How to Make Photography ACEOs Art Card Editions and Originals

Picturing This:  One of my first sales on Etsy was a customer requesting an ACEO of an image. Actually, I don't think she was for sure, but I got the idea that I should create an ACEO of the image as an offering, and I might have a sale. I did a little internet research and made my own way of creating ACEOs.

ACEOs are minature art, 2.5" by 3.5", that artists are "trading" and collecting like they would collect art (If we had the walls and money). They are a nice way to check out someone's art skills without breaking the bank. They usually range in price between $3 and $8. The images are exactly the size of baseball cards, so they fit in baseball card sleeves for storing.

Having sold many ACEOs now, I thought I would share what I am doing here. First, I create an 8.5" x 11" document in Adobe Illustrator. Next, I save six images as 2.5" x 3.5" psd documents with aceo_ as the first part of the file name (so I remember they have less pixels and don't use them as originals for photography printing).

I then return to my Illustrator document, below, and select File/Place from the menu and pull in all six images one at a time. Use the ruler and guides so that they are lined up perfectly for cutting. I print these images on my favorite photographic paper and let them cure.

Finally, I take my images to my frame shop and ask them to dry mount the papers to a mat board, so the color becomes the back of the cards. I select a light color, so that my writing will show up on the mat board. The framer mounts and cuts the ACEOs for me. I write the title on the back of each ACEO and sign the back. After the ink dries, I place the ACEO in a plastic sleeve from Clearbags.

Take a look at my ACEOs on Etsy. I am taking 4 pages of ACEOs to the framer today, so look for them in my shop in the coming days. I ship my ACEOs in a notecard from my Etsy shop. I participate in a forum on Etsy about ACEO it is called 7 card draw. Read more here.