Pole banners for City..

[Noumenon]

Hi all, I'm trying to figure out the best way to bid this job. We've got 50 8.5' x 30" double-sided banners that need to be made. They'll be up for about 2 months, hanging from the light posts downtown. The old one was simply blue fabric, hemmed and grommeted, with vinyl graphics transferred onto it.

My problem is that my heat press is not large enough to press the entire graphic in one go, so I'm concerned about messing up a lot of banners with 100 transfers to do, and probably four presses for each transfer. I'm not even sure that's possible.

So option #2 is printable fabric, and I've been eye-balling Neschen's Mambo Fabric, but like I said, it's double sided, and I haven't been able to find a two-sided printable fabric.

Has anyone joined two pieces of fabric to make a double-sided banner? Is this something I could drop off at a hemming shop? Has anyone used a heat press to transfer vinyl that is bigger than their press? Any other ideas?

Thanks for reading.

 

[housemusikid]

I have seen a demonstration of heat welding banners together. I did not like the way the text and graphics got stretched. It distorts the image. We do pole banners for our city and I outsource them to another supplier. The take care of the pole pockets, hems, stitching and printing. It really does take the headache of double sided banners away. I print DS all the time and I want to cry sometimes when it does not line up. Better to have someone else cry than me!

 

[Noumenon]

Care to share the info on your "other supplier"? I assume they've treated you well?

 

[housemusikid]

www.rak-tek.com

Just upload your image and they will add on extra for the pole pockets...etc. They are fairly cheap also.

I have never had an issue with them and they have quick turnaround. Prints beautifully.

 

[Noumenon]

Thanks for the link!

 

[royster13]

Have you looked at last years bid to see if you can get in the ball park?

 

[Noumenon]

We're pretty set on the competition, as it's actually for a company that puts on a festival every year downtown, and not the city itself. We did quite a bit of other signage/printing for last year's festival, and we know the organizers personally. The thing is though, they're wanting to do a trade for branding rights (Put our logo & name on each banner). They'd also put us on all the "Sponsors" lists, and give us some branding at one of the stages.

So now I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this without spending a couple grand on branding at a festival. I'm most likely going to have to make a counter-offer for branding rights + partial payment.