have the time but have the money, or if you are looking to test around without MOQ, then CatPrint is for you. If you are looking for extra high-quality prints with “fine art print”, then buy your own machine or find a company that specializes in it. Hope you like this post and don’t forget to use my Catprint referral link to order some prints.
If you like my work and documentation and wish to see more, please consider contributing to my growth and hard work with more exploration, investment, and website maintenance.
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