I'm interested in trying this stuff out, but I lack a printer.

I've been looking around, and the printers I see that handle color and cardstock seem to be ridiculously expensive.

I was wondering if I could get some recommendations on this front... If I spend a lot of money on a printer, I want it to be something that will work well for this. But even better, it'd be great if someone could point me at something that works well and is affordable.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[edit]...actually, an even better option would be for me to get my hands on a "demo". Any thoughts on how I could get my hands on a pre-printed kit to try would be great. I'd feel mighty silly with my snazzy new color cardstock-friendly printer if I decided I didn't enjoy making cardstock models or didn't like the way they looked on my table...

Thanks again![/edit]

I have a Canon Pixma iP3000 and it does a wonderful job all around. Cheap, too. $120 3 years ago.

Thanks so much for your reply! The most interesting thing is that when I checked out the specifications of that model on Canon's website, there's no mention of "cardstock" or "card stock". So I would've passed that printer by without a second look. Huh...

I found I was looking in the wrong places for a printer, and found some pretty affordable looking machines that say they can handle "cardstock" or "card stock".

Its kind of a crap shoot since a lot of them don't LIST card stock, but they handle it just fine. It seems to me, if it can handle high grade photo paper, card stock should be a breeze.

I'm looking at the Canon PIXMA MP960 as an upgrade for my older HP Photosmart 1315 (tri-color system).

How's the ink usage on the Pixma series? Typical?
Does the detailing hold up well on the average 100lb card stock?

~Floyd