What are canvas prints?

It seems like a simple enough question, but if this is your first time buying a canvas print then you are probably excited by the idea but are not 100% sure about what to expect.

So, here’s some information that will help you to fill the gaps and discover why a canvas print is a fantastic way to display your photo and why you might want to seriously consider the option.

From your photo onto canvas

The initial stage in canvas printing is to receive an image from our customers – usually in a .jpg format but we can also work with many other file formats – along with your canvas size requirements.

We then carefully look at your image. Identify any editing that needs to be completed, for example removing red eye, small blemishes etc. and then crop the image to the specified sizing. At this stage we also balance the colours to achieve the best possible print from your image.

Once the image is fully prepared we print onto the canvas using a range of wide format printers.

The canvas print is then stretched on to a wooden frame, which is ready to hang!

Canvas prints from Kall Kwik, Farnham make the perfect personalised gift. It could be of your pet, the family or perhaps a shot from your holiday of a lifetime – it’s your choice, and they do make a great talking point in the home and is something which is bound to be treasured for years to come.

You'll enjoy this video of The Printing of the Royal Wedding Stamps

Here is some behind the scenes insight into how the Royal Wedding Stamps were created and printed.

Genuine insight from a story not often told, this two minute video shows:

• Attention to detail
• Pride from the Printers
• Brilliant reproduction

And, of course, they are now on sale!

Make your copy interesting and intriguing

Writing copy – or in other words – copywriting is a skill.

If you’re not confident in your own skills, then it is well worth hiring external assistance.

Investment will soon pay off with increased interest, more leads and ultimately sales for your business!

If you wish to adopt the in-house approach then here are some good examples to follow.

• A heading must make the reader want to find out more, and not reveal so much they might not feel they need to read it.
• Try to avoid ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ … the writing most likely to be read is me to you. People don’t necessarily relate to organisations
• Count the number of ‘you’ words … you, yours, your versus ‘me’ words such as I, us, our, ours and we. The ratio should be at least 2:1, preferably 3:1
• You can also use questions at the ends of sentences or paragraphs. Why is this?
• Because you then have to read on to get the answers (and if you notice, the end of point 5 and start of this point demonstrate what I mean)

Oh yes, and whatever you do, ignore the grammar suggestions (from Microsoft Word) they are 100 per cent useless!

When thinking about your copy ... it's always good practice to speak with your printer as well.Why?

Because we do print a lot of sales material!

Paper, Paper, Read all about …. The Paper

We take paper so much for granted that I’m tempted to say: Where would be without it?!

Okay, being a printer, I would say that.

But this got me thinking about the history of papermaking, so here’s a quick trip through time to where it all started.

The word paper is derived from the name of the reedy plant papyrus, which grows abundantly along the Nile River in Egypt. However, true paper is made of pulped cellulose fibres like wood, cotton or flax.

First there was Papyrus

Papyrus is made from the sliced sections of the flower stem of the papyrus plant, pressed together and dried, and then used for writing or drawing. Papyrus appeared in Egypt around 2400 B.C.

Then there was Paper

A courtier named Ts’ai-Lun, from Lei-yang in China, was the first recorded inventor of paper circa 105 A.D. Ts’ai-Lun presented paper and a papermaking process to the Chinese Emperor and that was noted in the imperial court records.

Chinese Papermaking

The ancient Chinese first made paper in the following fashion:

• Plant fibres such as hemp were soaked and beaten into a sludge
• The sludge was then strained through a cloth sieve attached to a frame that also served as a drying platform for the resulting paper.

Newsprint

Charles Fenerty of Halifax made the first paper from wood pulp (newsprint) in 1838.

Fenerty was helping a local paper mill maintain an adequate supply if rags to make paper, when he succeeded in making paper from wood pulp.

And, as I said at the outset … where would we be without paper?

Answers please, of course, on a postcard!!

Some Tips on How to Choose a Typeface

Let’s face it; choosing a typeface can be tricky … there is so much choice!

The beauty and complexity of type, combined with an inexhaustible supply of options to evaluate can make your head spin.

But don’t be baffled, and don’t despair.

While there are no easy-to-follow rules on how best to choose a typeface, there are many tried-and-trusted principles you can quickly learn and apply to make an appropriate typeface choice.

Let’s look at some of the key factors:

What is your Goal?

The first thing you have to do is form a strong impression in your mind about how your audience to react to the text. You might provide this impression, or it might be dictated to you by your client, or it may be determined by your audience.

Whatever the case, your choice of typeface needs to strike a good combination of both legibility and readability, while remaining appropriate for the audience and the message.

Legibility

It may seem at first glance that legibility and readability are the same thing … but they are not!

Legibility refers to the design of the typeface, as in the width of the strokes, whether or not it has serifs, the presence of novel type design elements etc.

Generally speaking, it is often better to choose typefaces with conventional letterforms.

Readability

How your typeface is set, combined with the basic legibility of the typeface, yields a certain level of readability. Readability is the dynamic interaction of the type style, size, tracking, leading, colour and other properties all combined into one overall impression.

They add up to a typographic style which has a quantifiable degree of readability.   

In most cases, communication comes before style, so resolve readability first.

And, of course, it’s always a good idea to talk it through with your printer, who will gladly share knowledge and experience with you.

Make the Envelope your Shop Window!

Many communications are sent in the post.

Even in this ‘digital age’ there is still a place for a well-constructed direct mail campaign as it remains a popular and effective route to market.

Yet, many organisations fail to grasp the fact that the envelope is your ‘shop window’ and can tease the recipient to investigate further … by actually opening the envelope!

For instance, a sales letter (carefully targeted) can help generate leads and drive sales with the help of some compelling copy and, more importantly, an irresistible offer.

But before your recipients get to read your letter, they have to be motivated by your envelope to do so.

For this reason, your sales letter campaign starts with the envelope you use.

     

To get the envelope opened it must first capture your prospective customers’ attention.

Your campaign’s success depends directly to the open rate of your envelope.

By carefully implementing the best approach, you can significantly bump up your open and response rates.

Here are a couple of tips to maximise your envelope printing … and gain cut through!

• Tease your audience: A teaser printed on the outside of the envelope hints at the benefits you are offering inside. Your teaser can be something that would stir your recipients’ curiosity. Or, you might want to state some up front benefits
• Call to action: You may also include a call to action that aims to drive your audience to know what’s inside the envelope.

Research proves that if you can get your audience to open the mailing then you are increasing your chances of increasing sales and profitability.

Some really amazing facts about Printing

It is uncontested that the printing press was a very important invention that changed the ways people communicated with each other and shared ideas. For instance, Printers could make books faster, which meant that knowledge could be spread more widely, and more people learned how to read.

It does beg the question … where would be without the invention of the printing press?!

So, time for a bit of essential nostalgia as I take you back with some really cool facts about printing:

Johannes Gutenberg adapted a wine press to make the first printing press in about 1439.

Instead of pressing grapes, the equipment pressed metal letter forms into sheets of paper, parchment or vellum.  

Guttenberg was a professional goldsmith who used his metalworking skills to make the first set of movable type in Europe!

It took almost two years to produce Shakespeare’s ‘First Folio’. The First Folio was printed in 1623 and was the first time that Shakespeare’s plays had been published together.

  

When books were made by hand, scribes used water-based inks; these inks did not stick to printed pages very well, so printers had to invent oil-based inks. The oil-based inks spread over the metal type more evenly. Printers sometimes used ingredients from their homes to create inks. Soot, for example, made a good homemade black ink.

Mexico had a working printing press in 1534 – before Ireland, Russia, or America!

The first American printing press was started in Cambridge, MA in 1639. Jose Glover came from England with his family to open the first print shop, but he died either on the journey or very soon after his arrival. His widow and one of his assistants – Stephen Daye – successfully started America’s first printing press.

Each piece of movable type, including letter forms, punctuation, and blank spaces, was originally made by hand. Some printers created their own typefaces also called fonts. Some of these fonts are still used today, Garamond, for example, is on many computers and is named after the French printer Claude Garamond.