Times are tough. And while our economy continues to struggle, it’s important you try to find any and all savings you can to help out yourself or your business, big or small, continue to flourish.

That’s why the PhotoPaperPlus.com section on their website that offers special deals has become so popular. The page has a plethora of different deals, presenting continuously changing special saving offers.For example:

Inkpress Artist’s Waterproof Inkjet Glossy Photo Paper, a single side, satin coated canvas, used for high quality graphic-art applications on inkjet-large format devices. This large format paper is typically used for picture presentations as full color graphics. And 10 sheets of it typically costs $40, but it’s currently available to you for $34.95.

Or check out Inkpress Heavyweight Double Sided Inkjey Matte Photo Paper. This double-sided wood fiber paper is both pigment and dye receptive and comes with a premier inket coating, making it ideal for handling high resolution printing. This box of 100 sheets is usually available for $75, but is currently available at the reduced price of $68.95

All of the deals listed above are for a limited time only, so order today. And be sure to check back at PhotoPaperplus.com for all of their new monthly specials, or sign up for theirs newsletter which will inform you of any and all special offers.

Paper is a funny thing, in that one would naturally assume there is only one way to measure it. However, like a majority of all systems of measurement, paper has many different measuring regulations. Today there are two major systems using when it comes to measuring large format paper, although lesser used versions do exist.

The International Standard, also known as ISO 216, is based off of a German way of measuring large format paper known as German DIN 476.” The international standard is based on an aspect ratio of square root of 2. It features a series of different extensions, such as Swedish, Japanese, and Colombian.

North American paper sizes, usually custom within the United States, Mexico, and Canada (Mexico has adopted the ISO 216 Standard, although the U.S. ‘letter format’ is still used throughout the nation). It was in 1995 that the American National Standards Institute created the “ANSI paper size,” which is what’s mostly used around North America currently. It is designed so that when a paper-size is cut into half, it will create two complete pieces of the next-smallest size.

North American large format paper suppliers also use what is known as the “Architectural sizes” of paper, which has been adopted by many architects (hence the name) as well as many individuals in the entertainment industry.

Are their limits to paper folding?

I always thought so. I remember being told in elementary school by a girl I had a crush on that I couldn’t fold a piece of paper more than seven times. In a child-like effort to win her affections, I attempted the paper-folding, and failed several times.

So for years I believed the myth to be true, that no matter the size or weight, a piece of paper could not be folded over more than seven times.

You know the old quote, “We’re going to need a bigger boat?” Well, that sort of applies here.

A Google search reveals plenty of advice on how to fold paper up to ten times. And the first thing they recommend is getting your hands on a large format paper.

Nowhere was that more apparent than in the 72^nd episode of MythBusters. The Discovery Channel show depicts the MythBuster gang using a large format paper the size of a football field, a forklift, a cement-smoother, and two dozen individuals to “bust the myth” by folding the paper nearly a dozen times.

You can watch a clip of the show below, depicting the 11-fold piece of paper.

I’ve already sent it to the girl from elementary school.

Today’s post features an artist selling gorgeous decorative prints on premium matte photo paper.

The graphic dandelion print pictured above was made by the artist, Angela Capria, a.k.a. “SureAsBlue”, and is titled “White Dandelion.” It’s  an 8×10 print on premium matte photo paper, ready for you to frame, and available on Etsy.

SureAsBlue’s work is clean and simple, usually focused on a single image like a flower, playing one color off another. You have the option of buying the same image in additional colors that compliment one another. Hang three in a row to add an affordable artistic touch to a larger space.

All of her work is printed using archival inks for vibrant, sharp colors that resist fading, on premium matte photo paper which also resists fading. This combination gives stunning results every time.

Check out this artist’s website: http://www.angelacapria.com/ and her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SureAsBlue for a wide selection of prints, calendars and more.

Or take her work as an inspiration, and experiment with making your own artistic prints. We know just where you can find premium matte photo paper at incredible prices…

Hey there, amateur designers! So you’re working on a print ad. It’s one of your first, and you want to get it just right. Before you slip that photo quality inkjet paper into your printer, let’s talk about the magic number.

Maybe this is obvious, but sometimes when you’re working hard, it helps to revisit the basics. In this case, the basic we’re going to focus on is The Rule Of Thirds.

That’s right, our creative and industrious friends: three is the magic number. When you’re designing a print ad,

• one third of your ad should be graphic elements, such as drawings or photographs
• one third of your ad should be the copy, including your logo
• one third of your ad should be white space

(We would add a bonus rule, that white space ought to be made of gorgeous photo quality inkjet paper!)

Now, don’t bristle! We’re not trying to stifle you. There’s plenty of room for variation in this rule. You’re not necessarily going to want to divide your ad into precise thirds. Just keep the magic number in your head as you play around with the design that will grace that photo quality inkjet paper when all is said and done. Think of it as giving your design good bone structure, it’s bound to look sharper than if you hadn’t.

If you’re an artist or professional who prints on large format paper, you may be interested in a comparison test done informally on two leading wide format printers, the new HP Z3100 challenger and the Epson 9800.

Right away, rest easy: these two printers are both capable of the highest image quality currently available. There were visible differences in the results tested on exactly the same large format paper, but they were really only visible when prints were viewed critically side-by-side. In a blind test in a gallery, even those of us who performed the test were hard-pressed to claim which printer made which print.

We felt that the debate on image quality differences came down to quibbling. The better questions were related to reliability, ergonomics and user interface. Which is to say: we’ve all been in a production environment where a client is waiting for prints and the printer has a jammed paper feed or clogged heads. Which one would be better in a pinch?

Our staff was split down the middle. If you’re looking for a high end large format paper printer, either one of these will probably knock your socks off.

Back in the day, people interested in DIY sticker or decal making used contact paper. You remember the stuff your grandmother lined her shelves with? There was a mildly complicated process to make sure the paper was sticky enough, glossy enough, waterproof enough. It was fun, if you’re into messy projects (I was), but it’s no wonder not many people got into it.

Want to know the secret to today’s DIY sticker and decal projects? Drum roll, please!
Adhesive vinyl sheets.

Maybe you were hoping for something more dramatic, but adhesive vinyl sheets are where it’s at when it comes to printing your own stickers or decals.

As an art school student turned producer for local indie bands, I’ve started to think of adhesive vinyl sheets as my best friend. If I’ve gone to the trouble of printing a postcard for a show, and then we need to change the date, or use leftovers for another show, I just print new stickers for the back of the postcard and voila, problem solved.

Ditto for promotional stickers! I love this stuff. If you’re still using contact paper, let me just say, the glory days of sticker making are now, my friend. Join the fun.

Large format paper is good to use, especially when you really want to emphasize a piece’s importance. That goes from advertising to specialty photos that require a big frame. Some photos look better on your camera, and then you realize that the photo may not be worth printing on large format paper, or maybe it would be better printed on inkjet glossy photo paper. In the same way that your camera has different settings, photographs can be better suited to different kinds of printing.

If you’re like me, you take photos when you go to a museum of some of your favorite works. If this is the case, printing them out can deliver better results than buying any poster of the painting at the museum gift shop. Sometimes they don’t even have a poster of the painting I like. You can use large format paper to print your photos, or you can buy special inkjet fine art paper. The latter is great for your own works too because it provides double siding so that you can showcase your photos, no matter what you’re printing.

For all of your photo printing needs, from inkjet glossy photo paper to premium matte photo paper to adhesive vinyl sheets, www.PhotoPaperPlus.com has everything you could possibly need.

I’m a photographer and my practice is dictated not just by what I want to sell, but what I deem worthy of being sold. There are a lot of aspects to photography in this day and age that determine the quality of a photo – no longer is it simply the ability to find the right scene.

When I take photos, I like to really immerse myself in my environment. I don’t want to be seen by my subjects because I want to capture the most natural human interactions. If I’m shooting a landscape, then I often wait until just the right moment to shoot, and waiting for that long usually means getting comfortable and not being disturbed.

Then, I determine which shots to keep on my computer. Photography is a game of chance, the more photos you take, the more chances you have of having great photos. After doing some basic photo editing with PhotoShop, I’ll print out my favorites on inkjet glossy photo paper. If I have some really macro shots, I’ll use inkjet glossy photo paper, otherwise I use photo quality inkjet paper, just to get an idea of whether or not I really want to print a shot on large format paper, and sell it in my gallery.

You print out a favorite photo on inkjet glossy photo paper and as the printer chugs and huffs, you see the bottom of the print that you desire. The ink distribution is perfect and you can’t wait until it’s finished. It takes about a minute and a half to print the whole thing, as if that were a long time, and for us in our computer age of immediacy and instant email responses, it is. It was worth the wait though.

You hold it up to the light to examine it, and it’s perfect – exactly the way it looked on the computer, except larger, and tangible. Inkjet glossy photo paper is the best way to print these macro shots, you decide, and for photos with print or black and whites, the right choice is probably premium matte photo paper.

Who knew that printing photos could be so easy? Now to start thinking about large format paper for that poster sized photograph you wanted to give your little brother for his birthday. That picture of him sitting in a purple Lamborghini when he was ten that he’s definitely forgotten about. That’s the one. Those nostalgic photos are the best on inkjet glossy photo paper.