Printer Catastrophe!!

    So, I'm not just a musician, I also paint.  It's basically a hobby for me, but last Christmas I accidentally found a nitch that I'm kinda good at.  Small sized watercolor paintings that you can make cards out of.  I sold quite a few, much to my surprise last Christmas!  So, this year I thought, instead of making prints on my home computer, I would have them made at a professional printing company.  My plan was to save me a little time and headache from doing it myself.
     Well, I call up Infinite Imaging in York, ME to see if they can give me a quote, they don't have the right machine, so I'm transferred to the the Portsmouth, ME Infinite Imaging.  YES!, they have the right machine and the right paper, so I take in my art and wait for a quote.  A day later I get the email, ... $520!!!!  Jiminy Cricket!!!!   There better be gold inset into these prints for that price!  So off to the next printer I go, not the right paper, the next printer, not the right machine or paper.
     Finally I find one that has the machine and will use my paper, New England Printing in Portsmouth, NH.  They want me to pay to have one done, before they give me a quote for all of them, so I'm reluctant after the first quote, but I agree to it.  They take the one that they think will be the hardest to match, because of the pastel colors in it.  Two days later they have a print ready for me to proof.  I don't know if I have a more keen sense of color, if the guys at the printer are color blind, or what??!  But somehow my red's are pink and my pale pinks are HOT pink.  How does this happen?? and what makes them think that i'm gonna be ok with it??  I mean really, you have the original in front of you, can you not see the glaring differences?
     So, now I have paid them $40 for prints I can't use!  How is it that I can get a print from my home printer that is closer to the original than the printers can with this big huge color printer??  Fellow artists, I now know why prints are so stinking expensive!  So, with no time saved, with less money in my pocket, and definately with a headache, I have learned my lesson. I will continue to use my home printer for my prints. Want to purchase holiday cards from me? Visit my website pianobycheri.com or email me at cherichristenson@yahoo.com