Because of the materials involved and the printing process, occasional problems arise in digital prints that are due to material shrinkage.
How does this happen? – Wallcoverings are fabric backed, but can still stretch under normal conditions (a very small amount). When heated, as when under an ink jet printer, and pulled taught between rollers, some stretching occurs. This minimal amount is usually only 0.25% or less. When cooled, the wallcovering material is usually not pulled taught (as on the take-off of the ink jet printer) and returns to its actual size. –This means that the printed design is now 0.25% smaller than it was intended to be.
0.25% shrinkage, big deal, right? I’ve had customers deal with high height projects (40′ heights in a casino) that had shrinkage of nearly 1.5″. This is a BIG deal for if you are matching other architectural components. [Read more…]