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From Custom Décor to High-volume Art, Canvas Adds Style
Posted on by Jennifer Corn Posted in Technology & Products
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From Custom Décor to High-volume Art, Canvas Adds Style

Including canvas wraps in any décor plan is an effective way to add a touch of style to every space, from the bedroom to the boardroom. Families want portraits in their homes while hoteliers want to brighten their lobbies, and print service providers can offer their customers many different solutions to create the perfect piece of art. Check out these three ways to include canvas printing in your product offering:

Specialty Canvas – Earlier this year, Fredrix unveiled Metallic Pearl and Metallic Gold canvases, which give photographers the opportunity to create glamorous portraits for weddings and engagements or eye-catching artistic photography prints. Fredrix Metallic Pearl Canvas adds a beautiful, ethereal, shimmering quality that will delight even the hardest-to-please bride. Fredrix Metallic Gold, a 2019 SGIA Product of the Year for Media – Textile – Canvas, offers an elegant gold finish that is perfect for high-end retail art, especially when printing with black ink. Both the Pearl and Gold are compatible with solvent, latex and UV-curable printers.

Work Space Canvas – Studies have found that art in the workplace can boost productivity, reduce stress and increase communication, so corporations are including art to enhance the employee experience. Working with local businesses and hospitality groups to design and create art that fosters creativity in the workplace and tells the story of the company culture and values. Fredrix offers a variety of aqueous and latex/solvent/UV-curable canvas products that are perfect for outfitting art-inspired work spaces.

Inkjet Canvas Decor by MyPix2

Custom Canvas –Photographers and PSPs printing with aqueous technology, can offer gallery wraps in portrait and photo packages, providing customers the opportunity to turn their family photos into art. Sunset Production Matte Canvas is a 100% polyester canvas that provides the look of cotton canvas with a 2-over-1 weave that delivers a consistent, repeatable print solution. Sunset Select Matte Canvas is a poly/cotton blend that meets the demand for a wide variety of art-reproduction and photo printing requirements. Use GOframe stretcher bars give the finished gallery wrap appearance.

To learn more ways to include canvas printing in your portfolio, contact a LexJet sales specialist at 800-453-9538 or visit LexJet.com.

You may also be interested in:

Good, Better, Best: High-Volume Canvas
Speedy Canvas Wraps Are on a Roll with GOframe

Posted on by Jennifer Corn Posted in Technology & Products
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Epson S-Series Printers: Don’t Miss Out on Décor Opportunities

In the everchanging world of POP and temporary signage, there is a niche market that many print service providers have missed: décor. If you have an EPSON SureColor S80600, you know the color gamut is unlike any other printer available in the solvent market. With 98.2% Pantone coverage, color-critical art reproductions and wall décor are as easy to produce as banners and signage.

When it comes to creating the perfect art piece, it’s not just about the printer. These days, many people want their home décor to offer the same sophisticated ambiance of a fine art museum. To recreate that look, Print Service Providers turn to a printable canvas, such as EPSON GS Canvas Gloss and GS Canvas Satin, that can be quickly and easily finished with stretcher bars for the perfect, personal masterpiece.

With the introduction of the Epson S-Series printers came the debut of reformulated GS ink. The quick-drying UltraChrome GS3 inks don’t require a protective coating, which means PSPs can offer a quick turnaround on the production of these high-end requests – turning an idea into gallery wrap in one day.

The ability to work with a print immediately is important, especially with time-sensitive jobs. Josh King of Sacramento Giclee says that using his S80600 has improved his turn-around time. “We used to have to print one day, let it dry for a day, spray coat it one day, and let it dry before we could stretch it. Now, with the SureColor printer, within an hour, I can stretch a canvas,” says King.

Of course, what is a masterpiece without a perfect showcase? Having canvas prints professionally wrapped can be an expensive endeavor, which is why many of LexJet’s clients are using GOframe Stretcher bars to create gallery wraps for their customers.

The purpose of décor is to add warmth to a space. By creating personalized art pieces for your clients, you are not only offering them a print, you are helping them turn a house into a home.

Innovation Inspired Us at SGIA Expo 2017
Posted on by Shellie Terry Posted in News & Trends
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Innovation Inspired Us at SGIA Expo 2017

The weather may have threatened, but that didn’t stop the SGIA Expo from going on! And we were so glad that it did. We found inspiration everywhere we looked around the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. With 600 exhibitors and more than 19,000 people in attendance, the power of printing — on nearly every conceivable surface — could be heard loud and clear.

Walking the show floor, we were thrilled to see some of our partners featuring and launching some great new products. From HP, we we learned about the upgraded HP PrintOS Mobile, which not only helps printers stay on top of printer data, job history, KPIs and service calls, it allows their supplier to track their needs, too. A great tool to enhance those relationships and keep production running right on time.

We couldn’t help but stop in our tracks when we came across the Fredrix Canvas booth, where they made pillows with Fredrix Natural Raw Canvas printed with latex technology, and cool customized coasters fabricated with Fredrix 575 Tempo Canvas and finished with a Marabu top coat. At Fredrix, they are really changing the way we think about printing everyday products.

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Don’t Miss: 5 New Product Demos at SGIA Expo
Posted on by Shellie Terry Posted in News & Trends
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Don’t Miss: 5 New Product Demos at SGIA Expo

We’re gearing up for another exciting trade show at SGIA Expo in New Orleans Oct. 10-12 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. In LexJet’s booth #745, you’ll discover all new, real-world product applications for residential decor; restaurant ambiance, signage and menus; and retail wallcoverings, banners and POP graphics.

You won’t want to miss the live demos to learn fast and easy techniques to make serving your customers more efficient than ever. Our experts will demonstrate the following solutions:

We’ll also have an army of equipment in action, including Epson’s SureColor dye-sub and solvent printers, an HP Latex 560, the latest Canon PRO-Series printer, a Geo Knight heat press and Graphtec cutter — all with special savings opportunities!

Speaking of savings, don’t forget to ask about our show specials while you there.

You still have time to register to get a free Expo pass, courtesy of LexJet. Go HERE to get your free SGIA Expo pass today. Click “I don’t have an SGIA Company ID” to get access to the LexJet-sponsored pass.

We look forward to seeing you at SGIA Expo in New Orleans!

Posted on by Shellie Terry Posted in Tips & Tricks
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Speedy Canvas Wraps Are on a Roll with GOframe

You can stretch professional-level canvas wraps faster than all get out with the GOframe PRO system, available at LexJet. In the video above, we take you step-by-step through the process, which takes just minutes, unlike traditional canvas wrap procedures.

You’ll need:

  • GOframe Starter Kit: Includes 4 Reusable Corner Clamps, Archival Glue and an Edge Trimmer
  • Stretcher Bars: Shown here are 16” x 20” GOframe PRO stretcher bars that come with tensioners and U-shaped fasteners for the corners
  • Hammer, utility knife and straight edge

When you prepare your print, add a 2.5-inch bleed on all sides before printing. We recommend printing on LexJet Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas or LexJet Sunset Reserve Gloss Canvas for great canvas wrap results. Be sure to install GOframe on a smooth surface when the canvas is print-side down to avoid scratches.

The GOframe Starter Kit and Stretcher Bars are prepped to help you wrap canvases in no time. The reusable corner clamps make positioning accurate, and the bars are finished with adhesive on two sides for easy installation. The kit also comes with a bottle of archival glue for extra adhesion.

Follow the step-by-step instructions in the video to learn how to align your print, finish the corners and place U-shaped fasteners and tensioners to create a gallery-worthy wrap.

Variety Is the Key for Photo Finishing Options
Posted on by Shellie Terry Posted in Technology & Products
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Variety Is the Key for Photo Finishing Options

If you’re celebrating National Photo Month along with us, now’s a good time to consider all the options you have to offer a variety of photo finishes to your customers, such as canvas wraps, photo panels, self-adhesives and face-mounted acrylics, just to name a few.

Canvas Wraps. “When we talk with a photographer, we let him know more of what he can offer to his customers — more than what the customer is asking for,” says Aaron Friedman, owner and CEO of Signarama in Santa Rosa, Calif. “It’s an added value that means more money for the photographer, and his customers get the photos they want, ready to hang on the wall.”

Assembled GOframe stretcher system

At his busy shop, Friedman recently added the GOframe stretcher bar system to his canvas wrap production. Being located in wine country, a lot of his customers are looking for wine-related décor canvas wraps, like the one pictured above.

“The GOframe has done very well for us,” says Friedman, whose team used to hand-stretch all their canvas. “It’s way easier, faster, more efficient and requires less labor.”

Using an HP Latex 300 series printer, Friedman’s shop can print up to 60-inch canvases and meet his photographer customers’ demands for great photo quality, bright color and a consistent wrapped finish with clean edges. “They come in and ask for museum quality final product, and this canvas gets pretty close,” Friedman says. “Plus, it’s half the cost of an archival canvas.”

To discover more canvas options, download The Colorful World of Canvas.

Photo Panels. As an alternate to canvas wraps, LexJet also offers LexJet Sunset Professional Photo Panels that provide a quick and easy way to finish a photo that’s ready to hang. Simply print onto a photo paper, such as LexJet Sunset Photo Canvas Paper 230g, and remove the adhesive on the face of the photo panel and press the photo in place.

With black-trimmed edges and pre-drilled holes in the back of the panel, they’re ready to hang with a clean, modern look. To see how easy they are to assemble, watch this video.

New York Film Academy photography student portraits

Print-N-Stick. For a larger-than-life option, LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric delivers photo-quality images that can be blown up for giant portraits, like those created by students from New York Film Academy, or even entire wall murals. As a less expensive and less cumbersome way to display their end-of-term work, the students printed their final portraits on Print-N-Stick, peeled off the liner and stuck them on the wall.

“The profile was great, and the color was really true, so that’s what we completely switched over to,” says David Mager, chair of the Photography Department.

LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric is a super-versatile product that can be applied to walls, windows, metal and even floors. It’s smooth finish and high quality inkjet coating delivers the richest colors compared to other self-adhesive, printable fabrics in the market.

Sunset Photo Metallic Paper face-mounted to one-inch acrylic

Face-mounted to Acrylic. Another eye-catching photo finishing option is face-mounting to acrylic, which the creative pros at Bumblejax have perfected. After printing the photo on LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic Paper, Bumblejax adheres it to the acrylic using LexJet CrystalClear Permanent Adhesive.

“We really see an incredible ‘pop’ from the Sunset Metallic Paper when it is face-mounted to acrylic, especially in a gallery setting with proper lighting,” says Bumblejax’s Corey Dwinnell.

Read more about Bumblejax’s success here.