Newbie Questions

[Gj15987]

Firstly, please excuse my ignorance! I am completely new to printing (beyond just using an inkjet) so some of my questions may not even make sense.

I've recently designed and printed some wedding invitations and am looking into doing more as a part time money earner to supplement my main income. I have the following questions if someone wouldn't mind spending some time answering them.

Because I'm only doing this on a small scale (roughly 100 - 200 invitations per month), would buying a home/small office laser printer be wise? Or should I go with outsourcing to a professional printing firm?

The reason I ask is because I'd like to experiment with different paper types before I decide on my end products and so getting these printed professionally would become quite costly.

Is a laser printer the right type to go for?

What exactly is gsm? Paper thickness or weight? My current home inkjet printer had trouble with 300gsm card when I did the last batch. I had to help the paper through by giving it an initial push when the printer tried to take it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Afro254]

Firstly, please excuse my ignorance! I am completely new to printing (beyond just using an inkjet) so some of my questions may not even make sense.

I've recently designed and printed some wedding invitations and am looking into doing more as a part time money earner to supplement my main income. I have the following questions if someone wouldn't mind spending some time answering them.

Because I'm only doing this on a small scale (roughly 100 - 200 invitations per month), would buying a home/small office laser printer be wise? Or should I go with outsourcing to a professional printing firm?

The reason I ask is because I'd like to experiment with different paper types before I decide on my end products and so getting these printed professionally would become quite costly.

Is a laser printer the right type to go for?

What exactly is gsm? Paper thickness or weight? My current home inkjet printer had trouble with 300gsm card when I did the last batch. I had to help the paper through by giving it an initial push when the printer tried to take it.

Thanks in advance!

gsm is about paper thickness. The higher the number the thicker the card.

About the printer, i'm not sure what to recomend as i i usually outsource. I may however point that, a small laser printer may be relevant if you intend to do gold foiling to your black laser printed text.

Make sure it can handle cards. E.g HP LaserJet Pro M118dw