Control panel printed on canvas?

[thatpurplestuff]

I've been considering going to Costco or some other place and having my CP printed on canvas and then sandwiched under plexi.  Having the design printed on canvas would really be perfect for my theme... I was originally just planning on digitally adding a canvas texture but I think actual canvas has the potential to be really cool.  Pricewise it's a bit more expensive @ $63 but if it actually turned out nice it would be totally worth it.

Obviously I could cover with plexi to avoid stains, but would that cause problems with the installation (meaning that the canvas would have too much "give" and the plexi would bow in areas where the buttons are?  Is there some type of varnish or something that I could apply to the print that would make plexi unnecessary?

Is this idea completely terrible?  Have I been sniffing too much Bondo?

edit: Forgot to mention, the CP is going to be 16" tall x 32" wide

[Vigo]

I have had other things printed on canvas, and one thing I noticed was that ink runs very easily off of canvas. I would be sure to clear coat the heck out of any canvas art you print to prevent it from running, even if you have it covered in plexi.A little moisture and pressure, and you might have the ink adhering to the plexi. I'd personally test out something like this: http://www.krylon.com/products/crystal-clear-acrylic/

Did you check out printing costs from Artscow.com? They have good prices, and they often have coupon codes if you hunt for them. Just looking, the price for a 36" x 48" is $50 without any discounts.

[jdbailey1206]

I would try to steer away from this idea.  Once you start to print on canvas the texture of the canvas starts to show dramatically.  As seen here.

[thatpurplestuff]

I would try to steer away from this idea.  Once you start to print on canvas the texture of the canvas starts to show dramatically.  As seen here.

That's actually kinda what I'm going for.  My theme is pretty odd, but it's basically a humorous mixed martial arts / retro video game theme and I'm trying to have the control panel look like half of the UFC octagon.  I'm guessing not too many people will understand the artwork but the UFC has advertisers for every event that are printed directly on the canvas, so the idea was to take traditional advertisers and make them arcade themed.



Obviously I wouldn't want anything to become unreadable, but I think having the canvas texture come through and distort things a bit would actually make it look more authentic.

[thatpurplestuff]

I have had other things printed on canvas, and one thing I noticed was that ink runs very easily off of canvas. I would be sure to clear coat the heck out of any canvas art you print to prevent it from running, even if you have it covered in plexi.A little moisture and pressure, and you might have the ink adhering to the plexi. I'd personally test out something like this: http://www.krylon.com/products/crystal-clear-acrylic/

Did you check out printing costs from Artscow.com? They have good prices, and they often have coupon codes if you hunt for them. Just looking, the price for a 36" x 48" is $50 without any discounts.

Thanks for the info on the bleeding ink... that's definitely a huge thing to take into consideration!  The nice thing is that I'd most likely have considerable excess to cut off from the print, so it would give me a lot to experiment with in regards to protecting the print and installing in on a control panel.  That Krylon product seems like it might be perfect!

[jdbailey1206]

I would try to steer away from this idea.  Once you start to print on canvas the texture of the canvas starts to show dramatically.  As seen here.

That's actually kinda what I'm going for.  My theme is pretty odd, but it's basically a humorous mixed martial arts / retro video game theme and I'm trying to have the control panel look like half of the UFC octagon.

That's a pretty slick idea.

[kiwasabi]

As far as the construction is concerned, you'd want a wooden frame/block all the way around the perimeter of the control panel to reinforce the plexi. I found that the thickness of plexi has very little bearing on the amount of flex. For instance 3/16" at 10" x 24" is solid enough to stand on with the framing I'm using (5/8" plywood). Without this framing, even 1/2" of plexi had a ton of flex to it.

And if you're worried about the flex of the plastic touching the canvas and messing it up, you might add some space between the 2 so that the plastic has room to move a bit.

[RandyT]

I have had other things printed on canvas, and one thing I noticed was that ink runs very easily off of canvas.

Many of the commercial printing companies are using solvent based inks nowadays, so if you make sure this is the case, bleeding should not be an issue (unless you dump alcohol on it).  Still, some protection against grime would be a good idea.  Canvas doesn't clean as easily as smoother, less porous materials.

[jdbailey1206]

Purp you might want to stretch and staple your canvas to your Control Panel to keep it from going wonky on you also.  That's a technical term.  Wonky.  Feel free to use it.   

[thatpurplestuff]

RandyT- Thanks for that info... I will verify that whoever I order from (assuming I go through with this) is using a solvent-based ink.

jdbailey- yeah I considered stretching it over the panel, my only concern was that it's a non-rectangular shape so it might go even wonkier (did I use that right?  haha).  I think I might look into using some type of spray adhesive to permanently attach the canvas and prevent any movement.

kiwasabi- I'm not sure I follow what you're saying in regards to a frame/block.  My main concern was that tightening the buttons would make the plexi flex down into the canvas and look uneven if the canvas had some give to it... I'm thinking the canvas is thin enough that it won't have much sponginess (I just looked it up and that is actually a word) to allow the plexi to sink into it but that's a complete guess on my part.

I sincerely appreciate the input guys!

[AmericanDemon]

You should really go to a sign shop. They print water proof on real canvas all of the time.  Sometimes you can even get them to give you a sample print to see if it would meet your needs.