Need help with a large indoor mural

[Bob Davis - Sturgis SD]

Hello Signmakers,

As a professional photographer I've been asked to create the artwork for a large mural in the showroom of a new car dealership in my area. At a meeting this week of the designers, architects, contractor and owners, I was "volunteered" to identify the technology that might be employed to accomplish this mission. Actually, in the not too distant past I owned a sign making shop, which supported a large screen printing company we had. So I have a vague awareness of some of the technology and have attended many SGIA shows, etc.

Here's what they would like: a wall mounted mural approximately 6 ft. tall by 70 ft. long. Brushed aluminum might be ok. The mural would be mounted on fabricated brackets so that it could be offset a small distance from the wall. Now the tricky part: they want the mural to form a gentle wave, the first section would be gently concave, the next piece gently convex, etc. We think this could be accomplished in the design and fabrication of the brackets.

And one final request: is there any idea, down the road, that would allow them to change the artwork, without changing the aluminum panels? This might suggest fabric covered panels, or canvas or vinyl? I have in my mancave a trade show graphic printed on fabric with amazing quality. It's a leftover relic from when I printed apparel for HBO including the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, lol.

Thanks for your suggestions and help.

Bob

[Bob Davis - Sturgis SD]

Sorry to reply to my own post, but I've been researching trade show displays this morning. Seems like this curved art concept is pretty common in the trade show world. Guess I'll have to make some calls.

Bob

[Scott Shepherd]

Just print it on something like 3M IJ-40, laminate it, and apply it. You can get that printed by wholesale people all over the place. You can remove it when you need to. Or, you can certainly use a whole host of other 3M products, or their competitors that will do the same thing. Some is made to be removed and it's not quite that sticky.

Plenty of options for something like that. The budget would decide which direction to use, along with how often they want to change it out.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Laminating graphics or direct to print on to 3mm PVC is very common in the trade show industry. Allows you a lot of flexibility in creating displays. I have some experience with fabric and it wasn't my favorite. It gets dirty. 3mm PVC you wipe the dirt off. Fabric you have to wash or possibly spot clean.

To create wave, I'd build a frame work out of plywood most likely. You probably could build something just using brackets but my experience is with CNC plywood cut frames and velcro.

[Bob Davis - Sturgis SD]

Thanks for these good ideas! We are actively pursuing both of these suggestions.

Bob

[Dan Hintz]

If the idea is to print directly onto the panels so some of the brushes aluminum itself shows through, consider printing onto transparencies. That would allow for a quick swap without changing out the panels themselves.