For PostNet, GOframe Cuts Canvas Wrapping Time in Half

With a steady stream of work at his PostNet store in North Port, Fla., Chris Kelly was humming along, providing his customers with banners, posters and wrapped canvas prints produced in the same way he’d been doing for quite some time. When LexJet approached him about the new stretcher bar system, GOframe, he was a bit dubious.

But, as he says now, “I’m glad we tried it. It’s just like anything else that’s new … when you’re used to doing something one way and something new comes along, you’re kind of hesitant.”

The GOframe system is quicker and easier to install, compared to other brands, thanks to the reusable patented corner clamps that align the bars right into place, taking the guesswork out of placement and measuring. GOframe’s Starter Kit includes the reusable corner clamps, trimmer and extra glue and blades.

IMG_6173“LexJet offered us a trial, and when we got them we saw that they’re simple to use,” Kelly says. “We do quite a bit of canvas prints, and the GOframe is quick and easy and saves on material. It’s definitely the way we’re going to go from here.”

The stretcher bars, available in standard lengths from 8 to 60 inches, can be easily customized to odd sizes using the Starter Kit trimmer and are lined with a high-quality adhesive tape to keep them in place. Plus: GOframe stretcher bars are priced, on average, 30 percent lower than competitors’ framing systems.

For the PostNet store, Kelly says he caters to a broad customer base that includes artists and photographers who want to wrap wedding and nature canvas prints. “It literally took us 5 minutes to wrap a canvas with GOframe versus the old way of doing it,” he says. “It cut our time in half. Plus, you save on staples and since you don’t need the back wrap you would need for the manual stretcher, you save on canvas, too.”

Take a look at the video below, which shows how quick it is to wrap a canvas with GOframe:

A Growing Market for Wide Format Printing at PostNet North Port

PostNet North Port Showroom
PostNet North Port’s show room features numerous samples of the store’s wide-format inkjet capabilities with a Canon printer and LexJet inkjet media.

 

The PostNet store in North Port, Fla., like other PostNet locations across the world, provides a full slate of printing-related services. Over the past three years or so, the North Port location has seen its wide-format printing operation grow substantially each year.

North Port PostNet owner Joyce Klingle estimates that wide-format printing now accounts for about 30 percent of the store’s sales, which is quite a jump over three years given the plethora of products and services the store offers its clients.

PostNet North Port Storefront
PostNet North Port’s storefront features LexJet Aqueous Perforated Vinyl used to promote the store’s printing services.

A big break came when a local Perkins Restaurant manager noticed samples of perforated window graphics at North Port PostNet. The manager asked for pricing and a sample to send to Perkins’ headquarters, which led to a contract to ship window graphics all over the U.S.

“Our customer specialist at LexJet, David Iannotti, first told us about what we could do with perforated window film. Any time we have a question about anything all we have to do is call David; he’s our go-to guy for information about wide-format printing,” says Klingle. “We printed more than 1,500 window perf graphics for this project and laminated them since we knew they would be displayed outdoors.”

Backlit Prints by PostNet North Port
This sample at PostNet North Port is printed on LexJet 8 Mil Absolute Backlit.

The project came off without a hitch and helped contribute to the positive word of mouth so crucial to this PostNet location since it’s not located on busy Highway 41, which bisects North Port.

“We’ve been at this location for three years. We were located across the street from here for about two years before we moved into this location,” explains Klingle. “We rely a lot on word of mouth and people coming in to see what we can do.”

And they can do just about anything with their Canon iPF8000S, though the bulk of their wide-format printing is for canvas gallery wraps printed on LexJet Sunset Select Matte Canvas and coated with Sunset Satin Coating, banners typically printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat ThriftyBanner and window graphics on LexJet Aqueous Perforated Vinyl.

“Every year our wide-format printing increases by about 50 percent,” adds Klingle.

On Target with Inkjet Canvas Reproductions Benefitting Wounded Veterans

Canvas Gallery Wraps
Gallery wrap reproductions by PostNet Norfolk for the UNTIL It Hurts project benefitting Wounded Wear.

Amanda Crow, who owns a PostNet store in Norfolk, Va., knows the value of teamwork. She’s part of a team dedicated to honoring the 74 Naval Special Warfare members who have fallen in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as another team helping out Purple Heart recipients called Wounded Wear.

Wounded Wear provides free clothing and modifications for combat-wounded warriors while raising awareness about their sacrifice. PostNet Norfolk does Wounded Wear’s printing and graphic design and brought the print shop’s expertise to a joint fundraising program featuring art reproductions on canvas and archival paper.

The artwork was created by Dave Hall, a retired Navy SEAL sniper and Ellwood T. Risk, an artist based in Los Angeles. Hall set up a target 911 yards away on 9/11 2012 and fired a shot to the target for each fallen SEAL teammate. Risk took that target and combined it with newspaper clippings to create a 50″ x 73″ piece of artwork.

That artwork was then auctioned off at a benefit for the Navy SEAL Foundation and Wounded Wear called Toast to the Heroes. The artwork was sold to local philanthropist and business owner Todd Grubbs for $18,000.

Printing Canvas
The canvas reproductions of UNTIL It Hurts were printed on LexJet Sunset Reserve Bright Matte Canvas on PostNet’s new Canon iPF9400 inkjet printer from LexJet.

As if that wasn’t enough, Grubbs began looking for ways to provide a steady income stream to Wounded Wear through the artwork. Enter Amanda Crow, who would provide printed art reproductions that would be sold through the Wounded Wear website.

“We wanted to reproduce the artwork, and because it’s art we wanted it done right; it’s not just a poster,” says Crow.

In order to get the printing just right, Crow starting doing research on the most effective and efficient way to do it.

She spoke with Chris Shigley, her customer specialist at LexJet, who provided a plethora of resources and advice on materials, print settings and workflow.

The first order of business was a new printer that could handle the 50-inch width she required. Shigley was able to tie in all the available rebates, promotions and bundle packages for a Canon iPF9400 60-inch inkjet printer that fit Crow’s budget.

“Chris got me an amazing deal on the Canon printer. I never could have done this project without Chris. Or, if I could have done it, it would have taken a lot more time. Chris was great about getting me the information I needed,” says Crow. “In addition to videos on how to use the Sunset Stretcher Bars for our canvas prints and setting up our printer, Chris even sent us videos on how to use the Photoshop driver to print at a higher resolution.”

Coating and Wrapping Canvas
After printing, PostNet’s Amanda Crow applied Sunset Satin Coating and then wrapped the canvas onto Sunset Stretcher Bars.

Crow would reproduce the artwork, entitled UNTIL It HURTS, on LexJet Sunset Reserve Bright Matte Canvas wrapped onto LexJet Sunset Pro Stretcher Bars and finished with LexJet Sunset Satin Coating. Framed reproductions are printed on LexJet Sunset Hot Press Rag 310g.

“The stretcher bars are similar to what we were using before, but you couldn’t get custom sizes like you can with the Sunset Stretcher Bars, and I can get them right away from LexJet,” says Crow. “Plus, the bars that go in the sides that keep the canvas taught are actually screwed in; the other ones we were using before don’t have those. We would see problems where the canvas started to sag and I had to beat the bars back in; the Sunset Stretcher Bars alleviate that issue.”

Crow adds that she had a laptop by her side to watch the how-to videos while she wrapped the canvas onto the Sunset Stretcher Bars. “I’m glad we had the videos and that such a valuable resource is available from LexJet. If I can find the information, rather than calling someone to walk me through it, I would rather have that video or blog resource. I think the videos are amazing. They’re very professional, and I know that making a good video is difficult,” she adds.

Now that Crow has an efficient production process in place, the orders are taken directly from the Wounded Wear website, they wrap the canvas, finish it with Sunset Satin Coating and ship them out. Crow says the print quality “has been amazing;” so good, in fact, that you can see where the names of each fallen Navy SEAL were penciled in, even though they’re faint on the original.

“As soon as we made the prints live, people started purchasing them. The Facebook page has been up for three or four weeks; we have 1,800 likes and we’ve sold 22 prints,” says Crow. “We also sent some prints out to the artist to sign and those will be auctioned off as signed limited edition prints.”

For more information and to help the cause:

UNTIL It Hurts Facebook Page

Wounded Wear

Navy SEAL Foundation

Sunset Stretcher Bars Demonstration on YouTube

LexJet’s YouTube Site

Canvas Wrap Guide