Turning a Bar Mitzvah into a Basketball Court with Inkjet Printing

Printing floor graphics on a dance floor

With the large-format inkjet printing tools and media now at your disposal you can decorate just about anything, and turn the humdrum into something special.  That’s exactly what Brett Feldman, owner of Unlimited Exposures, Manalapan, N.J., did at a recent bar mitzvah.

Printing graphics for a bar mitzvahThe party planner, Marquis Florals & Event Design by Kim in Matawan, N.J., was interested in doing something completely off the wall, both literally and figuratively, and asked Brett if he could create a basketball court on the dance floor at the venue. Having worked with Photo Tex PSA repositionable fabric from LexJet before, Brett thought this material would be the perfect one-night dance floor material.

“The Photo Tex surface is not officially slip resistant, Michael Clementi [Brett’s personal customer specialist] made sure I knew that. However, when I discussed it with the party planner we both agreed that it was actually less slippery than the marble floor,” Brett says. “There were more than 100 kids and 50 adults at the event and the dance floor was packed all night. The floor held up great; the graphic didn’t peel off the floor and stick to anyone’s feet, and no one slipped on it. In fact, someone dropped a glass with liquid in it on the floor and it wiped right off.”

Inkjet printing floor graphicsThe total size of the basketball court graphic was 50′ x 20′. Brett printed it in 15 panels on his Canon iPF8300 44″ inkjet printer. Each panel was printed at about 38″ x 20′ and applied to the marble dance floor area, which is surrounded by carpet.

“I’ve used Photo Tex for our walls, as well as LexJet Aqueous Perforated Vinyl for our storefront windows, so this application was a breeze,” Brett says. “Now I’m getting requests for more of the same, and I say, ‘No problem…'”

Banner Profits for Special Events

Printing banners for a celebration with an inkjet printerDavid Ziser, well known for his Captured by the Light seminars and expertise in all areas of professional photography, also knows how to turn an ordinary celebration into something special with large hanging banners.

Ziser has photographed a half dozen or so Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs over the past few years, including one in the past week, incorporating 4×8 banners as a value-added piece for the occasion. Ziser takes fun photos of the kids who are officially coming into adulthood, applies backgrounds where needed and prints the photos with his Canon iPF8100 44-inch wide inkjet printer on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene.

Adding profits with banners for special events“All told I’ve made 52 banners for this family for their events. They look so cool hanging from the ceiling at these venues. We’ve been printing everything on our Canon printer and love it, and the Water-Resistant Polypropylene from LexJet prints nicely, it’s scratch-resistant, easy to work with and quite economical,” says Ziser. “We printed all eight of those in three hours on the Canon printer. Not too long ago that would have taken at least a full day on our older printers. From a production standpoint, including retouching, I probably only had four hours into it and that makes me a happy camper.”

The speed of the printer and the low cost of materials provides a nice profit on each piece, plus a true keepsake and highlight for each event. Ziser works with the lighting tech at the venue to make sure the banners look their best. After all, Ziser’s specialty is lighting.

Inkjet printing banners for special occasions

To find out more about David Ziser’s methods and madness, you can catch him at his next Captured by the Light seminars in San Diego (Oct. 19), Los Angeles (Oct. 21) and Napa-Sonoma (Oct. 26). Also, be sure to visit his blog at DigitalProTalk.com, which includes more information about his recent projects and how he did them.