Theatre backdrop for La Traviata at Hunter College
Enhance a Colour is pleased to announce that for the first time ever, 16 foot wide dye sublimated printing is now available for theater, opera, and concert backdrops. We have the only 16 foot wide dye sublimation unit in the United States. EAC has spent years perfecting a process that creates incredibly rich looking, colorful backdrops.
Dye Sublimated Theater Backdrop Color
The color gamut when using dye sublimation ink is much greater than solvent printing to fabric. For example, black is a color that is almost impossible to create using solvent printed fabric, but using the dye sublimated printing process brings out the richest black colors.
Benefits of Dye Sublimated Theater Backdrops vs. Solvent or Screen Printing
Solvent printed fabric is similar to silkscreen printing: the ink sits on the surface of the fabric and most colors tend to appear muddy or muted in their vibrancy. Cracking in the ink is sometimes unavoidable. The heavy ink coverage can often cause the ink to scratch when folded too tightly. But with dye sublimation inks the fabric is run through a heat calendar which, at 400 degree Fahrenheit temperature, causes the ink to convert to a gas. Thus, through a chemical reaction, the gas actually becomes part of the fabric!
Dye sublimated theater backdrops can be washed, steam cleaned or ironed. You do not have to use a coated fabric. Instead, you can use Muslin Trevira, one of the six fabrics that we offer. One of the benefits that some of our customers have discovered using Muslin Trevira is that they can add unique painting techniques to the printed fabric. Gold and silver can only be simulated in four-color process printing, but some designers choose to add their own personal touch to the backdrop.
Fabric Theater Backdrops Improve Cycle Time & Reduce Costs
Using our process, many designers have discovered that the turn around time for their projects can be compressed to a couple of weeks versus months.
Project managers are discovering that the cost savings of printing using dye sublimation versus having the backdrop created from handpainting can be quite significant. If time is money, then dye sublimation is the way to go.
Join our customer’s who switched to dye sublimated theater backdrops
We have created dye sublimated backdrops for the Kaye Theater at Hunter College in New York City. The Paper Mill Play House loves our bright colorful backdrops having just produced the play, “1776.” We are currently working on the backdrop for the play, “The Full Monty.
