Jazzy Custom Wallpaper

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Digtal Wallpaper printing
Wallpaper in a Yogurt Shop

Here’s a custom wallpaper backdrop we did recently for a yogurt store in Chicago. They gave us vector art of the subway system, which is the theme of their stores. It’s bright and happy, and dramatic!

 
You can get an idea of the size of the piece by looking at the 5 gallon buckets in front- it’s nearly 10×50 feet!
 
We produce custom wallpaper in a size like this by making four foot strips, with a 1″ overlap of the art. The installer cuts through the overlap, and when the excess is pulled away, you have a seam that matches perfectly, even if you don’t cut a straight line.
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Retail Store Counter Signage

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Store sign
Retail Counter Face

Here’s a job we did recently for our good customer Forever Yogurt in Chicago. We printed a fascia to go on the front of their counter in a new store. We direct printed on Sintra® with our UV Flatbed printer, and applied a coating to increase the durability and scuff resistance.

The job was printed in 5 sections, allowing us to send it with normal Fedex delivery. Things happen fast as you get ready to open a new store, and we printed, coated and shipped this job in a few days.
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Replacement Panels for a Pop Up Trade Show Booth

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Replacement pop up booth panels
Trade Show Booth

It’s important to keep your trade show booth graphics fresh.  After a time, they will get a little tired, and with repeated use they’ll get a little beat up too. It is so important that your company be portrayed as successful and up to date!

The time will come to replace the graphics in your booth, and we can usually save you about a third over the cost of having them done by the booth manufacturer.
We can make replacement panels  for almost any pop-up booth. We need the dimensions of the panels and the locations of the plastic stiffeners, and we prefer to have one of the panels to be sure the measurements are correct. If you have the time, send us the entire booth  and we’ll assemble it with the new panels to be sure everything is perfect.
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Adhesive Vinyl that sticks to Wallboard

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Vinyl Wall Graphic
Wall Board Vinyl

We are introducing a new product today that we call Wallboard Vinyl.

What’s cool about it is the adhesive- it sticks great to painted dry wall. Most adhesive backed vinyl will not! It has a heavy layer of “sticky note” adhesive that works great on less than smooth surfaces. We’re happy to send you a sample of it- just give us a call at 800-590-7850.
You get the great colors and sharp printing that’s achievable on vinyl, and the durability and waterfastness that you often need. When the time comes to remove it, it comes off like a big sticky note.
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Printing QR Codes on your Graphics

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Jay Buckley
QR Code for Megaprint
QR Code

Here’s a little something that is going to be a big part of our lives in the future- a QR code. You can point a smart phone camera at it, and it will take you to whatever web site is encoded in the squares. This one takes you to megaprint.com!

We’ve started seeing them appear on posters that we print. Just today, a bank had a QR code on a poster that would take you to a web page where you could apply for a loan.  It could just as easily take you to a page with current loan rates, new products, or even a job application. Fun stuff!
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Cut Shapes and Flatbed Printing

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Odd shape and size signs
Medallion cut from Sintra

Here’s another capability we have added with our flatbed printer– special cut shapes. In this case we printed both sides of  a scalloped edge circular shape, but we can do just about any shape. Anything that can be cut from a 4×8 sheet of material can be done. We need a digital file of the outline.

We use a digital router table to cut the material- usually 1/8 or 1/4″  Sintra- and then print with our UV curable flatbed machine.
In this case we did a very short run of three peices, but the process is economical up into the hundreds.
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Start and Finish Line Banners

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Banners for Road Races
Finish Line Banner

When you are doing a road race, it’s sort of required that you have a banner at the start and finish. We  do a fair number of them every year! Here’s a picture of one we did for the Circle Program, a girls camp and mentoring program in our area.

Typically we use our Across the Street banner material, which is an extra heavy vinyl (16 oz) with an especially strong nylon cord re-enforcement layer. We sew extra material at the corners, and can put wind cuts in it.
Another feature of the material is that it will survive at -20 degrees F, especially helpful up here in the North Country of New Hampshire!  The ski areas use this material a lot for outdoor banners.
It’s important to fixture banners like this properly. They are usually suspended from a steel cable going across the street with D rings through the grommets at the top. We recommend the bottom be tensioned with bungee cords, so the banner will rotate up out of the wind, and return to it’s full view when the wind stops.
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Roll Up? Retractable? Pull Up? Stand?

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Banner Stand

Retractable Banner Stand

Well OK, you can picture it in your mind because you saw one at the last trade show you went to, but what do you call that thing?

The correct technical term is a retractable banner stand, which is quite a mouthful. In my opinion, the biggest problem with the product is that the average user doesn’t know what to call it! We hear Roll Up, Pull Up, Telescoping, or just plain old Banner Stand, you’d be amazed.

What I do know about this product is how wonderfully versatile they are. Since they are self-contained, you can put up a message with no need to worry about how you are going to hang it up, and you can move it around if you need to. At the end of the day they retract into the metal can and are easily carried and shipped.

One thing we have disovered is the need to use the right material in them. Vinyl tends to stretch when put in tension, and over a period of time, they will curl in at the edges.  We use a mylar film when we make a banner stand, and it doesn’t curl in. We’ve had several of them standing in the place for a few years now, as flat as the day they were made!

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Repositionable Fabric as temporary wallpaper

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Repositionable Fabric as temporary wallpaper

Repositionable Fabric

Here’s a job we did recently that shows the capabilities of our repositionable fabric as a temporary wallpaper. In this case, across the back wall of a trade show booth for our good customer Kenyon Appliances.

They had the back wall already, but needed the graphics to go on it. With the repositionable fabric, they have something easy to install and easy to change. They were also able to get the dramatic look of a kitchen overlooking the ocean. We think it turned out great!

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Table top trade show display

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Jay Buckley
Tabletop Trade Show Booth
Tabletop Booth

Not all trade show booths are large gleaming 30×30 displays. A lot of our customers are going to small local shows, and they are definitely on a budget. This is the kind of display we can do for you when you are looking for something that will attractively talk about your business without breaking the bank.

Our rules for doing a show effectively are to have colorful graphics that will bring the eye, and a title of 6 words or less that will interest your target customer. You’ve got a second or two to gather enough interest, and a short tag phrase does that.
Check out our Tradeshow 101 article if you are new to trade shows, it will save you time, trouble, and money!
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