AzPPA – An Exclusive Behind the Scenes Tour of Artisan Colour / ArtisanHD
This special “by invite only” for members and friends of AzPPA (Arizona Professional Photographers Association) was a huge success! Over 30 photography enthusiasts made the journey to Artisan Colour / ArtisanHD to get a first-hand look at fine art photo printing!
After a few casual hors d’oeuvres and drinks, we toured our Catalog / Retouching division – the oldest branch of Artisan Colour Inc., in business since 1998, where Colour accuracy is always paramount. We then moved on to our in-house photography studio to learn about product shots and staging.
Photo Paper Varieties with Amazing Print Clarity
During the tour, we went on to our Small Format Print Division. This is where the interest started to rise as they soon realized that we can print images with stunning clarity on a wide variety of papers and specialty stocks including real Birchwood sheets, metallic papers, velvet, and gloss stock. Despite the fact that we’re limited in size on our HP Indigo Press (hence Small Format) many saw the value behind printing smaller photos or possibly brochures on 11×17 sheets.
How BIG Can You Go?
To contrast that, we moved right on to Large Format where our Production Manager, Pete Cook, shared some of his 20+ years of experience in the Print Industry. This is where eyes got wide and more questions started pouring in. How big CAN you print an image? What materials can you print to? Do you use Archival Rated Canvas?
The answers surprised many:
We can print as large as 10’ wide by 150′ long on our biggest machine! Not that the average client would ever need a photo that big, but for commercial applications like building wraps, or environmental Mall Graphics (Wallpaper), there sure is a use to go this large.
Our canvas is indeed archival as we use only the best in class, specifically profiled and formulated to work with our Latex Ink based HP printers.
Fine Art Photo Printing & Mounting
Then we brought it back down to the micro level…HD Photo-printing on our OCÈ Light Jet printer (true continuous tone exposures, using RGB lasers). This is where many attendees could not believe their eyes. We showed them some of our photographic prints, mounted under acrylic as well as direct to acrylic imaging (See below – Flatbed Printing), using a technique called “color-white-color” – this saturates the surface with three layers and allows the prints to be back-lit – a truly stunning display.
We wrapped up in our Flatbed Printing Division. Earlier, we jokingly mentioned that we could print to your Front Door, as long as it’s less than 2” thick! Now they got to see how amazing these UV Cured OCÈ printers are, especially from the perspective that we can print to such a large variety of rigid substrates. This includes some even more unusual pieces like client supplied sandstone tiles or cabinet doors. Some of these could be seen on display in our Display Graphics Lobby, including our finest Backlit DuraTrans prints and a variety of “standard” items such as Direct To Dibond, Acrylic Mounts, or Canvas.
A Day of all things Print!
We finished the evening with a few more snacks, refreshments and a Q&A session and by 8pm, everyone had a handful of samples and a head full of ideas! Now we can’t wait to see some of their photographic creations come through our production facility for stunning output on whatever material struck them as best – all produced the Artisan Colour way.
Ready to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece for yourself? Simply visit ArtisanHD.com and let our team of imaging professionals help you make it a reality!
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