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Favorite Wall Mural Material?

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ScottyAdams

New Member
Hey Guys,

There is a good chance we will be landing a pretty big job doing some wall murals throughout an elderly care facility. I saw some cool stuff by KORO Graphics at the SGIA show that looks pretty cool with all the different textures available. I haven't done a whole lot of printing for wall murals and was wondering if anyone has heard of or used KORO before...and if not what other manufactures or specific materials you have used and recommend. These will be pretty permanent used as a wallpaper for the rooms. We have a Roland VS-540 6 color set up. Thanks as always!
 
Mike F

Mike F

New Member
PhotoTex all the way here, it prints great on our VS with the double CMYK setup. That said, it is slightly semi-opaque, but as long as it's going on a white wall you're gravy. If you need something a little more opaque, I've heard a lot of good things about Graphitex. Not sure who all carries PhotoTex since I order through a fairly local supplier, but I'm pretty sure Imprintables Warehouse carries the Graphitex. I'll also say you may want to be wary of Seramark, Imprintables replaced Seramark with Graphitex back in October because they were having production issues that were leading to backorders as well as customer complaints about inconsistent quality. Not sure if they sorted things out but I always preferred the PhotoTex to Seramark anyway, PhotoTex has a fabric-y feel while Seramark just feels like really thin vinyl. I've been told the Graphitex is pretty much a higher-quality version of Seramark, but a bit thicker and without the consistency issues from roll to roll. Phototex is a bit cheaper than Graphitex as far as I remember though. One last thing I'll throw out there, PhotoTex tends to be kind've a pain to mask, and cuts sometimes do leave the edges a bit "frayed" or "shredded". So basically, if you need to cut or mask, Graphitex may be a better bet, but if not, Phototex should work just fine and it's a tad cheaper.
 
Mike F

Mike F

New Member
jhilldesigns said:
didn't phototex recently make their stuff more opaque?
Click to expand...

Walt said back in October of '11 they were working on a new, more opaque version, and was supposed to send me a sample. Never got one, e-mailed him right around this time last year and he said he had just gotten a new sample himself and it still wasn't as opaque as he wanted it to be and the ball was in the manufacturer's court. That was January 18th of last year. Haven't heard anything since so I have no idea one way or another. Think I'll bug him again actually, kinda curious myself.

edit: Figure I'll throw this in here, you can get a sample roll sent out to you for free if you have / provide your UPS#.

double edit: according to their site, an aqeous version of the opaque / blockout Phototex will be available in February. Just e-mailed Walter about a solvent version and linked him to this thread, I'll keep ya'll posted if he doesn't post details in here and I'm not sworn to secrecy. In other news, they now also carry a second version of the current material that I wasn't aware of, has a stronger adhesive and is meant for outdoor use and textured surfaces. Haven't tried it yet so can't speak for it personally, just figured I'd throw it out there that it's, well, out there.
 
PhotoTex Group Inc.

PhotoTex Group Inc.

President
Here is DA scoop. We do have the water-base/UV/Latex ink Photo Tex - Opaque (OPA) arriving by February in 36", 42" and 60" widths. We do have sample rolls (60") width we can send for testing if you e-mail me at walterjr@phototexgroup.com. It looks & tested awesome with a brighter whiteness and 95% block-out. The Solvent version will be out later in the year. We also now have the (EX) Photo Tex in stock 42” water-base and 54” solvent rolls that have double the strength adhesive for those textured walls and outdoor (cement, dirty…) surfaces which was just featured in the 2013 cotton bowl at the Dallas Cowboy Stadium . I just posted a few on pinterest http://pinterest.com/phototexgroup/phototex-live-installs/
 
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Mike_Koval

New Member
Mike F said:
PhotoTex all the way here, it prints great on our VS with the double CMYK setup. That said, it is slightly semi-opaque, but as long as it's going on a white wall you're gravy. If you need something a little more opaque, I've heard a lot of good things about Graphitex. Not sure who all carries PhotoTex since I order through a fairly local supplier, but I'm pretty sure Imprintables Warehouse carries the Graphitex. I'll also say you may want to be wary of Seramark, Imprintables replaced Seramark with Graphitex back in October because they were having production issues that were leading to backorders as well as customer complaints about inconsistent quality. Not sure if they sorted things out but I always preferred the PhotoTex to Seramark anyway, PhotoTex has a fabric-y feel while Seramark just feels like really thin vinyl. I've been told the Graphitex is pretty much a higher-quality version of Seramark, but a bit thicker and without the consistency issues from roll to roll. Phototex is a bit cheaper than Graphitex as far as I remember though. One last thing I'll throw out there, PhotoTex tends to be kind've a pain to mask, and cuts sometimes do leave the edges a bit "frayed" or "shredded". So basically, if you need to cut or mask, Graphitex may be a better bet, but if not, Phototex should work just fine and it's a tad cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yes...we do carry the Graphitex material. It has replaced or Seramark offering due to some of the mentioned issues above. Overall the product has been a great addition to our line of material.

Samples available upon request. Thanks everyone!
 
W

WI

New Member
Phototex is great stuff, we love it. However if you're doing a permanent install on a rough wall, like brick or cinderblock or something like that, we've gotten really great results out of 3M 8624.
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
I agree with Phototex if you're after a self-adhesive product, it's really great.

If you want true paste-up wallpaper, we've used many many many rolls of Korographics and love it, it is our go-to brand. That said, be aware that it isn't the most durable product when solvent printed (nor is any wallpaper material really). It prints great, but wallpaper takes a lot of abuse during and after installation, and solvent ink, especially eco-solvent ink, is not the most scratch resistant for this application. Add to that the fact that the material has a little texture and the "high spots" are even more vulnerable and it can be tricky to work with. When solvent printing, we always applied matte Clearshield liquid laminate over it to help abrasion-related damage. With the addition of a UV printer last year we switched our wallpaper production to that machine and the durability is night and day better vs. the solvent printers, and there's no need to liquid laminate now.
 
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splizaat

New Member
I don't mean to threadjack at all...but what are you guys typically charging per square foot on the phototex material - assuming no cutting, just solid coverage prints?

Compared to vinyl+lam (obviously not for this application), the price is about 1.5x as much...does that mean retail is about 1.5x as much? We're having a hard time with this one.
 
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ScottyAdams

New Member
CS-SignSupply-TT said:
@ScottyAdams How did the CONCEPT 234 Graphitex sample work for you?
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It actually printed great! I used the sample you sent us to cover a pillar in our showroom. However it doesnt seem to stick down completely. Should I apply heat and a roller to it maybe? The only other downside I have is that The company now needs the mural material to be fire rated. Koro Graphics is the only material I can seem to find that is fire rated. Any others that might be?
 
ucmj22

ucmj22

New Member
Just did this one about a week ago. 90 min by myself, (6) 8' panels one double door and one standard door w/knob trimmed and finished. First phototex mural install ever. Went down like Debbie in Dall... Well you get the picture. Only complaint would be the translucency of the material. Overlapping panels show increased saturation/darkness.
 
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Sooner Printing

New Member
Phototex all the way.. You should try butt cutting it at the over lapping seams.. That's what we do and you don't have to worry about the transparency issues ;) PS.. 8-9 bucks a foot wow wish I could get that here..more like $6 a foot
 
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