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Canvas Print, Perfect for Treasured Memories

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:57:50 +0000

Print your photos the way you never did before. Canvas Print which is also known as stretched canvas or canvas art is the product of an image being printed using a canvas which is stretched or wrapped in a frame. There are a lot of printing methods used for Canvas Print. Many decades ago Canvas Print uses offset printing. In 1990, canvas print uses dye sublimation or inkjet print processes also known as Repligraph and Giclee. Most of the time the canvas print material is made of cotton or an alternative plastic based.

The modern and bigger printers are competent of printing into canvas rolls which measures 60 inches or even bigger. Canvas Print is very perfect for house display and even gifts for your love ones. Whatever the occasion maybe, Canvas Print is definitely a perfect choice that will fit in any occasion.

There are a lot of companies that offers canvas print. Some of them even have templates that you can choose from as your background for your photo. They offer very competitive rage of beautiful canvas arts. Some websites even offer their services online for canvas print. And those canvas prints which will surely satisfy all walks of life and every environment.

Online websites for Canvas Print has a step by step process for their clients and people who want to avail their service. First you have to send your desired image to them. They will deliver your canvas prints to your doors including the frame that you can just hang in your wall. Using the latest digital printing technology, these companies can produce the highest quality of canvas prints plus they can also recolor it. There are software’s that can be use for these canvas prints. Most websites online also have a page in their site that has a page where you can place your order online. An order page where you can compute and view your canvas print order. You can send you digital files or even your pictures and they can surely make a canvas print photo for you.

There are a lot of canvas print exclusive and exciting designs that you can choose from online. With wide range of color to choose from; your house walls or maybe friends and family members will surely appreciate these canvas prints. It is a good idea to make these wonderful memories be printed and be put in a canvas. Hang it to your wall and it will definitely make your walls more attractive and nice looking.

Aside from that, it is a nice gift this coming holiday season to your friends and love ones. They will surely appreciate these wonderful canvas prints. Unique and definitely adorable looking. There are even websites that offers great discount ranging from 20 percent to 50 percent or even more. Since the holiday season is fact approaching most canvas print businesses are having promos and even freebies for you. So, why not take advantage of this right?

Another idea is you can make it a wedding souvenir for your guests. Canvas Print is indeed perfect for any event. And how about a desktop display? That is definitely possible. Anything is possible with canvass print. Instead of having the typical and simple picture frames as your decoration then why not try canvas print. Aside from it is unique, it is definitely nicer to look and more pleasing in the eyes.

There are also different sizes of Canvas Print. Different sizes that will suit your taste and needs. Whether small or big, thick or thin, these canvas prints will definitely rock your home. Wonderful colors, nice layout and pretty amazing art; canvas print is really a good idea for a new house display and present to your friends and love ones.

Canvas Print experts can craft your most treasured and significant memories into the highest quality of canvas print. Most companies have the best photographers, artists and designers that will help in making your beautiful canvas print come into life.

Shipping is not even a problem, so wherever you are in the world, you can order and get your canvas prints delivered in your door steps. Have a beautiful artwork from your pictures using canvas print.

Screen Printing Tips, Helpful Info on Silk Screening White Ink and Screen Print Technique. Learn how to Screen Print White Ink Like the Pro’s

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 01:34:09 +0000

It seems that one of the most common problems new screen printers run into is printing white ink. I’ve heard a lot of questions like: Why do all my other colors print fine and white is so tough? Why is it that my white ink is so thick? Why can’t I get a smooth white ink? It’s always rough and seems to have texture to it. Is there anything I can do to thin my white ink to make it easier to print? Also comments like: “Our white ink is bad, it comes off after only a couple of washes.” “There’s something wrong with my press, it prints fine when I am printing on white shirts, but when I print on dark shirts the white ink is very blurry.” Unfortunately, the answers to these quarries usually lie in the printer themselves. No, your white ink isn’t defecting, your press probably works fine, and you shouldn’t need to thin the ink. Yes, you probably need to change some variables and techniques during the printing process. The truth of the mater is, the answer is in the question all along.So why does the screen printing process work fine for a while and then as soon as you start printing white ink, smash, a road block. The truth is, you may have been doing the wrong things the whole time, it just didn’t show up yet . It’s like swimming, sure you can dog paddle and flounder around the pool all day. However, when it comes to swimming a long distance, without the proper techniques you’ll work twice as hard and get half as far. Printing on light garments is much easier than printing white on dark garments. On a light garment, not as much ink is required to achieve good coverage. Also many times you’re working with thinner inks. Ink varies in viscosity according to how much pigment it has in it. For instance, a black ink is almost always going to be printed on lighter colors, the pigments needed for the black to show up are considerably less then the pigments needed for a white ink to cover a dark garment. Thus, you’re black ink is much thinner and easier to work with. You can do almost every technique wrong when printing black ink on a white shirt, and there’s still a good chance that your final print will look pretty good. Since the ink is thinner, it passes through the screen mesh much easier, with less force, and clears the screen better. (For those unfamiliar with the term “clearing the screen,” this defines the point when all ink is cleared out of the screen mesh and properly transferred to the shirt.)So basically when setting up a screen printing job that requires black ink on a white shirt, you can use the wrong screen mesh, have no off contact, and print with the completely wrong squeegee technique and still get an “OK” looking final print. However, if these same wrong techniques are tried when printing white ink, uh oh, game over! The unfortunate thing is, many printers start out this way and teach themselves completely wrong. In fact, this is how I learned. It’s not the end of the world though! The first thing you’ll have to understand and come to terms with is the fact that white ink is probably going to be the thickest ink you’ll ever use. To achieve a bright white image on a black shirt, the ink has to be opaque which in turn means thicker. Sure you can find thinner white inks, or try to reduce the thicker ones, however you’re defeating the purpose and you’ll end up printing twice as much to try and achieve the same result. On the other hand, if you learn how to print correctly, then printing white is like taking a walk in the park.Over the past several years, every ink manufacturer in the country has been on the hunt for the “best” white ink on the market. Yes, they’ve come a long way. In fact twenty or thirty years ago white on black looked more like a light tan or gray than white. Now with inks available like Triangle Phoenix White or International Coatings White, you can achieve maximum coverage with minimal passes. Still, white ink has to be loaded with pigment which means it will always have a high viscosity.So what’s the trick? How can you print white ink like the
pros.? The answer usually lies in a few simple changes to your setup and
technique. Apply these changes and really, it’s not that hard.Before we delve into techniques, let’s first discuss a little bit about pre press and setup.To properly setup a job using white ink you first must
understand a little bit on how to select the proper mesh size. Because white is
thicker, you want to print through the lowest proper mesh size that applies to
that print. If you try and print white through a higher mesh screen which has
much smaller holes in it (SEE MORE INFO on Silk Screening Mesh Sizes) its going to make it much harder to push the ink through the screen. It’s also not going to allow as much ink through the screen as a lower mesh would.Typically you want to print white through mesh sizes ranging from 110-156. Granted sometimes the image dictates a high mesh count. For instance, since a half tone or fine line drawing cannot hold on a lower mesh screen, you’ll have to use a high mesh frame and apply more passes to achieve a bright white. For the most part however, you’ll want to use the lower meshes so that a larger amount of ink is deposited on the shirt.The second part of setup is to insure the screen is adjusted properly on the press. You want to be sure that you have a proper off contact of about 1/8-1/16 of an inch. Since white is a little thicker, you may want to go with a slightly higher off contact then normal, perhaps around 1/8 of an inch. Off contact is the height between the screen mesh and the substrate you are printing on.Proper off contact also allows the ink to be cleared from the screen mesh easily by releasing the mesh upward directly after the print stroke leaving all the ink smoothly on the shirt. One thing that you also want to be sure to apply when printing white ink is an off contact tab. This is a small piece of material (ie. a penny, cardboard, paper, a piece of plastic) that is the height of your off contact. This tab is placed on the end of the screen frame where it hits the top of the neck platen and not the shirt. By using an off contact tab, you insure that your off contact will remain through the entire print stroke. The tab keeps the end of the screen up although you are pushing down on the mesh during the stroke. Without an off contact tab, you may find that you have a harder time clearing the mesh because the screen wants to stay flat against the shirt with ink stuck in it.If you don’t have the proper off contact a few problems could arise. If your off contact is too low then you will not be able to clear the screen properly. You should see the screen mesh bounce off the shirt and be able to see the ink and the shirt through a cleared screen mesh. If your ink stays in the screen mesh and the screen mesh sticks to the shirt, when you pull the screen up your ink will look very rough and parts may pull back off the shirt. If you’re having this problem you may need to raise the off contact a little bit. Also, this problem could arise from your actual print stroke which will be discussed later.On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re off contact is too high; you’ll have to push down extremely hard on the squeegee in order to get all the ink down onto the shirt. I’ve been out to shops to help customers who literally had almost a half of inch of off contact. If your off contact is too high, not only will it be hard to transfer the ink onto the shirt, but there’s a good chance that your screen won’t come down in the same spot every time. This could cause a blurry image or double images after a flashing. A proper off contact is extremely important for a good looking image and an easy print.
Next let’s take a look at technique. The majority of the technique in the screen printing process involves the print stroke. This includes squeegee angle, pressure, speed and release. That standard tendency of a new printer is to literally smash the ink through the screen by pulling the squeegee across the screen with an extremely low angle.When using thin inks, this impropertechnique could work because the ink passes through the screen so easily. However, if tried with white, you’ll not only have trouble passing the ink through the screen but also have very blurry images because you’re pulling the screen mesh so hard. Your squeegee should actually be about an 80-85 degree angle facing toward you. You should also focus your pressure over and down on the print and not on pulling the squeegee against the mesh.SEE THE RIGHT SQUEEGEE ANGLE PICTURE
Many new printers stand back from the press, you actually need to stand over the press to focus your pressure down and not back. When your pressure is focused down, then you simply move the squeegee back over the print. With the proper squeegee angle, all of the ink will properly shear through the image and over your screen. In fact you should be able to run your finger over the design after its printed and barely any ink should show up on your finger.Now let’s talk about the speed of your print. When we instruct printers to use the proper squeegee angle and pressure, the first impulse they have is to move the squeegee about the speed of a turtle. If your speed is too slow you won’t be able to properly release and clear the screen. After a print stoke, many beginners tend to sit back and look at their print, then slowly pull up on the squeegee not allowing the screen mesh to bounce back up leaving ink still stuck in the screen. After a faster stroke, you need to almost give the screen a little pop in order to get the mesh to bounce back up leave a smooth crisp print on your shirt. This is achieved by a simple flick of the wrist, the same flick you would make to insure that you pick up all the ink on your squeegee blade. Only to create this pop and release the screen, the flick must be done a little faster.Finally, when flashing in between passes, you must wait until the shirt cools down a little until you print again. This is much easier to achieve on a multiple station press because it allows the pallets to cool down. On a single station press you may have to wait a few moments and wave your hand across the pallet to cool it down. If the ink is too hot from theprevious flash, you may have trouble clearing the screen because the ink will want to stick instead of release the mesh. It could also cause ink to partially cure in the mesh. Since white ink is thicker and you apply more layers of it, you MUST insure a proper final cure.White ink tends to reflect heat away instead of absorbing it in. This means that the ink and the entire print area must be cured from top to bottom at 320 degrees for about 45 seconds. Obviously the best way to cure white is in a conveyor belt dryer, however if you are using a flash dryer you want to be sure that the whole design gets the same amount of heat.One of the best ways to insure a proper cure is called the stretch test. Since your white image will be a little thicker, this test is easy to read the results. After your shirt is cured, simply take a small section of your design and stretch it slightly between your fingers. If the design sticks together like plastic and stretches well, then it is cured and you can continue with those curing parameters. However, if the ink cracks or breaks apart, this means the base of the ink is not cured properly and you need to increase yourcuring time for the shirt.
By following these steps and techniques you should find printing white ink a little easier. Granted, because there are so many variables involved in screen printing, you may have to work a little at it and modify slightly. However, after a few times printing the right way, you’ll start seeing better results and have fewer problems.

Print Spooler Software Automatically Controls Which Documents are Allowed to Print in Color

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 04:49:33 +0000

Printing in color for approved documents only results in significant TCO reduction

If output costs so much and interferes with so many crucial business tasks, then why aren’t more organizations addressing it with print spooler software?

Increasing numbers of firms are waking up to the opportunity, but they are finding it a difficult challenge. Output continues to confound for several reasons:

Why Network Operations People Need an Effective Print Spooler/output Management Software Solution

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:56:10 +0000

In this White Paper, we will explore how the Network Operations Team at a given company would benefit from implementing an Output Management and advanced print spooler software solution like OM Plus from Plus Technologies.Company – This whitepaper focuses on the issues faced by Network Operations Managers at multiple companies. For the purposes of this whitepaper, we have consolidated multiple companies’ network operations challenges in order to present a more comprehensive “picture” of the benefits that OM Plus advanced print spooler software delivers for the critical job function of Network Operations Manager.Business Problems – All business processes create output of some kind. This output can be in the form of hard copy printed pages or electronic output such as email, web pages, electronic data transfers, or computer files. The output created by business applications (ERP’s Financial Applications, HR Applications, Payroll Applications, etc.), which include invoices, checks, financial reports, etc. is usually “delivered” to its end destination (most commonly a printer) over the company network. This output has a tremendous impact on the performance of the network, the security of the network, the usage of network resources (including network printers) and the support of the network (work group printers are typically supported by the Network Operations Team in most organizations). Output Management and Print Spooler Software Problems Faced by Network Operations

Print Partnership Sustained Through Proactive Customer Service

Mon, 24 May 2010 11:15:33 +0000

Excellent customer service, expert bid and pricing advice, and the latest in technology keep Louisville-based V. G. Reed in the forefront among printers doing business with the U. S. Government Printing Office (GPO) – the federal government’s centralized resource for meeting the print requirements of the work of the executive, legislative and judicial branches. According to Title 44 of the U.S. Code, all federal agencies are required to use the GPO for their print procurement and virtually all jobs must be awarded through a bid process.

Bud Reed, chief executive officer of V. G. Reed & Sons., told me that work from the GPO and other government offices keeps his presses busy when they would otherwise be idle and looking for work. While his company typically lowers its prices for jobs that are run when it has open capacity, the urgency of getting the job done on time and with the highest quality is no less important. This type work also benefits his bottom line because income at a lower rate is better than no income at all during what would otherwise be downtime. This helps V.G. Reed & Sons remain competitive and keeps prices lower across the board for all customers.

But it isn’t easy winning government jobs. There are more than 10,000 printers registered to bid on work from the GPO.   Of those, roughly 400 actively vie on a regular basis for the $400 million in federal government printing contracts awarded each year.

Successfully getting government work requires a partnership – one that V. G. Reed has built and nurtured with Government Print Management, a Chambersburg, Pa., based firm that has been in the government print management business since 1975 when it was known as ABC Advisors.

Today, Government Print Management is a division of e-LYNXX Corporation and a leader in print procurement management, representing more than 250 commercial print, direct mail and print marketing suppliers across the United States. Government Print Management helps them win government print jobs using its proprietary and robust national database system for researching and obtaining, through overnight courier, fax, Internet downloading, and e-mail, all available GPO solicitations that meet the client’s production requirements and capabilities. These opportunities are categorized immediately; data base entered, and disseminated on a timely basis to offer Government Print Management clients maximum bidding time based on each client’s capabilities and production requirements.

Bud Reed recalled the days before ABC Advisors and Government Print Management when he had to rely on a contact at the GPO to check on posted jobs and then send them to him.  That was a very hit-and-miss way of doing business. What Government Print Management does today makes what was done back then seem like the Dark Ages.

Technology has made many more government print job opportunities accessible to more printers, but with opportunities come complexity.   For one thing, everything is decentralized and only a company that specializes in government print management can really keep up with the jobs and then offer advice on what will be the best opportunities for maximizing a print supplier’s profitability. Government Print Management also furnishes print job histories, competitor and marketplace information, projected target pricing, negotiation of specification changes, bid submission services, bid results, assistance during the production process, invoicing, 21-day collection, and full paper work handling services. Government Print Management has experienced professional print specialists who guide clients through proposal preparation, red tape cutting, GPO rules, regulations, and procedures, all the while meeting sales goals set forth by each client.

Even with its state of the art technology, what really makes the difference for V. G. Reed is working with a Government Print Management representative who knows his business, knows how the GPO operates and knows how to put the two together so V. G. Reed is making money on government work. Bud Reed cited, as an example, the level of service day in and day out that V.G. Reed gets from Beth Miller, our account manager at Government Print Management. She proactively notifies V.G. Reed about the right type jobs that fit its equipment. She is as concerned about his profitability, as she is about ours.

An excellent case in point is a job that came into Government Print Management from the GPO for an agency customer, the U.S. Department of Labor. It was for printing books – on average 40,000 per year – for a value of several hundred thousand dollars over a five year period. It was an impressive order. Once received Miller passed it along to Government Print Management pricing experts who prepared a spread sheet that showed how V. G. Reed had priced similar jobs in the past. The spread sheet also included a recommended targeted price for the job based on Government Print Management’s database of historical information on GPO jobs. This is the largest data base of its kind in the United States containing GPO job specifications and pricing dating back to 1991. V. G. Reed reviewed the pricing and made some adjustments before sending it back to Government Print Management for submission to the GPO. Because the timing on the bidding was tight, Miller kept everyone involved on track so that the bid could be successfully submitted. Had she not done that, V. G. Reed may not have made the deadline and would have been disqualified from consideration. As it turned out, V. G. Reed was the low responsive and responsible bidder and got the job.

As a senior account manager, Beth, along with others on the print specialist team, monitors close to a hundred jobs a day. The Government Print Management Production Team matches open jobs with the print supplier that is best capable of running each job. It is a sophisticated process – one that requires Government Print Management to have mastered the host of GPO requirements and procedures as well as to know the production capabilities, seasonality and pricing habits of the many print suppliers that actively bid on GPO work.

With Government Print Management as a partner, print suppliers stand a much better chance of winning government work than if they try to go it alone. Our strengths complement those of print suppliers, and we are very pleased to work with print suppliers that are the most frequent winners of GPO work.

Deborah Snider, senior vice president of Government Print Management, says it is through the strengths and performance record of V. G. Reed that Government Print Management can recommend V.G. Reed & Sons with confidence to the U. S. Government Printing Office.

About V. G. Reed & Sons

V.G. Reed & Sons is a print company that has added in-house mailing and fulfillment to its extensive list of client services. Fortune 100 financial, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare and other companies are among its clients. V.G. Reed & Sons printing has been family owned and operated for more than 65 years. It began when V. Glenn Reed, Sr. started producing mayonnaise labels in the basement of his Louisville, Ky., home in 1938. Since then it has grown into a 144,000-square-foot facility that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company specializes in financial and commercial offset and digital printing, and fulfillment/mailing services. For additional information, visit www.vgreed.com or call 800-635-9788. V. G. Reed is based in Louisville.

About e-LYNXX Corporation

e-LYNXX Corporation (www.e-LYNXX.com) (888-876-5432) licenses its U.S. Business Method Patent No. 7,451,106 – The Gindlesperger Method – to buyers and third party procurement and system providers through its Patented Procurement Method division. e-LYNXX also works with print buyers to reduce their procured print costs through its American Print Management division and with print suppliers seeking to improve their revenues by winning government work through its Government Print Management division. Founded in 1975 as ABC Advisors, e-LYNXX Corporation is based in Chambersburg, PA 17201.

Ganging Print Runs

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:56:24 +0000

When you have multiple pieces that are all on the same paper and same ink colors you can sometimes gang or put multiple pieces up on the same press sheet. This saves on makeready, setups, plates and washups and can save $$$ if you are comfortable with some of the limitations that you might have.

As an example let’s say we are printing 8-8.5×11 brochures printed process on both sides. Our quantity that we want of each brochure is 5000. If a printer has a 40″(full size) press he can put all 8 of these brochures up on the same run. There is some potential real savings in doing this but there are some drawbacks. First of all, if you have all the brochures up on the same sheet and they are different families of colors let’s say a blue color, a green color, a purple color, a red color and a yellow and orange color. Because these brochures are being printed in CMYK process screen mix you probably will have some compromise on matching any one of those colors of brochures on press.

If you have critical colors that you need to match too ganging pieces is not a very good idea. A printer should ask you if ganging is OK and tell you before he does it. Let’s say that the blue and the purple brochure are next too each other or stacked. Blue and purple in CMYK are predominantly made of cyan and magenta in different screen %. If you want to make the blue brochure bluer you are going to either take out magenta or add cyan. This will also affect your purple brochure color as well.

If you don’t have a product or corporate color or varying shades of skin tones that you must match ganging will save you money. The other drawback would be if you want to reprint just part of the brochures. You need to be prepared for possibly paying more if you only print one or two of them. It is a good option but it does have its limitations.

Jobs-projects Print Design, Graphic Design Agencies, Print Ad Design Studio, Graphics Design Services in India

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:00:29 +0000

Online printing services require master effort in the creative world of Print Design. Creative Designs are created in different styles in different formats like digital image, animation, and Motion picture. Online Graphic Design can be considered as putting your effort in creating & designing them to make them as professional portfolio which can represent the over all topic. Online Printing & Graphic Design will include work produced by drawing, through digital production, interactive media design, 3D Designs and Web design. Some Online Graphic Design providers will have websites and areas of other areas of Graphic Design.

Online Digital Photo Printing is a technique used to develop concept through images. Online printing services offer you quick, low cost, high quality printing solutions, from any possible media. There are numerous online digital photo printing services providers at affordable prices. Most of the companies fulfill the requirements by the highly skilled artists.

This means that if you go with a standard printing service in your nearby community you will not get it at affordable rates, be able to see to it that the job is done to your specifications as well as you with an online printing service that can contact you and send you repeated samples by email or by you contacting their site online.

With these and some other Services we offer far more services like Business cards Design, Magazine Design, Packaging Design, Press Advertising Design, Newsletter Design Printing, Brochure / Catalogs Design Printing, Banner design, Flyers Design printing, Labels design printing, Mailers design, Presentation Folders, Poster Design,

Visit us at http://www.print-designing-studio.com for more information.