Newby to the forum

[Joe Balanda]

Hi everyone,
My name is Joe. My wife & I own a bricks & mortar canvas art studio on the Isle Of Man. We produce Premium hand made canvas wall art and photographic prints for our customers from their own images or from our own portfolio. We work with a lot of local photographers & artists as well. We also have a website which will hopefully get busier as we become more established & help us with sales, but I am sure as you all know It's a tough market out there!
We have had the studio for just over 2 years and during the famous TT races we are flat out until 11/12 o'clock at night! We could see the potential for sublimation printing and it should really compliment our business. A very good friend of mine has recently retired after over 30 years in the T shirt/embroidery/sub printing game.

We are very familiar with canvas and photographic printing. We have 2 new HP Z6200 series printers, (42" & 60") & a dedicated Z3300 12 ink photographic printer, so i guess you could say we are committed to our artwork and are serious about our business. but not sublimation, so it's all new to us, but we know there is a real opportunity for us if we get it right.

We just had to buy some good quality second hand sublimation equipment at the right price from my friend. All the equipment is Stahls & i believe that this is a good maker of sub machinery. The first thing we bought to test the market was the mug printing press just before Christmas, which went down great with our customers over the holiday period and taught us a little about sublimation.

We have now just purchased the Stahls hotronix? 400 x 500 flat bed from my friend and I have also bought a brand new 3d vacuum press, which arrived today. We have bought phone pucks and supplies from a number of companies and we are getting set to go. we are finding it difficult in finding supplies & we have bought some stuff from a number of suppliers, some of which turned up today. We are obviously very new to sublimation so any advice, tips from anyone will be greatly appreciated, I suspect that this is going to be a steep learning curve, but we are excited and looking forward to the challenge.
In the same breath, if anyone needs any help with their canvas or photo printing, then please feel free to contact us: "joe@thecanvasartstudio.co.uk" we will only be too willing to help. We look forward to becoming part of your community if possible.
Kind regards,
Joe & Lisa

[Justin]

Hi folks and welcome to the forum It sounds like sublimation will be the perfect add on to your business.

I'm keen to get into canvas printing myself so will no doubt trade a few questions along the way, it will be great to have your expertise on the forum.

Justin
DSF Admin

[calvinabc]

hi guys. goodluck. welcome to this great forum. we do embroidery and sub and engraving our end. if you would like to offer this service as your friend has retired. im sure there would be a market for it. we do the work and make a little. you do the sales your end. but anyway welcome im sure you will find this forum a fountain of knowledge. check out the arcade when you can. i think some people had a lot of time on their hands for those high scores. not mentioning any names.

calvinabc

[Joe Balanda]

Hi Justin,
No problem on the canvas side. We don't have a HP engineer here on the Island, so we have had to learn the hard way. If you need any help whatsoever with canvas then just contact us. On another note, I have tried to down load a couple of templates for the 3d phone cases from the forum, but it will not let me do this for some reason??
Kr
Joe

[Joe Balanda]

Hi Calvin, yes we are looking forward to getting ito sub. The engraving might be something we could sort out. I am looking for photoshop templates for 3d iphone and ipad cases and can't seem to find them anywhere. I tried to download a couple from here but it won't let me yet?? Do you know anywhere i can get these from
Kr
Joe

[Justin]

I have tried to down load a couple of templates for the 3d phone cases from the forum, but it will not let me do this for some reason??
Kr
Joe

Was this before you joined Premium Membership?

[jennywren]

It's on my list this year to learn about canvas print and look forward to your advice. Welcome to the forum

[Joe Balanda]

Was this before you joined Premium Membership?

It was before and then after as I thought it might make a dirrerence if i joined!

[Joe Balanda]

No Problem. It will all depend on what type op canvas printing you want to do. There are a huge number of printers available, but only a couple are what we would call good. When you are ready, then drop me a line and I can give you some advice before you purchase one!!
Kr
Joe

[DyeSubSupplies]

Hi Joe! Nice to see you on the forum