How to get the look of a frame for less

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Jay Buckley
less expensive than framing
Picture with our edge trim

We do a lot of printing of photos in large size. Digital printing is what we do, and it’s a great way to take a favorite photo up to poster size.

One question we get a lot is whether we do framing, and the answer is not really. It has been our experience that shipping a 2×3′ piece of glass is not wise.
If you have ever priced a custom frame for a 2×3′ picture, you’ve probably been shocked at the price of $150 or more. Our answer is our edge trim. It’s a plastic C-channel that fits around the edge of a foamcore or gatorboard mounted print. If the print is also laminated, you’ve got something that is darn close to the cost of a frame alone. The edge trim gives it the look of a thin frame, and has the added advantage of protecting the edge.
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Short run store signs

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Jay Buckley
Digital Flatbed Printing
Flatbed Printed Store Graphic

When you don’t need to run thousands of store signs, our flatbed printing is the way to go. Since we print digitally on most flat substrates, there’s no setup charge. That means we can do runs of 50-500 pieces for a lot less than can be done in four color silkscreening.

The results are better too! We get true photo realistic results at 720 dpi. Even up close, our digital retail signs look fantastic. Whether you print on Sintra, styrene, or 50 point board, you’ll be knocked out by the results.
Another great thing is that our 50 point board is made from 100% recycled fiber, and it can be recycled with your cardboard. It’s our first end-to-end green product, and we are very proud of it!
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The ski areas swing into gear!

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Jay Buckley
banner printing
Vinyl Banners Being Printed

There’s a nip of frost in the air in New Hampshire, and the ski areas are getting ready to open. With a little luck, and help from Mother Nature, we’ll be skiing by Thanksgiving!

That means we are printing banners for them. They use them to announce new facilities, promotions, and events. Go to any ski area, and you’ll see them everywhere.
Ski areas have special requirements. We use our Across The Street banner material for them, since it’s an extra heavy material and good to -20 degrees F. Regular vinyl shatters at a little below zero, which can happen a lot around here!
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Banner Stands for a Welcome Center

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Jay Buckley
Banner Stands
Retractable Banner Stands

Plymouth State University has a new hockey rink and welcome center, and we’re printing a dozen banner stands to go in the new center that welcomes visitors to the university. All of this needs to be done for the opening varsity hockey game this Saturday!

The banner stands welcome visitors, and tout the attractions of the local area. This includes Squam Lake, where On Golden Pond was filmed, the White Mountains, the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, and many others.
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Banner for Church Stewardship

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Jay Buckley
Banners for a Church Fundraiser
Church Banner

The stewardship campaign that this church ran used a vinyl banner of the history of the church as a way to educate and motivate the congregation to give.  The banners showed the important milestones of the church over its life, and the amount of money it took to support them.  Evidently, the campaign was very successful!

The church used a metal frame to display the banners in the sanctuary.
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Wallpaper for a movie set

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Jay Buckley
Custom Wallpaper Photo

Wallpaper for a movie set

Here’s a fun job we are shipping today- wallpaper used as a backdrop in a movie set.

The picture is of the seacoast in California, which we are printing 5-1/2 feet tall and 14 feet long.
We used our suede finish wallpaper, which should give them the ability to use stage lighting without reflection trouble.
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Temporary Wallpaper

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Jay Buckley
Repositionable Fabric Displays
Repositionable Fabric

We print a lot of custom wallpaper, and it’s great stuff.

Sometimes, though, the customer wants something that can be installed without professional help, and removed without any mess left on the wall. Our repositionable fabric fills the bill!
It’s a nice sturdy fabric with “sticky note” glue on the back. It comes with a release paper like a bumper sticker,  and you put it on the wall like it was a sticky note! It can be removed and re-applied many times, so if you get it up a little crooked, you pull it down and do it again.
It sticks great to drywall, glass, wood, and metal surfaces. In fact, the only surface we haven’t been able to get it to stick to is brick, which is just too uneven.
We print on this material with our UV stable inks, so it won’t fade in sunlight. You can put it up in a sunny corporate lobby with no worries. When the time comes to take it down, you lift a corner and give it  a tug.
About the only limitation is that it should not get wet.  This is really a product for indoor applications.
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Dasher Boards at PSU

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Jay Buckley
Dasher Boards

PSU Hockey Rink

Hockey rinks defray some of their operating costs by selling advertising around the rink on what are called dasher boards. We’ve been doing quite a few of them for the new rink at Plymouth State.

We print on a polypropylene banner material with our new UV flatbed machine. That give us something that is water fast, light fast, and can be done quickly, since they are dry when they come off the machine.

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Banner for a Road Race

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Jay Buckley
Banner for a road race
Race Banner

Every road race needs a banner at the finish line!  Here’s one we did for the local youth center when they did a half marathon road race as a fund raiser. The happy group of people holding it are a group of local citizens that are working to support the youth center.

We do lots of vinyl banners for events like this. Whether it’s a street fair in San Francisco or a sales meeting in Florida, we can deliver a great looking banner in a hurry.
We give you a choice of gloss or matte finish. The gloss is great for outdoors, and it’s a little less expensive.  Matte finish is best for use indoors, since you can run into trouble with glare indoors on gloss vinyl banners. We stock both materials up to 8 ft wide, and can go up to 40 ft long.
Vinyl banners can have either pole pockets or hem and grommet for finishing. For pole pockets we loop the top and bottom over and sew to form a pocket. You’ll put a pole through the pocket when you hang it, and usually put a pole in the bottom to hold it straight. Hem and grommet means we’ll fold the edges over and sew a double seam to give the banner extra strength around the edges. We put grommets every 2 feet around for fastening. You can also put rope through the grommets and tie it to posts or trees.
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Kiosk Signs Direct Printed on Sintra

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Jay Buckley
OUtdoor kiosk signs
DIrect Printed Kiosk Sign

Wherever the public goes, there’s usually a notice board that gives the rules for using the facility. This can be a hiking trail head, a boat ramp, a park or ball field.

Our kiosk signs are great for this application! They are direct printed on 1/8″ sintra, and will last for many years outdoors. They are tough and durable. When attached to a kiosk with screws, they are hard for prying hands to remove.
More and more, we find ourselves doing large format printing in the sign business, where our fast turnaround and ability to print from common programs is a real plus for customers. In this case, the people at the Lake Winona Association sent us a jpg file of the jet ski and we put it behind a standard circle and slash. We set the type, and sent it to print!
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