PUBLICATION CENTER

At Clark and Rachel Marten’s studio in Montana, the average senior portrait package has jumped from about $2,200 to $2,700. Clark and Rachel attribute much of this added income to their incorporation of canvas wraps printed on LexJet Instant Dry Satin Canvas into the sales process.

“In order to sell it, you have to show it and you have to ask,” says Rachel. “When I’m working on an order, I’ll take the client into the gallery, show them the canvas wraps and talk about them. We don’t sell paper; we sell emotion. If you can create the emotion so they fall in love with it you’ll make the sale.”

It helps that both Rachel and Clark are big believers in the canvas wrap as a stunning and unique showcase print for their clients. “I love the wrap, so it’s easy to sell. I prefer canvas when it’s presented as a wrap, because, to me, that’s what makes canvas look like canvas. People like the wraps because it’s unique, and they want something different than what their neighbor has,” says Rachel.

Rachel typically sells the portraits in series of three canvas wraps. Clark shoots three similar images, but with slight variations, such as a shot looking down on the subject. Each print in the three-print series is typically printed at 20 in. x 30 in., and spaced about an inch apart.

If a client wants their wall portrait printed on canvas, stretched, and wrapped it’s $250 in addition to the base fee charged for a wall portrait. Rachel says she initially priced the canvas wrap option at $150, but that price point “didn’t faze anyone.”

“I follow the advice of my mentor, Bill Sorenson, who says that you price what the market can bear, rather than basing it on material costs and other factors,” Rachel adds. “Once you’ve sold them on the image, and reinforced that you know they want it, the price doesn’t matter. And when they see how it would look on their wall they want it.”

For the production process, Clark creates templates that add a few extra inches around the image for extra bleed area on the sides of the wrap. He adds very light tick marks to use as a guide when he lays the canvas out on the stretcher bars. “The tick marks allow me to find the spot easily, but they blend into the picture well enough that the client won’t see them.”

Clark says he’s still learning how to make the wraps look as professional and seamless as possible, particularly on the corners. Clark stretches the canvas on a soft surface and switched to pliers with rubber tips, which he says seem to hold the canvas more securely than traditional stretcher pliers. After the canvas has been stretched and mounted, Clark sprays over the canvas with a lacquer.