Prop Making and Printing on the Set of Captain America: The Winter Soldier

While any given film may include the proverbial cast of thousands, it often takes thousands behind the scenes to pull off a big-budget film, such as Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Printing Props for Captain AmericaA key behind-the-scenes player is the property master. The property master is basically in charge of props, and comic-book action movies are prop-heavy with gadgets galore for both the heroes and villains.

The video shown here details some of the work of veteran property master Russell Bobbitt on the set of Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, including his use of wide-format inkjet printing with the Canon iPF8400.

Check out the video to see how the printer is integrated into the prop manufacturing process, and how output from the Canon iPF8400 was used to enhance the sets and backdrops of the movie.

Printing and Sticking Custom Wedding DVD Photo Covers

Custom DVD Cover by Mark Hawkins Photography

Mark and Kelly Hawkins own and operate a high-end wedding photography studio in Green Bay, Wis., where a personal, customized experience for the bride and groom is job one. To elevate their print products, the couple invested in a Canon iPF8400 wide-format inkjet printer they picked up from LexJet and their personal printer specialist, Rob Finkel.

LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric DVD CoverMark has also struck up a friendship with Andy Wredberg, owner of AW Artworks in Sun Prairie, Wis., whose work shows up regularly here at the LexJet Blog. Andy helped Mark take the printer upgrade plunge, a plunge that Mark says made a big splash.

“We only shoot about 30 weddings per year and we want them to get the highest value possible, so the more customization we can do, the better. The Canon is such an easy printer to use, and the Photoshop plug-in that comes with it also makes it super-simple,” Mark says. “I told Rob yesterday that the bottom line is that when I hit that print button it’s exactly the way it looks on my monitor; the LexJet profiles are dead-on with pretty much every media type. It’s mind-blowing. Time is money, and I don’t want to waste time, ink and material, and with this printer I don’t.”

Mark Hawkins PhotographyAfter a wedding, Mark and Kelly deliver two main print products: a wedding album and a wall collage. Mark says that one of the reasons they got the printer was to deliver bigger and better wall collages to their clients.

“What spurred the purchase of the iPF8400 was to do some higher-end artwork; not just canvas wraps, but art paper and boutique applications for the wedding market. There are a lot of cool uses for a variety of print media in the wedding market. People spend all this money already, so they should have nice custom printed products,” Mark says.

The client also gets a DVD of all the photos from the wedding, but Mark ran into an issue when he ran out of DVD cases. The new Canon printer and LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric came to the rescue, not only giving Mark a workaround on deadline, but a new way to present DVDs to clients.

“We were out of the cases yesterday, so I used some scrap art paper that I cut to size and folded in half, printed a nice image from the wedding on one side and the photo release for the DVD on the other side that gives them permission to do whatever they want with the images. That way you don’t have to use another piece of paper to print a release, so it kills two birds with one stone. Plus, the Print-N-Stick makes it easy to take it off and reapply it if I don’t align it correctly,” Mark says. “I love having a fully customizable product that gives us an opportunity to recycle and re-use materials that would otherwise go to waste.”

Printing and Framing Notre Dame

Notre Dame Print by Sharpeye Framing

It’s estimated that there are more than 100,000 Notre Dame Fighting Irish alumni out there. They live among us and they likely wear their alma mater on their sleeve, both literally and figuratively.

Now, those alumni can wear their alma mater on their walls with limited edition Notre Dame panoramic specialty prints produced by Sharpeye Framing, Michigan City, Ind.

Notre Dame’s marketing communications department first contacted Sharpeye Framing for its print fulfilment services. Then, Sharpeye Framing was commissioned to produce the limited edition prints based on the quality, efficiency and detail of its work the company provides.

Prints by Sharpeye FramingThe prints are created from photos of Notre Dame’s campus today and one of the original structures from the school’s founding in 1849 taken at sunset.

Sharpeye Framing chose the matting and frames to border the prints and will also produce limited edition canvas gallery wraps. The photos are reproduced on Sunset Photo eSatin Paper 300g for the framed pieces and Sunset by Fredrix Matte Canvas for the gallery wraps on a Canon iPF8400.

“The Sunset Photo eSatin is our standard photo paper that we use for all of our photography reproduction. It’s a great heavyweight and durable product we’ve used for years,” says Ryan Wanke, president of Sharpeye Framing. “Fredrix has the best canvas weave out there, so the new Sunset by Fredrix canvas has become our stock canvas. It’s great for stretching because there are no issues with cracking.”

Converting a Plain Display Case into Advertising Art

Allison-Kaufman DisplayAllison-Kaufman Company, a manufacturer of fine diamond jewelry, played to win at a recent jewelry show. Given a blank slate with which to work, Allison-Kaufman’s graphics department led by graphic design manager Jeremie Rothman transformed a boring display case into a brilliant promotional piece.

Unveiled at a cocktail party the night before the show, Rothman says, “Everyone loved it and took pictures of it. They liked the concept, design and how the final piece looked. It started as a concept for our Queen of Black Diamonds set we’re promoting based on a postcard we created.”

Attendees voted on the best display cases and Allison-Kaufman’s display renovation got second place. Rothman says they were likely edged out of first, not by the rival display case design itself, but due to the fact that the winners dressed up in crazy costumes.

However the voting turned out, Allison-Kaufman’s display accomplished the primary goal, which was to draw attention to the display and elevate the brand with its customers.

Allison-Kaufman Jewelry Display
Inside the tower display, LexJet Opaque AquaVinyl Removable PSA was used for the chess board and embellishments on the chess pieces.

To decorate the display case, Rothman used LexJet Opaque AquaVinyl Removable PSA, printed on a Canon iPF8400 wide format inkjet printer, applying the vinyl to the four lower and upper panels. Rothman also printed and applied the chessboard on the inside of the case, and added the Allison-Kaufman logo and diamond embellishments to the chess pieces, including the chess queen that tops the display. The oversize chess pieces were acquired from megachess.com.

“The graphics look very sharp and it’s almost 100 percent opaque, which is a big bonus. The material is amazing,” says Rothman.

LexJet 8 Mil Absolute Backlit
Allison-Kaufman also prints photo-quality backlits on LexJet 8 Mil Absolute Backlit and other point of sale materials for its retail jewelry customers.

Rothman adds that they use AquaVinyl for in-store wall displays that they give to their retail customers for point of sale advertising, as well as LexJet Aqueous Perforated Vinyl (70/30) for window displays and LexJet 8 Mil Absolute Backlit for photo-quality backlits.

Canon iPF8400 $800 Mail In Rebate Ends Monday

Canon iPF8400There are only three business days left to take advantage of the big $800 mail-in rebate for the Canon iPF8400 44” wide format inkjet printer. The mail-in rebate ends on Monday, June 30.

This versatile printer comes complete with a Print Plug-in for Photoshop, and canvas gallery wraps are a breeze with the Gallery Wrap feature. And, you’ll get a wider color gamut, smoother gradations and more scratch resistance with the 12-color LUCIA EX pigment ink set.

To learn more about the advantages of Canon iPF printers, click here to see a video overview. And, click here to view the Canon iPF8400 Printer Setup videos that include stand assembly, paper basket assembly, removing the belt stopper and installing printheads, installing ink and loading roll paper and printer calibration.

If you have any questions, and to take advantage of the $800 mail-in rebate before it ends on June 30, call a LexJet customer specialist at 800-453-9538.

Big Savings with Canon Rebates in June

Canon iPF8400 Inkjet Printer

Canon continues the big mail-in rebate of $800 for the Canon iPF8400 44″ inkjet printer good through June 30.

Canon is also offering a variety of instant rebates on its imagePROGRAF (iPF) printers through June 30, including introductory sales prices of up to $1,500 on the new SE Series (click here to read more about the SE Series).

Buy or lease a new Canon large format inkjet printer from LexJet before June 30 to take advantage of the instant and mail-in rebates, and the SE Series sales price, which include…

For more information about Canon’s rebates, special bundle deals from LexJet, and anything you need help with, contact a LexJet customer specialist at 800-453-9538.