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Epson has helped many of the students exhibiting in The Royal Academy Schools 2014 Graduation Show realise their final pieces. Housed within the Schools’ historic studio spaces, several of the contemporary works on display have been inspired and created using Epson’s large format printers and projectors, accessible to the students in the on-site Epson Digital Suite. The space provides students with the opportunity to experiment with the very latest Epson digital imaging technology.

Britain’s first art school, the RA Schools is the only free art school to offer a three-year postgraduate fine art course. Not only does it charge no fees to its students but it receives no government funding, relying on the generous support of patrons and sponsors such as Epson. The exhibition is held in the RA Schools’ studios, situated at the heart of the Royal Academy, and provides visitors with a rare opportunity to view exceptional pieces from a new generation of artists. The finished artwork spans a range of media from painting to photography, sculpture, digital print and film.

All the students have worked with Epson technology at some time during their three years course and it features strongly in several students’ work at the show this year:

• Julie Born Schwartz uses an Epson projector to display a film inspired by interviews and observations of a Shakespearean-loving New York acting coach, and produced a supporting large-format urban landscape photograph on an Epson printer.
• Alex Chase White used an Epson printer as part of the development process to produce large-format pieces featuring human and animal images cut and etched into steel.
• Marisa J. Futernick used a variety of media, combining old school slide projection carousels, book narratives and digital and analogue photography. Central to her installation are several Epson-printed digital photographs.
• Daniel Lipp used Epson printers to produce collage elements comprising layered fragments of found, readymade, printed and painted materials, and torn or detailed sections of photographic substrates.
• Hannah Perry combined printed components with paint and industrial materials. Her works use Epson-printed photo transparencies to produce bold screen print stencils and digital photographs that are assembled together to create her eye-catching collages.
• Ariane Schick used Epson technologies to create parts of her installation, using images, objects, sound and text, and manipulated digital photographs to punctuate the space.
• Gabriel Stones used Epson projectors within his multi-projection installation to show his film works on ‘floating’ screens.

Mark Hamspon, Head of Materials Process, Royal Academy, comments, “The standard of work produced by the students for their final show is exceptional and demonstrates the wonderful creative outcomes of the collaboration between the RA Schools and Epson. The purpose-built Epson Digital Suite gives students the opportunity to experiment with and draw inspiration from the latest digital imaging technologies, often in unexpected and alternative ways, and supports their works across a vast range of media.”

Nick White, business manager, ProGraphics at Epson UK, adds, “Epson is very proud to support the new generation of artists emerging from the Royal Academy Schools. Through our partnership we are able to offer the students the opportunity to work with Epson’s equipment and media and experiment with their creative ideas.”

[Photo shows Marisa J. Futernick's installation]

The Rotterdam Market Hall, scheduled to open this October, will be the first open-concept food market in the Netherlands. The building is a horseshoe-shaped arch with a one of a kind ceiling that has been called the "Sistine Chapel of Rotterdam". With the help of Wasatch SoftRIP, TS Visuals took on printing the artwork for this spectacular ceiling.

The Rotterdam Market will feature unique fresh produce stands, food markets, cafés, a cooking school, and over 200 apartments. The 11,000 square metre piece of art will cover the unique arch-shaped ceiling and will be visible throughout the entire market. TS Visuals teamed up with Dutch artist, Arno Coenen, for the artwork, 'Horn of Plenty', which gives off an illusion that one is looking through the hall to heaven with produce and flowers descending to earth.

Creating a masterpiece this size is no easy task. The hall's ceiling was put together with a series of sublimated metal panels. The metal panels and coating were designed by TS Visuals. Each panel is lightweight and bendable with a high gloss coating that has anti-graffiti properties and is scratch resistant. For the hall, the metal panels were perforated for sound-dampening properties. A total of 4,000 panels were sublimated, each with a unique high-resolution image. Many panels were bent to accommodate the arch of the hall, giving an almost 3D effect to the art.

With a project this size, it is crucial that TS Visuals was able to achieve colour consistency with every panel they sublimated. Wasatch SoftRIP's colour management features gave them the ability to achieve this. With SoftRIP's Color Atlas Generator and Spot Color Replacement, TS Visuals was able to match spot colours and easily reproduce the desired colour on the metal panels. The end result is accurate, high quality colour.

"SoftRIP is reliable and gave us the tools we needed to print the desired colour every time with no troubles," says Vincent Post, Commercial Advisor for TS Visuals.

Using SoftRIP's tiling tools, TS Visuals was able to easily divide the oversized artwork for printing on the individual metal panels. After the selected artwork is tiled, Vincent used SoftRIP's Smart Nesting tools to maximize the print layout of the tiled image. And by adding crop marks and annotations to all tiled images, they were able to save time and avoid possible confusion when transferring the image.

"The tiling and nesting features in SoftRIP saved us a lot of time and is so simple to use," concludes Vincent.

[photo caption: The Rotterdam Market Hall will be the Netherland's first indoor food market, opening this October.]

Quality and fast turnaround of products and services supplied by William Smith are key factors in their ongoing relationship with Dalesflex Signs & Graphics. The company was, therefore, the natural choice when Dalesflex needed to create eye-catching vehicle wraps to complement new branding for coach operator Bibby’s of Ingleton’s.

Dalesflex, based in Hawes, North Yorkshire, has been supplying vehicle graphics for Bibby’s of Ingleton for more than six years and had recommended a modernisation of image to Bibby’s. Previously coach graphics had been produced from cut vinyl but the new design and branding, which features shading and colour changing throughout, required a printed solution. 

“Having worked with William Smith on a range of projects over many years and, in particular with printing onto 3M products, we contracted them to supply the new vehicle graphics for Bibby’s,” says Dalesflex Managing Director Andy Walls.

“With one of the side graphics spanning 10m long by 1500mm deep and no major indents to be covered, William Smith recommended 3M Scotchcal IJ40 for the job. In addition, their use of latex printing processes meant that we could achieve faster turnaround and install times,” explains Mr. Walls.

All the graphics were printed on a Mutoh ValueJet 1624 which was purchased in mid-2013 from Stanford Marsh Group Graphics. Targeted at the sign and display market, the Mutoh ValueJet 1624 printer appeals to both start-up and established businesses, and is suited to the production of long-term outdoor applications.

The first coach was shown at the European Coach & Bus Show at the NEC and during the first day of the show Dalesflex received a call from Bibby’s Managing Director asking them to get down to the show as soon as possible. “When we arrived, fearing the worst, to our relief he explained  that he wanted us to see for ourselves the amazing impact the new graphics were making at the show,” comments a delighted Andy Walls

“We have worked on various projects with William Smith from vehicle wrap graphics to wayfinding signs. They always step up to the mark with a fast turnaround of both products and services. The quality of their products and service can be recommended to any sign company,” he concludes.

3M Scotchcal IJ40 Series polymeric calendered digital print film is suitable for fleet graphics, signs, display and window graphics and can be applied to flat glass, metal paint and rigid plastic. It comes in a choice of 10 colours and with up to 3 years warranty.

3M IJ40 is available ex-stock from William Smith and next day delivery is available on orders received before 6pm.

Liverpool-based Kirkby Signs has expanded into mobile advertising vans following the installation of a new Roland wide-format printer running Nazdar inks.

Kirkby Signs is running brand-new Nazdar 202 Series digital inks, supplied by Quality Print Services (QPS), on its recently installed 64"-wide Roland Pro 4 XR-640 alongside its five-year-old, 54"-wide Roland SolJet Pro 2 with Nazdar 2000 inks. QPS also handles the maintenance for the older machine, which is still going strong with its original printheads.

Thanks to the extra width provided by the new printer and the quality, reliability and low price of the Nazdar 202 inks, Kirkby Signs was able to offer the capacity needed to print bespoke banners for four new advertising vans. They are hired out at a budget-friendly price to small local businesses such as sofa retailers, restaurants, car boot sales and tyre companies and have been so successful that an additional two ad vans are currently being converted.

"We're bridging a gap with the new ad vans," says Terry Furlong, Owner of Kirkby Signs. "It's a low-cost option that enables small companies to try mobile advertising, which they could never have dreamt of trying before."

The banners are printed with Nazdar 202 Series digital inks, developed specifically for Roland Soljet Pro4 XF-640 and XR-640 and Roland VersaCamm VSi wide-format printers. Officially launched at FESPA, the plug-and-play solution is colour-matched to Roland Eco-Sol Max 2 inks and offers excellent alcohol, scratch and rub resistance.

Terry Furlong explains that he had 'no reservations' about running Nazdar alternative inks straightaway on the new machine, after a highly successful conversion on the older Roland.

"Initially I wouldn't risk anything other than OEM inks on the first Roland because of the cost of the printer," he says, "but Chris Bailey from QPS gave really good advice so I tried Nazdar and found no difference at all – and I'm saving money.

"I'm not as frightened to try full-colour jobs now because the ink costs so much less; I'm printing more elaborate and better designs."

He adds that he had trialled an alternative ink from a different manufacturer but the smell caused problems in Kirkby Signs's small printroom. Switching to Nazdar inks, he found it had no odour and was 'exactly the same as the original inks' in terms of colour, quality and reliability.

In addition to the advertising vans, the five-strong Kirkby Signs team intends to expand into e-commerce with a new website and is already bringing more work in-house.

"We're running so much work on the new machine that we're getting through ink like it's going out of fashion," says Terry Furlong. "But if run low I know I can call QPS in Burscough and they'll send it straight out, and it won't cost a fortune."

QPS Managing Director Chris Bailey concludes, "The new Nazdar 202 Series ink is perfectly compatible with Kirkby Signs's new Roland printer so it's great to see the combination put to such effective use on these mobile advertising vans."

For more information on QPS, please visit www.qualityprintservices.com, email sales@qualityprintservices.com or call +44 (0)1704 897575.

Graphics supplied by William Smith helped to launch a new venture for Alphatec Van Conversions.  The Zone caravan, a retro style ‘teardrop’ caravan, was created by Alphatec Van Conversions’ out of a passion for the great outdoors, incorporating its knowledge, skills and combined 60 years of experience in the vehicle conversion market.

Alphatec’s Zone Leisure division both sells and hires out the caravans, which now come in a range of colours and designs.  “It’s our own spin on a style that has been around since the early 1930s,” explains Managing Director Chris Vaudin. “We’ve updated and modernised the concept so that it’s compact, yet contains everything you need, and it’s easy to store; it’s also easy to tow being very light weight.”

The eye-catching graphics supplied by William Smith for the original caravan were colour-coded to match the company’s own mini-van and printed on 3M IJ180Cv3 with 3M 8580 gloss overlaminate. “William Smith offers a very good service, often providing next day delivery for graphics. We trust their judgement to give the best advice and provide the most suitable materials for the job,” continues Mr. Vaudin. “We have never been let down.”

3M IJ180Cv3 is a short to long term removable film for inkjet and screen printing. It offers great conformability and can be applied in extreme hot and cold temperatures, so that workshop temperature is less critical. It is suitable for vehicle wraps, vehicle livery and advertising wraps and comes with 10 years durability and 6 years MCS warranty. IJ180Cv3 is suitable for curved surfaces but not deep recesses.  In addition, Controltac Adhesive makes IJ180Cv3 easy to reposition, enabling faster and easier application for large format graphics. Its Comply air release adhesive also provides an improved finish, resulting in time savings, faster turnaround and reduced wastage.

Rochester, UK-based PressOn has been named the winner of the FESPA Gold Award for In-store Project of the Year 2014.

Facing stiff competition from some of the World’s most prestigious printers, PressOn scooped the award for its luxury retail client’s Christmas 2013 windows and accompanying lift graphics. The winners of the FESPA Awards were announced at the FESPA Gala Dinner in Munich on 22 May 2014 and Andy Wilson, Managing Director of PressOn was there to accept the award.

The award judges for the In-Store Project of the Year were looking for excellence in print quality and creativity along innovation and creativity in the winning printed project. “The Christmas Express” window graphics were judged as being worthy of the coveted Gold award.  The winning Christmas window displays produced by PressOn were for a retail store that is famous globally. The shop windows are a tourist attraction in their own right in London. The printed technical execution of these finished graphics needed to be perfect to achieve the flawless stunning visual effect the client demanded.

“The Christmas Express” was a series of train carriages across 11 store windows and an accompanying series of lift graphics that needed to be installed over one night.  The final printed execution of the train needed the metallic solidity of a real train. The overall design was complex and challenging technically for PressOn to achieve and required its in-house team to develop many artwork files and to conduct many printing trials to obtain the desired effect for the windows.

PressOn needed to print on silver metallic vinyl and then recreate printed steam across the finished print. The steam effect was achieved using the EFi VUTEk QS2Pro 2’s 3-layer ink capability. PressOn printed different densities of white ink on metallic sections of the train to achieve the effect of steam. The main complication during printing was the reflection from the metallic vinyl interfering with the UV curing lamp. Even the manufacturers of the VUTEk told PressOn it could not be done. After lengthy and labour-intensive trials, the perfect effect of transparent and opaque sections of steam was achieved and the client was delighted with the realistic result.

Andy Wilson comments, “We are so thrilled to have won this award and for such a prestigious project. I’ve never won anything before and this is an amazing first for me and more importantly for everyone at PressOn. Recognition for our technical expertise at this level, from FESPA no less, is the highlight of the past 14 years of our desire to grow PressOn.  All thanks go to our loyal and hard-working PressOn team.”

Winning this award follows a 24 month period of investment and rapid growth at PressOn. Over the past two years PressOn launched a new customer focused website, a revolutionary online print calculator and invested heavily in state of the art machinery with the purchase of the World’s first HP LX3000, an EFi VUTEk QS2 Pro and most recently the World’s first HP LX360.