Print-N-Stick for the Band

High School Band Graphics

The Boardman Spartan Marching Band is one of the premier show bands in northeastern Ohio, gaining notoriety for its innovative field shows. Props and graphics are becoming integral parts of each year’s creative productions.

For its annual football homecoming game, Grammy-nominated Boardman High School band director Thomas Ruggieri allows the BHS Spartan marching band’s 189 students to decorate their instruments in celebration.

This year, Ruggieri purchased black mesh covers for the tuba bells, which allow the tuba sound to come through and present a blank canvas to be decorated. The tuba section decided on the Pac Man theme and section leader Mike Perorazio, who is employed at Rudinec & Associates (RA) as a communications specialist, brought the idea to work looking for suggestions.

Any decorations used for the band’s 12 tubas would have to be removable and would have to stand up to Ohio’s unpredictable October weather elements.

Tuba GraphicsSarah Hoefert, Digital Imaging Specialist at RA, suggested LexJet Print-N- Stick Fabric as it had been successfully used in several previous projects. The images were printed to cover only half of the tuba bell opening, leaving room for sound to come out around the Print-N-Stick since it is a much denser material than the mesh covers.

Joe Rudinec, owner of RA, donated the material for these one-time use decorations. RA is a commercial photography studio offering a wide range of services including graphic design, tradeshow booths and banner stands and various display and exhibit services.

Since Print-N-Stick is designed for application to flat solid surfaces, a few safety pins were used to help secure the graphics to each tuba’s mesh cover.

“Mike’s idea and Joe’s donation of sousaphone decorations at this year’s homecoming game worked out so well because the graphics really popped visually while not hindering the sound of the instruments,” says Ruggieri. “It got me thinking about other ways to customize many of the instruments and props we use. This gives us a cost-effective way to give the band a makeover for every new show idea. It’s like getting new instruments that match the theme of each show. The best part is that the stickers will stay on until taken off and not harm or change the instrument in any way except visually.”

The tubas’ decorations were visible and the theme easily recognizable from across the field in the stands where the band plays and throughout the presentation of the pre-game and half-time shows.

A Professional Showroom that Sells at Spectra Imaging

Spectra Imaging Showroom

When opportunity knocks Spectra Imaging’s owner, Brian Rogers, answers. Rogers has had his eye on a space adjacent to Spectra Imaging’s offices and production facility for the past couple of years and when it became available he jumped on it.

It's a natural progression from Spectra Imaging's new showroom into the conference room.
It’s a natural progression from Spectra Imaging’s new showroom into the conference room.

“The area is perfect for a showroom because it naturally leads into our conference room. Our sales staff can take clients through the showroom first and then go into the conference room for a meeting,” says Rogers. “People are so visual and if you have the products set up then they sell themselves a lot easier than simply showing them photographs of your work.”

The makeover was simple: they took the doors off the hinges, replaced the carpet and painted the walls to match the rest of Spectra Imaging’s interior. The overall effect is professional, which is exactly how Spectra Imaging prefers to position itself, and happens to be how it operates as well.

Spectra Imaging's lobby is tastefully decorated, providing a professional atmosphere in which to conduct business.
Spectra Imaging’s lobby is tastefully decorated, providing a professional atmosphere in which to conduct business.

Spectra Imaging is tastefully decorated, as you can see in the photos, while it promotes its work through well-conceived pieces, from the displays in the showroom to the inkjet-printed images in the conference room, as well as framed pieces touting the company’s recognition from both inside and outside the industry.

Rogers reports that the showroom has more than its duty and exceeded expectations as far as generating interest, and ultimately, sales. The key is to set it up so that it makes sense. In other words, there’s a natural progression from one display to the next so that potential clients see options from good to best to meet their needs from both a budgetary and messaging standpoint.

Of course you can’t show everything, particularly those larger projects that would take up the entire space if they were replicated in the showroom. However, and perhaps most importantly, it shows the variety of inkjet materials and finishes on which their graphics can be printed.

LexJet Outdoor Aqueous Inkjet Media: Buy 3 Rolls, Get Another Free

Buy 3 rolls of LexJet outdoor aqueous inkjet media and get another freeFrom now until May 31, order four rolls of any of the LexJet outdoor aqueous inkjet media listed below and get the lowest-cost roll free. Or, put another way, buy three rolls and you’ll get another one free (the lowest-cost of the four).

All of these solutions feature a bright-white base that provides higher ink saturation for vibrant colors with additional scratch and weather resistance for producing photo-quality outdoor and indoor graphics…

For more information about this limited Buy 3 Get 1 Free promotion, as well as help finding the right product for the project, contact a LexJet customer specialist at 800-453-9538. This offer is not available online and is only good when you call in. Some restrictions apply.

Unique All-Purpose Vinyl Applications for All Kinds of Signs

LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl
This construction barricade was printed on LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl – Semi-Matte for a medical center.

 

Alan Russell, manager of FastSigns – Airway in El Paso, produces a lot of day-to-day flat sign work, but the truth is that much of it you really wouldn’t characterize as “day-to-day.” In the examples pictured here, Russell and his crack staff had to find a custom solution that would stay within the customer’s budget.

Dry Erase Laminate
An example of one of the dry erase boards printed on LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl and laminated with LexJet Dry Erasable Gloss Laminate that FastSigns – Airway in El Paso produces for various groups at Fort Bliss.

“We’re located in a budget-conscious town, so we have to watch the bottom line and keep our re-cuts down,” says Russell. “A big part of that is picking the right print material. For our standard, all-purpose sign printing we mainly use LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl – Semi-Matte. We use it both on our Mimaki solvent and our UV-curable flatbed. It’s an economical vinyl that prints well. It also seems like our re-do’s have gone down in production because it’s a little thicker than most economy vinyls.”

Dry Erase and Info Boards
FastSigns – Airway in El Paso serves the U.S. military base, Fort Bliss, and in doing so they’re asked to create fairly unusual pieces to support the base’s mission. Dry erase boards are a common request, which the shop fulfills using LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl for the background graphic, laminated with LexJet Dry Erasable Gloss Laminate (2 Mil).

Sign Printing Vinyl
The change-of-command board printed with a faux wood finish on LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl.

“The solution has worked beautifully. The dry erase laminate doesn’t seem to be prone to the same issues as other dry erase laminates, such as having problems with certain marker colors,” explains Russell. “The vast majority of our customers will have us print their dry erase board graphic with the dry erase laminate, which we’ll mount to a piece of Dibond or similar material, and they end up with a relatively inexpensive dry erase board. We do a nice little rounded corner, put a couple of holes in it or put hardware on the back for them to hang it, or however they want it.”

Similarly, the FastSigns staff printed a change-of-command board with a wood grain texture to mimic the look of the old homemade boards made out of plywood. The old ones were, well, old, plus very heavy to move from place to place.

Vinyl graphics for signs
A combination of cut-out graphics and photos printed on LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl with dimensional Gemini lettering. FastSigns – Airway in El Paso also has a number of A-frame signs printed with Simple Adhesive Vinyl used at checkpoints in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I found a decent photograph of wood grain, printed the wood grain pattern for the background, and made a banner across the top out of Ultra Board with dimensional lettering and they were ecstatic. The fact that the vinyl provides some texture when printed on the flatbed is incredible. They were blown away because one guy can carry around this 4×8 piece,” says Russell.

Cut-Outs and Construction Barriers
Though FastSigns – Airway in El Paso does not have CNC equipment, they do a lot of die-cut signage with woodworking equipment. Russell says he likes LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl for these projects because it doesn’t tear when they cut it or peel it up.

Moreover, Russell says the vinyl works well with the flatbed printer. Though they could obviously print directly to the board (and they do), on flat sign projects that use larger pieces of board, Russell prefers to print to the vinyl. If there’s a misprint, it’s a lot easier and less expensive to re-print a piece of vinyl than it is a board.

“The heat doesn’t impact the vinyl, the ink bonds well with it, and the signs look great. The fact that it’s not super-shiny gives the pictures and logos they use a great finish: a real nice textured, almost painted look. It’s thick, so when someone bumps into it they won’t ruin it. It’s not a delicate vinyl, whereas other thinner vinyls aren’t as durable,” says Russell. “We have certain methods to be cost-effective, and this is one of them. We do not and cannot sell a cheap product. We have to be competitive on a square foot cost basis, but we can’t sell cheap stuff. We give them the product they need and they don’t have to spend a lot.”

For construction barricades and other similar projects, LexJet Simple Adhesive Vinyl is again the print material of choice. The project pictured here for a medical center was up for one day and consisted of about 14 panels.

Though it was a one-day event, the medical center used the panels for other events. “They used those panels for several years, they took a beating and they still look great,” says Russell.

Dimensional Multi-Media Branding Masterpiece by Spectra Imaging

Dimensional multi-media display

Brian Rogers, founder and CEO of Spectra Imaging in Louisville, Ky., used practically every tool available to the modern print shop to create the three multi-dimensional, multi-media panels with accent lighting pictured here for Kroger at the University of Louisville Business Center.

History display for a universityThe Business Center is a collection of multiple rooms, each sponsored by a different company. In this case, Rogers wanted to create something dramatic for Kroger that would detail the grocer’s history from the first store it opened in Cincinnati in 1883 to its present position as the fourth-largest retailer in the world.

“Kroger will sponsor the room for four years and they want to show what can be achieved if you work hard and apply yourself. The president of Kroger, for instance, started out as a bag boy and worked his way up,” explains Rogers.

There are three different panels in the room: the main panel on the front wall is 240″ x 8′ and the other two panels on the sidewalls are 4′ x 8′. Rogers could have printed all the graphics, logos and photos and applied the prints to the walls or onto offset panels, but this treatment ensures the drama Kroger wanted to create.

All the panels are 1″-thick Gator Board with a faux brick wall printed on LexJet 8 Mil Production Satin Photo Paper, mounted with LexJet GraphicMount White Adhesive and laminated with D&K 6 Mil UV Textured Vinyl PSA.

Dimensional lighted signage for interior displaysRogers took a photo of a brick wall downtown to make the flat print more dimensional and, yes, dramatic. “I wanted something with a lot of character, depth and contrast to make it look more realistic. We had a lot of people coming into the room during the installation and they were surprised it was a print,” says Rogers.

All of the graphics on top of the brick background print were cut out on Spectra Imaging’s CNC router and offset an inch off the background panel. Most of these panels were printed using the same method and materials used for the background print.

Additionally, the Kroger logos and the skyline silhouette are halo-lit with rope lighting from Bird Dog Distributing. The rope lighting uses LEDs for the light source and has the ability to be set in different directions so that you can control where the light shines: to the front, back or sides. Recesses were cut in the back of the Kroger logos and skyline and the rope lighting was placed inside those recesses.

“There was a lot of engineering involved in this project to get all the pieces put together properly. First, I sketch it out so that everything falls in place. When I designed this, I took the brick photo full size and enlarged the other accent images to the proper sizes and dropped everything on the brick wall. Then, those individual files come off the brick wall and are routed and printed. Each individual image needs to be printed at the same dpi to ensure consistency and the right size,” explains Rogers.

The installation took about seven hours. The largest main panel had to be assembled on-site; the Gator Board “skyline,” for example, was in three pieces and applied to the back panel. Overall, this was a very time-consuming project and well worth the effort, acting as a showcase of Spectra Imaging’s talent and effectively communicating Kroger’s dedication to the community.

Adhesive Test: Is it Really Repositionable and Reusable?

Testing adhesive backed materialsYou’ve likely read about or worked with Photo Tex Repositionable Fabric from LexJet since it’s become one of the most popular inkjet printable materials for a variety of applications. The key to its success is the special pressure-sensitive adhesive that makes it super-easy to apply, remove and reuse, if you so choose.

When it’s removed from the surface it doesn’t leave any residue behind or remove paint from a primed wall. It’s safe to apply over wallpaper, applies wrinkle-free and does not rip.

Because of its success, a number of competitive materials have arrived on the market that have set out to replicate the adhesive qualities that make Photo Tex so unique. In the video embedded below, LexJet’s technical support team demonstrates a variety of tests you can do to test the adhesive to see if it does what it says it will do.

For more information about Photo Tex – the solvent and aqueous versions and the new Photo Tex EX, which has a stronger adhesive for hard-to-stick-to surfaces, contact a LexJet customer specialist at 800-453-9538.