Archive for the ‘Kate Harper's Blog’ Category

Greeting card designer Kate Harper has a wonderful blog with a great post teaching us how to make 100 or 500 cards at a time instead of just a few. She has graciously allowed me to post her article here on this site.  I hope you enjoy the article and it is useful to you in your ministry:)

How to Set Up a Handmade Card Factory

It may seem unbelievable that I serviced over 2,000 stores for about 15 years making cards this way, but it worked great. Of course, after awhile I paid other people to make the cards. Having this business allowed me work at home, run my own show, and have financial independence. I highly recommend it.

I had up to 4 card assemblers working for me who made the cards at home, which was great for me because I don’t enjoy the role of “a boss.” Since I paid a good wage, people stayed with me for many years. One woman, who was a stay-at-home mom, worked with me for over 10 years.

Here is an example of how I set up my manufacturing process for my card business.

BAD SET UP

This task requires I glue 2 items on a card, and put them in a bag with an envelope.

This is probably the most inefficient way to make them, and will probably take 3 times longer. Here is why:

BETTER SET UP

This is a much better way to make cards.

Lay them all out in a row and start adding glue. It goes a lot faster.

Overlap the cards in areas that are not going to be glued. You can get more cards on the table that way.

GLUE

Notice I added glue on the cards, but I didn’t glue anything on it yet.

Since the glue takes awhile to dry, I know I will have time to lay down the pieces before it dries.

Partially dried glue is ideal, because when you place something on it, it has more “stick” to it than fresh runny glue. Runny glue tends to let things slide around too much.

ORDER & DIRECTION

The pieces are placed down starting with the top row. Note the order and direction of both gluing and placing the pieces.

Drawing a circle of glue is a whole lot faster than a square shape, and it sticks just the same. Note also the card has a pre-printed black frame, to help the cardmaker guide where the glue should be placed.

STACKING

Is it time to remove the cards from the table to glue another set?

No.
Don’t remove anything. Put a second stack on top. I can make this stack go about 10 levels high.

ENVELOPES & BAGGING

This is not a good way to set up your workspace for bagging.

Put the cards and envelopes in locations on your work table so that you never cross one arm over another. This is very inefficient.

Also, if you are throwing away paper scraps every minute, make sure the garbage can is on the same side of the table as the hand that is throwing the scrap away.

BETTER SET UP

The pieces are near the hand that will pick it up.

PRODUCTION TIP
Break up card production into segments.

Do all of your gluing at once, then all your bagging, etc. This not only gives the cards time to dry before they are packaged, but you will develop a faster rhythm. Also, you lose a lot of time adjusting when you transfer from one task to another.

Bagging cards is a great thing to do while watching a movie. Card gluing is a great thing to do while listening to music or talking on a hand-free phone.

STORAGE

The most efficient way to store cards is in long envelope boxes, which resemble shoe boxes. Allot an entire box per card style (see photo on right). You might notice the blue paper clips and the red post it’s. I used the paper clip to warn me the card style is running low, and the red post it’s to remind me I am going to drop this card, and to not remake anymore.

Group cards into 6’s or 12 when putting them in the box, (that’s the way card are usually sold). You can do this by rotating every 6 cards.

Don’t store cards in damp areas. Dampness can cause the envelopes flaps to stick to themselves. Also, don’t pack cards too tight if you use cellophane. It has a tendency to stick to itself since it is biodegradable. Bags need to “breath.”

Thank you so much Kate for giving me permission to publish your article on my site! Here’s the link to Kate Harper’s blog and the article  How to Set Up a Handmade Card Factory.