LexJet brandUP: Scorch Fitness Focuses on Goals in a Big Way

When faced with a giant, blank wall, many business owners would simply choose a wall paper pattern, install it and call it a day. But Scorch Fitness, located in Sarasota, Fla., had a better idea: Why not create a customized wall mural to inspire their members to achieve their goals?

“The purpose of this mural was to … use it as a reminder to our members of why they’re here,” says Liz Lowe, Scorch co-owner and head coach. Paired with the break-through design of the mural, goals are printed in big, bold letters … “I want to be healthy,” “I want to sweat my butt off” are just two of the shared objectives that are reinforced every day.

“This wall behind us has totally changed the dynamic of the energy within here,” says fellow co-owner and founder, Ryan McDonald.

The team at Now That’s a Wrap printed the mural on LexJet Simple Flo Wrap Vinyl, and finished it with a UV coating for extra durability.

Watch the video above to see how it was done and how it’s impacted the Scorch Fitness team and their clients.

I Love L.A.! Printed Cityscapes Give Office Walls New Life

Custom Wallpaper by ThumbPrint

ThumbPrint, based in Simi Valley, Calif., was instrumental in transforming an office space in the heart of Los Angeles into a custom experience.

Wallpaper Graphics LexJet Pebble WallPro SUVWhat ThumbPrint’s Kenny Miller calls a “tenant improvement project” for the building located on Wilshire Boulevard near Beverly Hills was certainly improved with the addition of the black-and-white wall murals.

Three of the murals focus on Los Angeles cityscapes, while another features a classic photo of Ben Hogan swinging away on a golf course (the client is an avid golfer). The trick in pre-press was creating consistency among the murals, which ThumbPrint did by adjusting the levels so that the blacks and grayscale matched as closely as possible, creating consistency from mural to mural and room to room.

ThumbPrint Custom Wall GraphicsThe images were printed on LexJet Pebble WallPro SUV 15 oz. by York with a Seiko ColorPainter M-64s low-solvent printer with 3M SX inks, and applied with wallpaper paste.

Two of the cityscapes were applied in conference rooms and measure 89″ x 134″. The image with the palm trees in the foreground were applied to a freestanding wall, covering 89″ x 110″, and wrapped about eight inches around either side of the wall. The Ben Hogan photo is 90″ x 130″ and is the office’s focal point.

“We ordered samples of a few different textures, and Pebble was what the client wanted. It was a good choice because it has a real nice look and feel to the print with some dimension to it, and I like the price point. When you look at it from different angles it gives you a bit of shimmer shine to it. It printed great, and the customer was really excited when we installed it,” says Miller. “The WallPro went down on the walls better than I anticipated. I just went to the wallpaper store and got rollers and adhesive paste. It took about three and a half hours to apply all of it. I mostly do adhesive vinyl, which goes up faster, but this has a nicer look to it and it doesn’t show the seams like vinyl does. I like the way the 15-oz. applied to the wall; there was never a time I was frustrated with it. It completely transforms an office space into something custom and a more inviting space.”

Custom Wallpaper Images ThumbPrintThumbPrint brings the full complement of design, branding and print services to its customers, from promotional products and commercial print products to vehicle wraps and corporate décor. ThumbPrint is a one-stop shop for the majority of its clients, and can create and build a brand from design to print and installation so their clients portray a professional image.

Good, Profitable Business: Custom Inkjet Wall Murals for Home Décor

Printing custom wallpaper for home and office decor

“It’s good, profitable business,” says Bill Barley, owner of Bill Barley & Associates, Lexington, S.C. That “good, profitable business” to which Barley refers is custom wall murals printed on a variety of materials for home and office décor.

In the project pictured here, Barley chose to print this original mural by David Hedges to LexJet TOUGHcoat 3R DuPont Tyvek. Barley discussed using an adhesive-backed product, like Photo Tex Repositionable Fabric, with the client, but the client was more comfortable using professional wallpaper hangers to apply the Tyvek.

“The job went really well. The LexJet Tyvek material is dimensionally stable. When you wet the back of it and put the paste on it, it doesn’t swell like a lot of wallpaper products do. The wallpaper professionals told me that they’ve had problems with similar murals on conventional wallpaper material swelling, which makes it very difficult to match up the panels,” says Barley.

The artwork was commissioned specifically for this project. Barley planned for Hedges to paint the initial artwork at one-third the size of the final mural.  Barley digitized it and Hedges finished the details using Adobe Illustrator.

The images were brought up to full size with Genuine Fractals and then cropped in Photoshop. “I did the cuts full size in Photoshop so I could get pixel-to-pixel matching with no overlap on the final panels,” says Barley.

The panels – four 34″ x 6′ vertical panels for the bar mural, one 3′ x 5′ panel for the car/theater image and three 36″ x 10′ panels that would comprise the top border – were printed through the ImagePrint RIP on Barley’s Epson Stylus Pro 9880.

“As far as the material printed, it was excellent. The material holds color well with good color matching. I printed out a sample and checked the color balance on it and then printed the job. I didn’t have to re-print anything,” says Barley. “It’s a permanent installation in an upscale home, which is one of the reasons they wanted to hang it like wallpaper. There will be cabinetry and a marble counter built around it to finish it off.”

Photography Pro Kent Foster Converts Images into Permanent Wallcoverings

Photo courtesy of Kent Foster at Fostergraphs.com

When visitors enter the production room at Fostergraphs in Decorah, Iowa, they get the distinct impression that they aren’t in Iowa anymore. The overall effect is “Wow!”

That’s because company owner/professional photographer Kent Foster has converted two images he originally shot for stock photography into visually dramatic wallcoverings. He printed the wallcoverings himself using LexJet’s new inkjet-printable WallPro SUV wallcovering material on his 64-in. Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 low-solvent printer.

Foster plans to use his imaging expertise and 64-in. printing equipment to help other photographers and artists convert their images into new types of products, such as murals and wallcoverings.  For commercial and residential customers, he is offering a concept-to-completion service in which he will shoot whatever image a client might envision. Then, to ensure the utmost quality of the photo mural, Foster will oversee all of the image processing, printing, and installation.

A Simple Way to Produce Durable, Kid-Friendly Wall Murals

Here’s a great example of how a LexJet customer is using Simple Flo wrap adhesive vinyl for a project other than vehicle wraps.

The Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center in Honolulu is a warm and friendly museum with hands-on instructional exhibits for children of all ages.  So when designers of a new facility at the center wanted to enliven the walls with bright, kid-friendly murals, it’s only natural that they would want materials that not only deliver ultra-vibrant colors but also extra durability and easy cleaning.

That’s why Pro Digital LLC of Honolulu, Hawaii is using LexJet Simple Flo wrap vinyl with a luster laminating film to create the murals.  Simple Flo wrap provides the opacity needed to prevent unsightly seams with overlapping panels. The repositionable adhesive on Simple Flo supports easy installation. Air-egress channels in the adhesive help prevent air bubbles and wrinkles.

Although the 2.4-mil Simple Flo wrap vinyl doesn’t disguise underlying imperfections in the wall surface as well as a WallPro textured wallcovering material would have, Pro Digital’s Bradley Igawa reports that the client is very pleased with how the installed mural looks.

Creative Wallscapes Creates Opportunities for Panoramic Photographers

Professional photographers who specialize in panoramic photography might want to check out the services of Creative Wallscapes, a LexJet customer in Burnsville, MN.  The large-format, print-for-pay company specializes in producing and installing environmental graphics that can transform the look of retail spaces and restaurants and establish more pleasant and productive surroundings in corporate offices.  According to Creative Wallscapes owner Greg Dean, corporations have increasingly seen the value of using imagery to upgrade work spaces from boardrooms to hallways.

As a result, Creative Wallscapes often partners with panoramic photographers to market suitable large-scale images for environmental graphics. In some cases, photographers simply provide the content for murals that Creative Wallscapes sells.

Or, professional photographers can promote and sell the murals directly on their own websites, then subcontract the printing and installation of the murals to Creative Wallscapes. “Right now, one photographer in particular is keeping us quite busy with the graphics he is selling online,” says Greg. “We’re hoping that other photographers will see the profit potential in this type of arrangement.”

Professional photographers can contact Greg through the company’s website: www.creative-wallscapes.com or call 877-767-7446.

Creative Wallscapes worked with photographer David Lawrence to create these beautiful murals for Corvalent's new headquarters in Austin, TX.